Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

12 INFECTION CONTROL Chicago hospital faces $13K penalty after OSHA cites 'serious' respirator mask violations By Erica Carbajal T he Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a $13,494 penalty to Chicago-based Communi- ty First Medical Center in December 2020 aer an inspection found violations related to respirator mask policies, the Chicago Sun- Times reported Feb. 24. OSHA cited the hospital for two "serious" vi- olations for failing to test employees to ensure a proper fit of their respirator masks and for not implementing a written "respiratory pro- tection program," according to the inspection document referenced by the Sun-Times. e hospital is contesting the violations. Some Community First Medical Center nurses, who unionized as members of National Nurses United in 2019 and are now negotiating a contract with the hospital, say the the inspection was prompted by a fed- eral complaint they filed aer three nurses contracted COVID-19 and died, according to the Sun-Times. ey blame a lack of adequate personal protective equipment at the hospital, which allegedly forced some workers to buy their own respirators. e hospital denies the allegation. "As with all community hospitals across the country, Community First Medical Center has felt the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic firsthand," the hospital said in a statement cited by the Chicago Tribune. "All loss of life associated with this pandemic is met with great sorrow, particularly by those who are professionally engaged in treating the ill and injured on a daily basis. Our colleagues have become ill and some have made the ultimate sacrifice for their profession." e hospital declined to comment on the citation because it was contesting it as of late February, according to the Tribune. n Physician viewpoint: Hospital- acquired COVID-19 is rampant, but facilities aren't sounding the alarm By Mackenzie Bean H ospitals must adopt rapid, frequent COVID-19 testing for staff to protect patients from hospital-acquired COVID-19, Manoj Jain, MD, an infectious disease consultant for several hospitals in Memphis, Tenn., wrote in a Jan. 21 op-ed published in The Washington Post. While hospitals are taking strict precautions to prevent the virus's spread, COVID-19 is still common among hospital staff, Dr. Jain wrote. He cited a July 2020 study showing front-line healthcare workers have a four times higher COVID-19 positivity rate than the general public. Dr. Jain said the first hospital-acquired COVID-19 case he identified involved a heart failure patient in his 70s who died within 24 hours of developing a fever. He had been hospitalized on the same floor that a few nurses had tested positive for the virus. Since then, Dr. Jain said he's seen five cases of nosocomial COVID-19 in the past four weeks. "My experience tells me that nosocomial COVID-19 is rampant, and hospitals are not sounding the alarm," he wrote in the op-ed. "Much like other hospital-acquired infections, COVID-19 in the hospital can be prevented, and many vulnerable patients protected." Dr. Jain said CMS should implement staff testing requirements at hos- pitals to prevent nosocomial spread of COVID-19. "Until all healthcare workers across the country are vaccinated, testing of hospital staff needs to be mandatory based on the community spread of infection in their county, and Medicare payments should be withheld if hospitals do not comply," he wrote. n No flu, RSV admissions reported by Utah children's hospital this season By Mackenzie Bean S alt Lake City-based Intermountain Prima- ry Children's Hospital has admitted zero patients with flu or respiratory syncytial virus this season, "which is unheard of," the health system said Feb. 22. Typically, the hospital admits about 80 children with flu or RSV every week in January and Feb- ruary when the respiratory viral season peaks. Up to one-third of these patients usually require intensive care, according to Per Gesteland, MD, a pediatric hospitalist at University of Utah Health and Intermountain Primary Children's Hospital. This trend is mirrored across the state and nationwide. As of mid-February, the CDC had reported 11 positive tests for RSV. Last year at this time, that figure was closer to 2,300 positive tests. "Masking, hand-washing and physical distanc- ing clearly played a major role, but it is hard to understand why RSV just did not show up at all this year," Andrew Pavia, MD, chief of pediatric infectious disease at University of Utah Health and director of epidemiology at Intermoun- tain Primary Children's Hospital, said in a news release. "It's a silver lining of the pandemic, but also [a] bit of a mystery." n

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