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COVID Shot 54% Effective in Preventing Infection
Immunization with the updated COVID-19 vaccine provided approximately 54% increased protection against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to no receipt of the updated vaccine.
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Seeking Your Own Path? Consider IP Consulting
Infection preventionists who are competent and confident, who can dress sharply and speak well, and are adept and finding and fixing the “core” of a problem, may want to go out on their own and become a consultant.
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Still Standing: Antivaxx Groups Fail to Intimidate Hotez
On Feb. 1, 2022, Peter Hotez, MD, PhD, was nominated, along with a colleague, for the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to design and distribute a nonproprietary, free COVID-19 vaccine to impoverished nations globally. The very next day Hotez received an email with the subject line: “You will hang for crimes against humanity.” Hotez recently documented this harassment and attempts at intimidation in his new book, The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science: A Scientist’s Warning.
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The Paramedic’s Tale: From Agony to Activist
In March 2020, Karyn Bishof, BS, had the physical strength and mental wherewithal to be a paramedic at a fire department. Through the close encounters and hands-on care required for the job, Bishof was infected with SARS-CoV-2. Shortly thereafter began the chronic syndromes and the array of neurological and physical conditions collectively called long COVID. Despite her limitations, Bishof founded the COVID-19 Longhauler Advocacy Project and began getting information out to others.
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CDC Halts HICPAC to Review Masks, N95s, Long COVID
Citing pushback from stakeholder groups, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rejected new recommendations for air transmission precautions by its infection control advisory panel, asking it to consider with expert consultation this question: “Should N95 respirators be recommended for all pathogens that spread by the air?”
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Telling It Like It Is: Too Many HCWs Are Unhealthy
With more than 35 years of experience in employee health, wellness coaching, and lifestyle medicine, Leticia Nichols, NP-C, is not afraid to share a few inconvenient truths about poor diets and disease, which the healthcare system is primarily designed to treat rather than prevent.
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Threat of Reinfection Includes Long COVID
Accumulating research suggests reinfections with SARS-CoV-2 increase the likelihood of developing long COVID, the horrific post-acute syndrome with indefinite duration and a panoply of neurological, autoimmune, and physical conditions. Moreover, the risk of developing long COVID incrementally increases with each reinfection, according to a study that found this cumulative effect continues in up to three reinfections.
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Return to Light Duty Is Key to Full-Time Work
Healthcare workers’ physical injuries account for almost 50% of all injuries reported nationally. The proverbial insult that follows is that the longer they miss work, the less likely they are to return at all. At six months, there is less than a 50% chance they will return. The key justification for returning injured employees to light duty is that it is significantly associated with a return to full-time work and can positively re-engage workers.
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Wounded Healers: Long COVID Community Helps Its Own
Despite her limitations, Karyn Bishof, MS, founded the COVID-19 Longhauler Advocacy Project and began distributing information to others. Hospital Employee Heath reached out to Bishof for an interview.
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CDC Seeks Clarity on Masks, Respirators
An advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently completed draft isolation guidelines for respiratory patients, but got a thumbs down and a loaded question for their trouble: “Should N95 respirators be recommended for all pathogens that spread by the air?”