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Some fear that hospitals will become “Robots R Us” environments, but that is unlikely. Chatbots, although useful, are poor stand-ins for in-depth, in-person conversation with a health care provider. And if COVID-19 did anything, it put a million faces to the tragedy of what it’s like to die without human contact.

Jody Feigel, RN, MSN: “A few years ago, nobody wanted to hear from infection prevention. Now, everybody wants to hear from infection prevention.”

Many infection preventionists trust that everyone working in the operating room knows what they are doing and many times shy away from going into the OR. That's a mistake.

The new approach to naming COVID-19 variants utilizes the Greek alphabet.

The U.S. Department of Defense signed a contract with a U.S. company that will boost capacity of nitrile glove production in the U.S. by 2.31 billion gloves per year by May 2023.

One of the reasons that S aureus and C diff present such a disinfection challenge is that they are encased in a biofilms such as yeast, protozoa, bacteria, fungi, and algae.

Frontline health care workers have given their lives and livelihood for our safety and need to be remembered during this Memorial Day.

Successful onboarding of candidates requires an orientation that includes all aspects of the position. What are the responsibilities of an IP? Their main function is to identify and mitigate infection risks.

The increasing threat of antimicrobial resistance, exacerbated by the pandemic, underscores the importance of the infection preventionist as an active member of the antimicrobial stewardship program.

Ann Scheck McAlearney, ScD, MS: “Infection preventionists … can provide managers with the guidance provided by this type of research, as well as the data to support infection prevention efforts….”

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra: “Phase 2 of the COVID origins study must be launched with terms of reference that are transparent, science-based, and give international experts the independence to fully assess the source of the virus and the early days of the outbreak.”

The company reports that for fully vaccinated study participants aged 12-17 (2 doses administered) no cases of COVID-19 were reported.

In terms of severe post-acute complications from COVID-19, there is a low relative risk for those who were not admitted to the hospital.

The new CDC mask guidance came down so quickly that it just didn’t give people time to prepare, and it also ignores that we still have a majority of the population not fully vaccinated.

Efforts to pinpoint the pandemic’s cause might have been stymied by the Chinese Communist Party.

Infection preventionists—many of whom are trying to tamp down vaccine hesitancy among some fellow health care professionals—should prepare to help with an autumn campaign.

Last week the number of COVID-19 cases dropped below 40,000 for the first time since mid-September. This past week, they’ve dropped below 30,000, about a 20% improvement in just 1 week.

Investigators developed a sensor system that amplifies the binding signal for a target biomarker in order to detect the presence of a virus.

In the study, cotton masks stopped 45%-73% of coronavirus aerosols. Masks with nanofiber filters blocked 99.9% of the particles.

Those of you who advocate reopening at the peril of those who are vaccine hesitant—letting nature decide the fate of the ill-informed—need to remember that survival is not the same as recovery.

CDC data show that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines reduced the risk of getting sick with COVID-19 by 94% among health care personnel who were fully vaccinated.

Despite good news in the U.S., victory over a worldwide pandemic can’t exclude half of the world.

Linda Spaulding RN, BC, CIC: “It only takes you saying something a couple times that the OR knows is absolutely absurd and incorrect, and it’s going to ruin the relationship for a long time. Infection preventionists really need to take the responsibility of learning.”

"We have all longed for this moment when we can get back to some sense of normalcy," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, said.

A growing avalanche of real-world evidence attests to the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccinations. The more people of every age group who can be vaccinated the better, says the CDC.

Infectious disease transmission isn’t as simple as a singular label that doesn’t describe the nuance or situations that increase or decrease risk.

The World Health Organization calls the B.1.617 a COVID-19 variant of global concern. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that it’s not that much of a concern in the United States for now.

Sara M. Reese, PhD, MPH, CIC, and Sarah Smathers, MPH, CIC, were 2 of the coauthors of a recent study that talks about how hospitals and other health care systems can bolster IP ranks.

Americans seem to be welcoming the post-COVID-19 world with open (and vaccinated) arms these days.

There are not enough infection preventionists to go around now, and trends suggest that there may even be fewer in the future. But there are ways to shore up the ranks, a study says.