This fall will mark the first virus season since COVID-19 emerged in which hospitals and health systems must independently determine when and how to implement universal masking, if at all.
Infection Control
Kaiser Permanente is reintroducing a mask mandate at its facilities in Santa Rosa, Calif., amid an uptick in patients testing positive for COVID-19, according to a statement obtained by The Press Democrat.
Clark Memorial Health in Jeffersonville, Ind., is notifying patients of a potential exposure to tuberculosis after one of its employees recently tested positive for the disease, the News and Tribune reported Aug. 22.
Nurses are calling on the CDC to strengthen its infection control guidance for hospitals, which has not seen revisions for 16 years, because of concerns the agency might state surgical masks are equal to N95s in infection control measures.
Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., and the Nashville Veterans Affairs Medical Center have identified thousands of genes that are altered in the lungs and kidneys by sepsis, paving the way for treatment and prevention approaches.
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The Maryland Department of Health confirmed its first locally acquired malaria case in more than 40 years.
Auburn (N.Y.) Community Hospital has restored its universal mask mandate only a month after officially ending the policy, ABC affiliate WSYR reported Aug. 18.
Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse, N.Y., reinstated a mask mandate Aug. 17 amid an uptick in staff out sick with COVID-19 and an increase in patients testing positive, according to local news outlets.
Cases of Chagas, a disease caused by a parasite, have been steadily rising in the United States, but only 1 percent of cases are estimated to have been identified, NBC News reported Aug. 15.
Becker's has compiled a list of the hospitals with the highest and lowest rates of postoperative sepsis using CMS data released July 26.