Franciscan Children's in Brighton, Mass., is restricting the use of water after discovering the presence of harmful bacteria in two water sources. 

In addition to more funding, the CDC needs Congress to grant it more authority to improve COVID-19 data reporting and accelerate its response to public health crises, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, told Roll Call in a Dec. 8 report. 

Health experts are urging the public to mask up in crowded spaces to curb the spread of flu, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus during the holiday season. 

Nevada state leaders are discussing a new process which would give qualified nurses an immediate temporary license, 2News report Dec. 6.

A study involving more than 12,000 COVID-19 patients in Hong Kong found the incidence of viral rebound was very low. 

At least three partially vaccinated children in Central Ohio have contracted measles, marking the first cases in the region's outbreak that have not been among unvaccinated children. 

The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, part of Penn Medicine, has launched a fellowship program to support the growth of nurses from underrepresented backgrounds. 

Clinicians should be prepared to treat cholera in travelers returning from countries with widespread cholera outbreaks, the CDC said in a Dec. 5 advisory. 

The nation is seeing its worst flu outbreak in more than a decade, with the CDC estimating there have already been 78,000 hospitalizations since the start of the season in October. 

The Joint Commission issued sentinel events, released new guidance to improve patient safety, launched new certifications and more in 2022. 

Colleges and universities are updating and launching nursing programs to help combat nursing shortages. Licensing boards and state legislators are also attempting to create paths for more students to join the profession.

Below are 11 hospitals, health systems or hospital operators that posted job listings seeking chief medical officers in the last two weeks.

Flu hospitalizations sat at a 10-year high the week of Thanksgiving and COVID-19 cases have risen since the holiday, though respiratory syncytial virus appears to have peaked in some parts of the U.S., CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, said Dec. 5. 

U.S. News and World Report released a list Dec. 6 recognizing 297 hospitals for maternity care.

Health officials anticipate the measles outbreak in Columbus, Ohio — which has now infected at least 50 unvaccinated children — will last for several months. 

For weeks, New Mexico has reported the highest percentage of patients experiencing influenzalike illness compared to the rest of the nation.  

In about a week since the CDC started tracking omicron subvariant XBB, it has grown to account for 5.5 percent of U.S. cases, according to the latest variant proportionate estimates. 

Health systems are facing increased demand for care while continuing to deal with nursing shortages.

Omicron subvariants BQ.1.1 and BQ.1, which knocked down the last monoclonal antibody treatment to be authorized for COVID-19, now account for 62.8 percent of COVID-19 cases, according to the CDC. 

Nearly 20,000 lab-confirmed flu patients in the U.S. were hospitalized for the week ending Nov. 26, up from 11,269 flu patients admitted the week prior, according to the CDC's latest FluView report.