• The Texas Health and Human Services Commission has published an Infection Control Basics and Personal Protective Equipment for Essential Caregivers guide for nursing homes, assisted living facilities, intermediate care facilities, hospices and home and community-based services group homes.  This is an 18-page guide with a date of November 9, 2020.

• Toolkit on State Actions to Mitigate COVID-19 Prevalence in Nursing Homes – Version 15 is now available.  This version is 214-pages in length and was last updated December 3, 2020.
• Questions and Answers about the COVID-19 Vaccine for PALTC Staff, Patients, Residents and Family Members is a great resource for answers to questions regarding COVID-19.  The 5-page, 16-question document also provides links to additional CDC resources for the vaccine.  This resource was compiled by AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine.
• Nursing Home COVID-19 Testing FAQs was posted December 7, 2020 on the CMS Current Emergencies webpage.  Also posted that same date is a Hospital Capacity Letter to Governorsfrom CMS Administrator Seema Verma.  This is a good resource website that you may want to bookmark and check often for updated information.
• Ten Truths About COVID-19 is an upcoming webinar hosted by CDC on Monday, December 14, 2020 from 2-3pm CT.  You’ll learn about updates to the CDC’s COVID-19 Emergency Response, including the latest scientific information and what everyone should know about protecting themselves and others.  In addition, Dr. John T. Brooks, chief medical officer for the CDC COVID-19 Emergency Response, will discuss 10 important truths about COVID-19 and provide the facts and data behind each.   Register to attend this webinar.
• CDC issued new guidance on December 8, 2020 regarding when to quarantine.

There is also information about the difference between quarantine and isolation and options to reduce quarantine as well as confirmed and suspected cases of reinfection of the virus that causes COVID-19.

Options to Reduce Quarantine for Contacts of Persons with SARS-CoV-2 Infection Using Symptom Monitoring and Diagnostic Testing was updated December 2, 2020 by CDC.

• CDC hosted a great webinar on December 3, 2020 – COVID-19 Vaccination Implementation and ‘Vaccinate with Confidence’ Strategy which was recorded and available on demand.  It is just a bit over 60 minutes in length and well worth your time.  The presentation slides are also available.   (You can also download the presentation slides on the recording website.)
• COVID-19 Vaccine Briefing: Development, Safety and Distribution (slides) was another great webinar I listened to this past week.  The recorded webinaris available on demand.   

• Project Firstline is CDC’s National Training Collaborative for Healthcare Infection Prevention & Control. 

The power to stop infections. Together.  Every frontline healthcare worker deserves to understand infection control principles and protocols and feel they can confidently apply them to protect themselves, their facility, their family, and their community. CDC’s new infection control training collaborative, Project Firstline, is designed to help every frontline healthcare worker gain that knowledge and confidence.

On this website, you’ll find lots of links about this training module as well as actual training modules. 

Project Firstline’s first video in a series called Inside Infection Control has launched.

Up next: Project Firstline’s second video, “SARS-CoV-2? COVID-19? What’s the Difference?” will go live on Facebook Thursday, December 10 at 2PM EST. In this video, Dr. Abby answers a frequently asked question and describes why the answer matters.

Going forward, frontline healthcare workers can join Dr. Abby weekly on Facebook for new video releases. She’ll cover topics including:

·  What are viruses?                                                                                                                                                  
·  How do viruses make us sick?                                                                                                                                         
·  What are respiratory droplets?                                                                                                                                   
·  How can we stop respiratory droplets from making us sick?                                                                                          
·  How does hand hygiene stop SARS-CoV-2?

Each Inside Infection Control video is designed to help frontline healthcare workers understand and feel confident implementing the infection control strategies needed to protect themselves, their patients, their coworkers, and their communities.

To stay up to date about new video episodes and infection control content created to support frontline healthcare workers, make sure to follow Project Firstline on Facebook and Twitter.

Project Firstline is an unprecedented infection control training designed so that-regardless of a healthcare worker’s previous training or educational background-they can understand and confidently apply the infection control principles and protocols necessary to protect themselves, their facility, their families, and their communities.