Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on May 26, released an update on the spread of COVID-19 at its 2023 Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Conference in Atlanta in April. The conference was attended by some 1,800 in-person attendees. A rapid assessment team was gathered to survey…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on May 24, announced that it is seeking comments on new infection control (IC) requirements for hospitals and critical access hospitals on preparedness for high-consequence diseases or special pathogens. These new requirements will replace the current standard IC.01.06.01 on preparing for an influx of potentially…

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Editor's Note This Australian study compares the accuracy of monitoring personal protective equipment (PPE) donning and doffing between an artificial intelligent (AI) machine collaborating with a remote buddy support system and an onsite buddy. The researchers conducted a pilot simulation study with 30 procedural scenarios (15 donning and 15 doffing)…

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Editor's Note The World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners, on May 20, launched the International Pathogen Surveillance Network (IPSN) to prevent and detect infectious disease threats before they become epidemics or pandemics. The network provides a platform for helping countries and regions improve systems for collecting and analyzing samples,…

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Editor's Note This pilot study by epidemiologist Cori L. Ofstead, MSPH, and colleagues finds that a new borescope training model improves sterile processing department (SPD) personnel mastery and retention of complex skills. A total of nine certified SPD personnel were involved in the study. Training focused on borescope visual inspection…

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Infection preventionists (IPs) play a vital role in healthcare, especially in the sterile processing department (SPD), where preventing infection and cross-contamination is paramount. As infection prevention advocates, SPD personnel are responsible for ensuring that surgical instruments and other medical devices are properly sterilized and free of harmful microorganisms before use.…

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Surgical site infection (SSI) surveillance has rapidly grown in the ambulatory setting over the last decade, with the expansion of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network’s (NHSN) Outpatient Procedure Component (OPC). OPC-SSI is designed to track and monitor SSIs in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs)…

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Editor's Note Estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention find the emerging COVID-19 Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16, dubbed Arcturus, is responsible for more than 14% of COVID-19 cases in the US over the past 2 weeks, up from nearly 7% in the prior 2 weeks, according to the May…

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Editor's Note This Italian review and meta-analysis finds that the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against Omicron and Delta variants rapidly wans over time. Of 799 original articles, 149 reviews, and 35 preprints identified, 40 studies were included in the analysis. Among the findings: Vaccine effectiveness of a primary vaccination cycle…

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Editor's Note Though the processes of care for emergency coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery were altered by the COVID-19 pandemic, patient mortality did not change for COVID-19-negative patients; however, COVID-19 positive patients did have significantly higher mortality as well as infectious complications, finds this study presented May 6 at…

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