U.S. hospitals saw improvement fighting bloodstream and urinary tract infections rates last year, according to the CDC's 2019 National and State HAI Progress Report. 

Meal breaks offer healthcare workers crucial time to eat and reenergize amid a hectic shift. But in the era of COVID-19, meal breaks may also pose an infection risk, as staff members must take their masks or respirators off to eat. Break room or cafeteria space may also be limited, making it difficult for employees to maintain appropriate social distancing. 

Many infection preventionists said they've seen an uptick in healthcare-associated infections at their facilities since the pandemic's start, according to a Dec. 3 survey from the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.

Infants born via Cesarean section may be at higher risk of developing infections that require hospitalization, according to a study published in PLOS Medicine.

Between February and July, 34 patients at a New Jersey hospital acquired carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumanni infection or colonization, according to the CDC's Dec. 1 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The bacteria can lead to pneumonia and wound, blood stream and urinary tract infections. 

SARS-CoV-2 viral load tends to peak during the first week of illness, making COVID-19 patients most infectious two days before symptom onset until about five days after, according to a recent study published in The Lancet. 

Hospitalized COVID-19 patients face a 22 percent higher risk of developing sepsis and are 113 percent more likely to experience septic shock compared to hospitalized influenza patients, according to an Epic Health Research Network report published Nov. 19. 

Decontaminating surfaces in airports, public transit vehicles and other public settings does little to prevent the spread of COVID-19 indoors, scientists told The New York Times.

The American Medical Association is calling for physicians and healthcare workers to voluntarily take appropriate measures to protect others if they are not immunized from a vaccine-preventable disease, according to an ethical guidance amendment approved during a Nov. 16 meeting.  

Iowa public health officials are struggling to reach individuals with COVID-19, making it difficult to conduct contact tracing and request that the infected individuals stay home, reports The Des Moines Register.

University of Vermont Medical Center's Fanny Allen Campus in Colchester is shutting down its operating rooms again after more nurses report nausea and dizziness, reports VTDigger.

St. Michael Medical Center in Bremerton, Wash., is investigating its second COVID-19 outbreak since August.

More than half of disposable isolation gowns tested by the ECRI Institute failed to meet standard protection levels, the patient safety organization said Nov. 10.

Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston fared poorly after a CMS investigation found several hospital employees arriving without face masks and unsanitary conditions in rooms, reports Maine Public. 

Hospital floors may be a larger source of bacteria infection spread than previously thought, according to a study published Nov. 2 in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. 

Healdsburg District Hospital in California undertook a daylong effort Oct. 26 to test all of its staff members for COVID-19 after 14 employees contracted the virus this month, reports KTVU. 

The CDC unveiled a national infection control training initiative Oct. 28 known as Project Firstline to help prevent the spread of infectious diseases in healthcare settings.

Tacoma, Wash.-based CHI Franciscan health system is working with its local health department to investigate an outbreak of COVID-19 cases at St. Joseph Medical Center, reports The News Tribune. 

As New York sees an increase in COVID-19 clusters, hospital and nursing home visits are banned in areas designated as COVID-19 red zones, reports syracuse.com. 

Antibiotic use has increased at Veterans Affairs hospitals during the pandemic, reversing a four-year trend of reduced use, according to a study presented at IDWeek 2020.