Mask Respirator

Kevin Kavanagh, MD: “COVID-19 is not just respiratory, it affects every organ of the body. This is a serious type of infection. And we need to be focusing on trying to keep this virus from spreading, plus protecting our young.”

An infection prevention officer at the hospital along with key clinical personnel and administrators had to give the OK for the prototype mask to be manufactured.

Investigators in Chile conclude that the lambda COVID-19 variant is not only more infectious than standard SARS-CoV-2, but could also possibly shrug off vaccines. The first case in the United States has been spotted at Houston Methodist Hospital.

The issue of breakthrough infections is increasingly coming up. How frequent are they? How infectious are they? Simply put, we know the COVID-19 vaccines do not offer sterilizing immunity.

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today’s highlights for the week ending July 30.

New CDC guidelines say that vaccinated individuals should begin wearing masks again when indoors in public settings in parts of the US with substantial to high transmission.

Kevin Kavanagh, MD: “I am convinced this virus is about one or two iterations away from completely avoiding the vaccine. And remember, we have the lambda variant and the kappa variant which are sitting out there in the wings, waiting for immunity to drop and possibly cause another wave.”

Non-ventilator-hospital associated pneumonia prevention is quickly becoming the hot topic among infection preventionists.

We need to have a paradigm shift in the way we view this virus, planning and implementing strategies to allow us to live with an endemic pathogen.

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today®’s highlights for the week ending July 16.

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today®’s highlights for the week ending July 9.

Two obstacles that inhibit the use of face masks among health care professionals include concern about how’ll they’ll affect communication, and perceived discomfort. Attitudes improve greatly with use.

The FDA revokes approval of some masks and decontamination methods that it had OK’d during the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wearers press a button on the mask and within 90 minutes are fed information about whether SARS-CoV-2 has been detected on a patient’s breath, says a study.

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today®’s highlights for the week ending June 18.

The most poorly fitting mask can almost double the risk of infection for the wearers and even those around them.

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 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.

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

Infection preventionists need to stress the importance of aerosolization with increased recommendations for N-95 masks and we all need to realize that a prerequisite of reopening a business, school or public venue should be safe ventilation.

The truth is that variants will occur where the virus spreads and until SARS-CoV-2 is controlled everywhere, it won’t be controlled anywhere. What is occurring in India is a prime example of this.

Nurses need a seat at the table when discussing PPE stockpiling and purchasing practices to share their lived experiences and help the team discover where practice deviated from plans. Infection preventionists should support the nurses in these discussions as allies.

IPs and other health care professionals needed to improvise. That improvisation led to investigations into how many times an N95 can be reused and still keep SARS- CoV-2 at bay.

Christina Yen, MD: “For any infection preventionists who are thinking about or are reviewing the need for VHP sometime in the future, just know that those colleagues that we’ve relied on this time around are going to be there and are going to be your partners in the VHP process.”

Surgical masks offer better protection against aerosolized particles than face shields or even better than face shields and surgical masks used together, study finds.

When outbreaks have been reported in hospitals that are using universal masking, unmasked exposure to other health care workers is often the cause. Transmissions have been traced to break rooms and cafeterias.

Here, we will review 3 common sterilization modalities currently in use for N95 respirator decontamination, how they work, and their strengths and limitations.

Beau Wangtrakuldee, PhD: “In the health care industry in general, small sizes are typically based on Caucasian males, so once you get to women who truly have smaller frames there are no products available for them.”

Sharon Ward-Fore, MS, MT(ASCP), CIC: "We’ve learned the hard way that restaurants, office settings, hair salons, fitness centers, and schools have really suffered for the lack of guidance by professionals like infection preventionists."

The shape and material composition of the N95 respirators varied widely from manufacturer to manufacturer, which can result in variations in the efficacy of a particular method from one product to the next.