Eyes wide with surprise, Adelita Cantu, PhD, RN, FAAN, pulled into the parking lot of the UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing in December 2020. Media trucks populated the parking lot and reporters bustled in and out of the nursing school on a mission to capture their next headline. Adjusting her mask, Adelita took in the unexpected flurry of media, stepped out of her vehicle, and made her way into the nursing school. Inside, amid her chatting colleagues, reporters readied their pens, cameras, and microphones. Nearly a year after COVID-19 began infecting Texans – especially Latinos – Bexar County had finally gotten its hands on its first COVID-19 vaccines – and it was time to celebrate. Applause rightfully flooded the room as all eyes focused on the vaccines ...
Respirators are a common type of personal protective equipment (PPE) – but not the only one. Gowns, gloves, goggles, and face shields are other kinds of PPE that Latino and all frontline healthcare workers use to help the spread of germs and viruses, including the virus that causes COVID-19.
Gowns
In healthcare, gowns are worn over your work clothes to reduce transmission of germs. They make it easier to remove germs and body fluids that might get on you while you work. “Germs that get on your clothes can spread to you. But they can also spread to other surfaces and other people,” said Dr. Abigail Carlson, an infectious diseases physician with the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), as part of CDC Project Firstline’s Inside Infection Control video series. ...
COVID-19 is not over, especially for Latinos. To help people stay vigilant in stopping the spread, the CDC recently published an updated Summary of Guidance for Minimizing the Impact of COVID-19 on Individual Persons, Communities, and Health Care Systems. “To prevent medically significant COVID-19 illness and death, persons must understand their risk, take steps to protect themselves and others with vaccines, therapeutics, and nonpharmaceutical interventions when needed, receive testing and wear masks when exposed, receive testing if symptomatic, and isolate for [greater than or equal to] 5 days if infected,” the CDC reported on Aug. 11, 2022. Vaccines and Therapeutics to Reduce Medically Significant Illness The CDC recommends a strategic approach to minimize the impact ...
Latinos and other minority groups are disproportionately contracting the monkeypox virus, according to a recent report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The monkeypox virus, which began infecting Americans in May 2022, has since been declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization and a public health emergency by the Biden-Harris Administration. As of August 12, 2022 there are 10,768 confirmed cases of monkeypox in the US.
Monkeypox Cases by Race/Ethnicity
99% of monkeypox cases are occurring in men. Of those, 94% of men report male-to-male sexual or close intimate contact within three weeks before experiencing symptoms. 41% of monkeypox cases were among Whites, 28% among Latinos, and 26% among Blacks, according to the CDC ...
Infection control saves lives, and every frontline healthcare worker plays a critical role. To better support healthcare workers to prevent infections in health care, it is essential to equip them with the infection control knowledge they need and deserve to protect themselves and their patients from infectious disease threats, like COVID-19. This is why CDC launched Project Firstline, an infection control training and education collaborative designed with healthcare workers, for healthcare workers. Project Firstline intends to provide equity of understanding for all: nurses, certified nursing assistants, environmental service technicians, doctors, allied health professionals, and administrative/intake staff. The innovative content is designed so that regardless of previous ...
As America continues to struggle with COVID-19 variants, a monkeypox outbreak has reached almost every state. Monkeypox – a rare disease caused by infection with the monkeypox virus, which causes similar-but-milder symptoms than smallpox – began appearing in countries where it is not endemic in May 2022. The virus has since spread globally with more than 16,000 cases in over 75 countries. Given the disease’s rapid spread, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared monkeypox a global emergency on July 23, 2022. The Biden Administration declared monkeypox a public health emergency in the U.S. on Aug. 4, 2022. Here’s what you need to know. Update 8/5/22: Monkeypox case numbers from the CDC.
Where is Monkeypox Spreading in the US?
Monkeypox cases have risen to 7,102 ...
We all know that some viruses make us sick, like norovirus, which causes vomiting and diarrhea; rhinovirus, which causes the common cold; and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. But how do these viruses make us sick? What happens when a virus gets into the body? Our bodies are made up of billions of microscopic building blocks, called cells. On the outside of our cells, there are tiny parts that stick out. Those tiny parts are made of proteins that act like a lock on a door. If you have the right “key” for the “lock,” then you can get into the cell. Some virus cells can have tiny parts that stick out on their outsides, too. Those tiny parts can work like a “false key” that can fit the “lock” to some types of our bodies’ cells. It’s not an exact ...
Ventilation is the movement of air in and out of spaces. Good ventilation can help remove things from the air that we don’t want to breathe in, such as chemicals and dust – and small virus particles released by someone who is infected with a respiratory virus, like SARS-CoV-2. “The fewer virus particles in the air, the less likely you are to breathe them in, or that the virus particles will land on your eyes or a surface that you might touch,” said Dr. Abigail Carlson, an infectious diseases physician with the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), as part of CDC Project Firstline’s Inside Infection Control video series.
The Importance of Air Changes
Good ventilation involves air changes, which means that the air in a room is replaced with new or filtered ...
A respirator keeps you from breathing in particles in the air that might hurt you, like germs, dust, and chemicals. In healthcare, we use respirators when we think we’re going to be in a situation when we could breathe in air that’s carrying infectious particles – like viruses.
Air-Purifying Respirators
There are different types of respirators available in healthcare. Air-purifying respirators work by using filters, or canisters or cartridges, to remove dangerous things from the air that you could breathe in. There are many types of air-purifying respirators. Healthcare workers often use a filtering facepiece respirator (FFR), which fit snugly against the face and cover the mouth and nose. The most common type of FFR used in healthcare is the N95 respirator – more ...
