Editor's Note This study by researchers from the Arizona Department of Health finds that healthcare associated infections (HAIs) significantly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs). From 2016 through 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Arizona acute care hospitals reported that HAIs decreased significantly: CLABSIs decreased 32%.…

Read More

Editor's Note According to the June 24 Becker’s Hospital Review, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) latest US COVID-19 statistics include the following: As of June 23, the 7-day average for newly reported COVID-19 cases dropped 5.6% to 97,430. The weekly average for COVID-19 related deaths dropped by…

Read More

Editor's Note In a letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, report that the three Omicron subvariants (BA.2.12.1, BA.4, and BA.5) currently dominant in the US substantially escape neutralizing antibodies induced by both vaccination and previous COVID-19 infection. The researchers…

Read More

Editor's Note Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai, New York City, have developed a machine learning model that uses physiological metrics collected from wearable devices that can detect and predict COVID-19 in healthcare workers (HCWs). A total of 407 HCWs from 7 hospitals were enrolled in the…

Read More

Editor's Note In this study, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Mercy Hospital, find that routinely doing borescope examinations and microbial culturing during endoscope reprocessing is a highly effective way to identify endoscopes with damage, abnormalities, and microorganisms of concern. A total of…

Read More

Editor's Note According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Quality, Certification, and Oversight Reports (QCOR) page, which gives the public access to citation frequency reports, infection control was a top area of focus for CMS surveyors in 2021, the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association journal ASC Focus June…

Read More

Editor's Note On June 14, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Health Alert Network health update on guidance to help clinicians evaluate and test patients with relevant history, signs, and symptoms for monkeypox, the American Hospital Association (AHA) June 16 reports. This latest update comes on…

Read More

Editor's Note In this French study, two human broadly neutralizing antibodies show promise in providing long-acting immunity against COVID-19 in immunocompromised patients. The antibodies were effective against all COVID-19 variants tested and could be used alone or in an antibody cocktail. Researchers examined 102 spike monoclonal antibodies cloned from IgA…

Read More

Editor's Note This study from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, finds that non-hospitalized COVID-19 “long-haulers” continue to experience symptoms an average of 15 months after disease onset. Of 52 patients who completed the study, there was no significant change in the frequency of most symptoms between the first…

Read More

Editor's Note This study led by researchers from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, finds a low prevalence of COVID-19 in symptom-free healthcare workers (HCWs) working in the Minneapolis-St Paul area. In the 14 days before enrollment in the study, 40% of participants reported a known COVID-19 exposure. PPE use was…

Read More