Editor's Note Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) President Connie Steed, MSN, RN, CIC, FAPIC, on December 16, issued a statement urging healthcare workers and the public to get vaccinated with the COVI-19 vaccines when they are available. APIC supports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s…

Read More

Editor's Note This study from the Netherlands found that the added value of using chest CT in addition to RT-PCR to screen patients for COVID-19 before surgery was limited. Of 2,093 preoperative patients without COVID-19 symptoms analyzed, 1,224 were screened by CT and RT-PCR and 869 by chest CT only.…

Read More

Editor's Note The first batch of the Pfizer/BioNTech's newly authorized COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use reached 141 of 145 targeted locations on the first day of its national rollout, a Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman told Reuters. Four island territories—American Samoa, Guam, North Mariana Islands, and the US…

Read More

Editor's Note In this study of COVID-19 patients in the nationwide Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system, researchers from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, found that 27% of survivors of hospitalization were readmitted or died by 60 days after discharge. Of 2,179 index hospitalizations for COVID-19: 678 (31.1%) were…

Read More

Editor's Note The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on December 11 that it would purchase 100 million additional doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine, which was developed by Moderna with scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), is scheduled for a December…

Read More

Now that facilities are returning to performing urology cases, what should staff be aware of regarding COVID-19 and urology in general? This was the question Lane Jacobs, an expert in global product solutions for Boston Scientific, Marlborough, Massachusetts, asked Cori L. Ofstead, MSPH, president and chief executive officer, Ofstead &…

Read More

A November 2020 survey from National Nurses United, the largest union of RNs in the US, rang some alarm bells about the preparedness of healthcare facilities bracing for influenza season along with COVID-19 case surges. Among the more than 15,000 nurses surveyed by the union, 30% named staffing shortages as…

Read More

Editor's Note After the Food and Drug Administration issued an Emergency Use Authorization for Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine on December 11, the company began shipping 2.9 million doses to 636 sites throughout the US. (https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-takes-key-action-fight-against-covid-19-issuing-emergency-use-authorization-first-covid-19). On December 14, the first dose of the vaccine was administered at 9:23 am to an…

Read More

Editor's Note Barrier devices used for intubation may reduce operator exposure to infectious droplets and aerosols, but there is wide variation in aerosol containment, this study finds. Fully enclosed barrier devices reduced vapor and aerosol content in the area of the operator. If no barrier device was used, aerosol content…

Read More

Editor's Note This study reports the safety and efficacy findings of the phase 2 and phase 3 parts of the clinical trial of the BNT162b2 mRNA (Pfizere/BioNTech) vaccine in preventing COVID-19 in persons 16 years of age or older. These results are the basis for an application for emergency use…

Read More