Hospital Employee Health
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COVID-19 Vaccine Imminent, but No Magic Bullet Expected
As the continuing global pandemic threatens to overwhelm the medical response, there are tempered expectations about an imminent SARS-CoV-2 vaccine to protect the battered healthcare workforce. The Food and Drug Administration is not expecting a magic bullet, saying it would accept a vaccine with 50% efficacy as long as they are confident it would be no lower than 30% effective.
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CMS Identifies Telemedicine Quality Tracking Measures
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is providing more detailed guidance for how healthcare providers should report electronic clinical quality measures for telehealth encounters. A total of 39 electronic clinical quality measures were recently published for the 2021 performance period.
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CDC Backtracks on Testing Controversy
After widespread criticism from the medical community, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention dropped a controversial recommendation that de-emphasized the importance of testing asymptomatic contacts of COVID-19 cases.
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FDA: Barrier Enclosures for Aerosol-Generating Procedures May Increase Risk to HCPs
Citing increased risk to healthcare workers and patients, the Food and Drug Administration has revoked emergency use authorization for barrier enclosure devices that cover a COVID-19 patient’s head and upper body during aerosol‐generating procedures such as tracheal intubation.
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COVID-19 Precautions Reduce Flu Cases
There are encouraging signs that masking and other measures taken to prevent COVID-19 are diminishing seasonal influenza globally. Flu virus circulation declined when COVID-19 measures were taken in the Northern Hemisphere, with the same epidemiology observed as the flu season began later below the equator, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
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CDC: COVID-19 Infections in Healthcare Personnel Increase Tenfold
In what is likely a substantial undercount, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that between Feb. 12 and July 16, there were 100,570 COVID-19 cases in healthcare workers and 641 deaths reported in the United States. General trends in COVID-19 in HCP mortality include the deaths occurred in those who were older, male, Asian, Black, and with an underlying medical condition, the CDC reported.
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Ethical Framework for Prioritizing Healthcare Workers to Receive Vaccine
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisors cited ethical reasons for selecting healthcare workers as first to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
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CDC: Healthcare Workers First in Line for COVID-19 Vaccine
Healthcare workers have been designated as the highest priority group to receive the first safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine cleared for use in the United States, according to recent discussions and materials reviewed in a non-voting meeting of top immunization advisors to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Pandemic Coronavirus May Kill the Handshake
The COVID-19 pandemic may be the death knell of the handshake, although its deep anthropological roots may resurface after the viral storm is over. A study using nonpathogenic bacteriophage MS2 as a viral surrogate found that handshakes and, to a lesser extent, fist bumps can be sources of transmission.
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Fear of Threats, Violence During Pandemic Response
Violence has been an ongoing threat to healthcare workers, but it is manifesting again as social tensions rise amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This became evident during the politicization of wearing face masks and threats against public health officials trying to enforce their use or mandate other pandemic control methods.