80% increase in COVID-19 infections during hospitalizationS U.S. experts say CDC policies may contribute to in-hospital transmission

According to Business Insider reported on the 16th, according to the data recently released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), a week after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced more relaxed isolation regulations for medical staff on December 23 last year, the total number of patients infected with the new coronavirus after at least two weeks of hospitalization increased by 80% - from about 1200 patients to 2200 patients. Disease experts worry that CDC policies are fueling the spread of COVID-19 in hospitals as infected health care workers return to work.

People register for COVID-19 testing at a mobile checkpoint in Paramount Park, California, Los Angeles Times

CDC policies may facilitate in-hospital transmission

Last month, the CDC announced that healthcare workers could return to work after testing positive for COVID-19 instead of the previously recommended 10 days. The policy applies to asymptomatic patients, as well as mildly or moderately symptomatic patients who are recovering. They need to test negative for COVID-19 within 48 hours of returning to work. The CDC also said that if there is a shortage of personnel, the quarantine period may be further shortened to five days. In this case, healthcare workers do not need to be tested for COVID-19 after isolation. CdC says there are no work restrictions at all in the event of a crisis when there are not enough staff to provide safe care for patients.

According to the latest data from HHS, nearly a quarter of hospitals in the United States report severe staffing shortages. Often, this means having to choose between treating patients and getting employees who have been infected with COVID-19 back to work. However, disease experts are concerned that CDC's policies are fueling intra-hospital transmission as studies show that some COVID-19 patients remain contagious for up to 10 days.

Data from HHS shows that the total number of patients infected with COVID-19 after at least two weeks of hospitalization increased by 80 percent after the CDC announced the new quarantine rules — from about 1,200 to 2,200.

Dr. Jorge Cavalero, a data scientist at the nonprofit Coders for COVID-19, told Business Insider that the patients "initially entered the hospital for non-COVID-19 reasons and were then found to have tested positive for COVID-19." Caballero said: "The only place where they could get the coronavirus is the hospital because that's where they went, and they didn't have [infection] in the first place." ”

In-hospital transmission may originate mainly from "super-spreaders"

Caballero said even a brief exposure to Omicron was enough to infect people. He said even healthcare workers wearing high-protective masks such as N95 can still leak infectious particles when coughing or sneezing.

Jeremy Foster, an emergency physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital, said transmission within the hospital may stem primarily from "super-spreaders" — a small number of highly contagious people who infect many other people even after a brief contact. "You take patients to the radiology department for X-rays and there are 50 people in that room all day, and if some of them are really, very contagious, then the virus could spread through the air and that's where you get the virus," he said. ”

Experts say cdc's new recommendations are always at risk of spreading more within hospitals, regardless of the circumstances.

Upstream News Compiled by Jiang Mingjing