CMS adds enhanced barrier precautions to infection control guidance
By
Kimberly Marselas
Mar 22, 2024
Nursing homes must begin to use enhanced barrier precautions to prevent broader transmission of multidrug-resistant organisms and to help protect patients with chronic wounds and indwelling devices, the...
Nursing home staff, others fear CDC revisions to airborne transmission guidelines
By
Amy Maxmen, KFF Health News
Mar 21, 2024
Workers worry that the CDC is repeating past mistakes as it develops a crucial set of guidelines that hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, and other facilities that provide health care will apply to control...
CDC Shortens Recommended COVID Isolation Period
Mar 01, 2024
New guidance issued Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that Americans who test positive for COVID-19 no longer need to routinely stay home for five days.
APIC urges healthcare workers to continue masking despite CDC pullback
By
Joe Bush
Oct 04, 2022
A major association for infection prevention professionals is strongly urging its members to continue masking in patient care areas even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention loosened its...
CDC director calls for agency’s overhaul, citing pandemic performance
By
Alicia Lasek
Aug 17, 2022
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will reorganize, with a new, action-oriented culture that better serves public health, Director Rochelle Walensky told her staff Wednesday.
CDC’s refreshed COVID guidance zeros in on the vulnerable
By
Alicia Lasek
Aug 15, 2022
While easing its public guidance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is emphasizing a continued focus on protecting at-risk individuals, including the elderly and ill, from infection and poor...
Extend PHE while updating COVID protocols, nursing home advocate urges feds
By
Alicia Lasek
Aug 10, 2022
Safety and quality of life in LTC settings are not mutually exclusive, Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of AHCA/NCAL told federal health officials Tuesday.
CDC: Turn to Paxlovid to treat COVID-19, not steroids or antibiotics
By
Alicia Lasek (f3)
Apr 26, 2022
The agency is urging clinicians to consider the now readily available, recommended therapies such as Paxlovid as first-line COVID-19 treatments.
It’s official: Omicron causes less severe COVID-19 illness than prior variants, CDC study finds
By
Alicia Lasek
Jan 26, 2022
The SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant is much less likely to cause severe illness and death than its predecessors, according to a new analysis of U.S. data from December 2020 through mid-January 2022.
Health officials urge public to consider wearing N95, KN95 respirators
By
Alicia Lasek
Jan 19, 2022
The CDC has updated its consumer information on wearing face masks during the pandemic. The changes clarify levels of mask protection and emphasize that the public can choose to wear N95 and KN95 respirators...