Frank Diamond

Lisa Brosseau, ScD: "What we’re seeing is a lot of magical thinking. A lot of wishful thinking. Cloth masks are wishful thinking."

Nicole York: "The dying process can take a long time, but I was with her while she was still alert. And I called up her family so that they could talk to her on the phone. But that’s all she got was just to talk to them on the phone."

Lives are at stake and counterfeit N95 respirators make things worse for infection preventionists and others trying to care for COVID-19 patients. If you suspect that something being billed as an N95 is fake, report it to the CDC.

As we emerge from the COVID-19 crisis, it’s very important for infection control professionals to think, “How do we take this crisis and use it as a lever to cause the change that we care about so much?”

Deborah Birx, MD, the Coronavirus Response Coordinator: “Throughout the summer, when we do not have flu to contaminate the picture, we’ll be able to follow the syndromic pattern city by city, community by community, state by state."

National Nurses United and the California Nurses Association, declared victory because hospital administrators “announced that health care workers throughout the Providence system will be issued N95 respirator masks to wear when caring for COVID positive or potentially COVID positive patients…,” according to a press release issued by the unions.

"We have to be comfortable with the fact that we have to reuse PPE for multiple patients. But one of the things they have to remember is those multiple patients all have the same illness. So, it’s not like we’re going to transfer multi-drug resistant organism to the next patient. Because we try not to use the same PPE for those situations."

There’s a limited number of volunteers vetting a seemingly unlimited amount of PPE.

There are nearly 10,000 STERRAD Sterilization machines in about 6,300 US hospitals, and the reprocessing times vary from 55 minutes, to 28 minutes, and 24 minutes, depending on which particular STERRAD machine is being used.

New Jersey-based Performance Supply LLC is accused of trying to sell the face masks at 500% to 600% above 3M's marked prices to New York City officials.

Investigators found greater SARS–CoV-2 contamination on the outer surface of the face masks than on the inner surfaces.

Harvey V. Fineberg, MD, PhD: “If we take these six steps to mobilize and organize the nation, we can defeat COVID-19 by early June.”

“It’s very terrifying to be flying the plane at the same time you’re building it,” said one young doctor.

The tool uses nodes, lettered A to O, that assess products in a way that spans labeling, marketing, and regulatory data, says the CDC. It provides a rigorous standardized method for review.

N95 masks are in high demand but so are surgical masks, isolation gowns, thermometers and disinfecting wipes.

Xenon lamps produce pulsed flashes of germicidal UV light at wavelengths from 200-315 nm, killing microbes on environmental surfaces.

The machine can decontaminate the same respirator mask up to 20 times without degrading the mask’s performance.

According to the United States Conference of Mayors, cities need 28.5 million face masks, 24.4 million other pieces of PPE equipment, 7.9 million COVID-19 test kits, and 139,000 ventilators.

"Those of us who must go out into the world and have contact with people don’t have to panic if we find out that someone with the coronavirus has been in the same room or stood closer than we wanted for a moment." 

Ninety-seven percent of survey respondents have implemented conservation protocols for personal protective equipment.

The Spanish flu of 1918 killed between 20 and 50 million people. What lessons can we take from it?

The Defense Production Act gives the federal government broad authority to direct private companies to meet the needs of national defense.

The study underscores just how much of a moving target COVID-19 remains.

One of Infection Control Today®’s Editorial Advisory Board members offers a quick to-do list.

One of the barriers that has been addressed in recent years was just how providers are to be paid for using telemedicine.

SARS-CoV-2 stays active in or on aerosols for up to 3 hours, copper for up to 4 hours, cardboard for up to 24 hours, and plastic and stainless steel for up to 2 to 3 days.

What happened to 11 healthcare workers who, without proper PPE, treated patients confirmed to have COVID-19. Answer? Nothing. That is, they did not contract the disease.

Drastic measures, such as quarantines, seem to have helped China slow the rate of outbreaks.

Infection preventionists may be involved in performing risk assessments of asymptomatic healthcare workers who have had exposure to patients with COVID-19.