CDC Updates COVID-19 Healthcare IPC Recommendations

Hello Los Angeles County Outpatient Colleagues,

Please see the email below concerning the end of the federal COVID-19 public health emergency.

With the end of the federal COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) on May 11, 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will no longer receive data needed to publish Community Transmission levels for SARS-CoV-2, which influenced the use of source control (or masking) in all healthcare settings as well as admission testing in nursing homes. 

CDC has updated recommendations in the Interim Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations for Healthcare Personnel During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic. The updates include: 

• Admission testing in nursing homes will be at the discretion of the facility, as it already is for other healthcare settings.     
• Facilities will be encouraged to look beyond SARS-CoV-2 and make broader masking decisions based on facility-and-patient-level characteristics and local metrics that could reflect increasing respiratory virus transmission in the community.   

CDC remains dedicated to preventing transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens in healthcare settings and will continue working to reduce the negative impact of COVID-19 after the PHE has ended.

CDC’s Project Firstline is hosting a town hall event in collaboration with the American Medical Association to review the updates and hear perspectives from the field on May 16, 2023 at 12:30 PM ET.  To learn more about the town hall and to register, please visit the event page at: https://bit.ly/PFLCDC