Editor's Note This study, led by nurse researchers at the College of Nursing, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, explores the experiences of infection preventionists (IPs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Responses from 61 IPs surveyed were included in the analysis. Among the findings: The initial phases of COVID-19 was a time of clinical…

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Editor's Note Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data is showing an uptick in COVID-19 positivity rates and emergency department visits after months of decline, according to the July 24 US News and World Report. Cases of the Omicron subvariant EG.5, which was recently added to the World Health…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on May 26, released an update on the spread of COVID-19 at its 2023 Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Conference in Atlanta in April. The conference was attended by some 1,800 in-person attendees. A rapid assessment team was gathered to survey…

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Editor's Note Estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention find the emerging COVID-19 Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16, dubbed Arcturus, is responsible for more than 14% of COVID-19 cases in the US over the past 2 weeks, up from nearly 7% in the prior 2 weeks, according to the May…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that the Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16, also referred to as Arcturus, accounted for nearly 12% of COVID-19 cases in the US last week, and another relative, XBB.1.9.1 is responsible for 9% of cases, as of April 29, the April 28…

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Editor's Note This study led by researchers from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that federal actions taken to expand telehealth use for Medicare patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) and to facilitate provision of medications for OUD (MOUD) were associated…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on March 29, updated its COVID-19 vaccination guidelines to say that one dose of the bivalent booster is all that is recommended at this time, even for those who were last vaccinated more than 6 months ago. The CDC notes…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Diseas Control and Prevention issued an alert that infections from the fungus Candida auris are increasing, according to a March 23 report from Michigan Medicine. Highlights from the report include: Patients in nursing facilities who have ventilator-associated infections are at increased risk, and ventilators have…

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Editor's Note This German study finds that expectations and prior experiences were associated with increased adverse effect reports in individuals receiving their second COVID-19 vaccinations. Researchers collected data from 1,678 individuals receiving Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines. Severe adverse effect reports were higher in those: expecting a lower benefit…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is hosting a new dashboard—Respiratory Virus Hospitalization Surveillance Network (RESP-NET)—that tracks hospitalization rates for laboratory-confirmed COVID-19, influenza, and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) by age, sex, race/ethnicity, state, and season. The information is based on data from a network of acute…

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