Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

18 INFECTION CONTROL 31 COVID-19 cases tied to Duke hospital's surgery, oncology unit By Mackenzie Bean A COVID-19 outbreak that started in an inpatient unit for surgical and on- cology patients at Duke Raleigh (N.C.) Hospital has infected 31 people, The News & Observer re- ported April 9. Durham, N.C.-based Duke Health System disclosed the outbreak March 22, confirming 20 infections at the time. The health system on April 8 said it identified 10 more cases linked to the outbreak after performing contact-tracing and testing dozens of employees, pa- tients and visitors who may have been exposed. Most infections involved Duke employees, according to Leigh Bleecker, the hospital's interim president. Some of the infected people may have contracted the virus outside the hospital, though Duke has "counted them as part of the hospital incident until fur- ther review," Ms. Bleecker told The News & Observer in April. "The incident serves as a remind- er that COVID-19 remains a pub- lic health concern, and everyone should remain vigilant with contin- ued mask-wearing, hand-washing and social-distancing," she said, adding that the system encourag- es everyone to get vaccinated at their first opportunity. Citing patient privacy laws, Duke did not share specifics about in- fected individuals' health status or say whether anyone required hos- pitalization. After the outbreak was identified, Duke said it completed a deep clean of the unit and temporarily restricted visitors. n Physicians report 1st case of COVID-19 antibodies passed to child through birth By Erica Carbajal C OVID-19 antibodies were detected in a baby girl born to a mother who received her first dose of the Moderna vaccine three weeks be- fore giving birth — the first reported case of antibodies being passed through birth, according to a case report published Feb. 5 in the preprint server medRxiv. Physicians from Palm Beach County, Fla., took a blood sample from the baby's umbilical cord immediately after birth and detected SARS-CoV-2 anti- bodies, according to the report. "This is one small case in what will be thousands and thousands of babies born to mothers who have been vaccinated over the next several months," Chad Rudnick, MD, pediatric specialist and co-author of the case report, told local ABC affiliate WPBF in a March 16 report. "Further studies have to determine how long this protection will last. They have to determine at what level of protection or how many antibodies does a baby need to have circulating in order to give them protection," Dr. Rudnick added. n Alaska hospital cited for infection control deficiencies By Erica Carbajal S tate regulators cited Juneau, Alaska-based Bartlett Regional Hospital in February aer a January inspection found issues related to screening and infection prevention procedures at the hospital, local news station KTOO reported March 15. e inspection was sparked by a staff member's complaints, according to KTOO. Inspectors reported some people weren't following through on all steps of the COVID-19 screening process at the hospital's front entrance, with some skipping out on using the hand sanitizer. e inspection also found some of the hospital staff were not routinely filling out a symptom screening worksheet at the start of their shis. "ey did find that we had good policies, but we weren't 100 percent in following all of our safe practices," Charlee Gribbon, BSN, RN, infection preventionist at Bartlett, told KTOO. In one instance, a staff member who showed up feeling sick was not directed to go home. e employee later tested positive for COVID-19. Ms. Gribbon said the employee and other hospital staff had been vaccinated around that time, so she believed it could've been side effects from the vaccine. Aer receiving notice of the violations, Kevin Benson, Bartlett's acting CEO, told the board of directors that the hospital had to develop a plan detailing how it would correct the issues within 10 days. "It was a learning experience and I thought it was really validating for the importance of the little things," Ms. Gribbon said. n

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