Public Policy Updates

4/28/22 — APIC Public Policy Committee Chair Lisa Sturm, MPH, CIC, FAPIC represented APIC at an informal hearing on occupational exposure to COVID-19. OSHA has reopened the comment period following its withdrawal of the June 2021 COVID-19 Healthcare Emergency Temporary Standard. The agency is now working on developing a permanent COVID-19 standard. Read the APIC statement … Continued

4/28/22 — Celltrion USA is recalling certain Point of Care (POC) DiaTrust COVID-19 Ag Rapid Tests because they may have been distributed to unauthorized users. Emergency use of these tests is limited to authorized laboratories and use of these tests in unauthorized settings (for example, customers without CLIA-certification) may present an increased risk of false results … Continued

4/28/22 — The CDC Clinician Outreach and Communication Activity (COCA) will hold a webinar to discuss post-COVID conditions (PCC), an umbrella term for the wide range of health consequences that are present four or more weeks after infection with SARS-CoV-2, which includes long COVID. Cognitive symptoms, often described by patients as “brain fog”, are frequently reported … Continued

4/26/22 — The FDA expanded the approval of the COVID-19 treatment Veklury (remdesivir) to include pediatric patients ages 28 days and older with positive results of direct SARS-CoV-2 viral testing, who are hospitalized, or have mild-to-moderate COVID-19 and are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19. This makes Veklury the first approved COVID-19 treatment for children … Continued

4/21/22 — The CDC issued a Health Alert Network (HAN) Health Advisory to notify clinicians and public health authorities of a cluster of children identified with hepatitis and adenovirus infection at a large children’s hospital in Alabama. Nine children have been admitted to that hospital with hepatitis and adenovirus infection between October 2021 and February 2022. … Continued

4/20/22 — HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra has renewed the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) through July 15, 2022. Read the HHS ASPR announcement.

4/13/22 — The FDA authorized a shelf-life extension for the two presentations of the Tris/Sucrose formulation of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, supplied in multiple dose vials with orange caps and labels with an orange border and in multiple dose vials with gray caps and labels with a gray border. The authorization allows the frozen vials to be … Continued

4/14/22 — The FDA issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) to InspectIR Systems for their InspectIR COVID-19 Breathalyzer test. This is the first COVID-19 diagnostic test that detects chemical compounds in breath samples associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. The test is authorized for people ages 18 and older without symptoms. It must be performed by a qualified, trained … Continued

4/19/22 — As a result of a court order, effective as of April 18, 2022, CDC’s January 29, 2021 Order requiring masks on public transportation conveyances and at transportation hubs is no longer in effect. Therefore, CDC will not enforce the Order. CDC continues to recommend that people wear masks in indoor public transportation settings at … Continued