Coronavirus Resources and Reading

THE CDC IS ALWAYS YOUR GO-TO SOURCE

Guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is moving rapidly to keep up with developments in the pandemic. Health care facilities must stay abreast of the latest guidance and be prepared to not only implement it quickly but communicate it effectively to key stakeholders: employees, medical staffs, patients or residents, families, vendors and other partners.

In some of the most recent guidance from the CDC, it recommends that for the next 8 weeks, organizers cancel or postpone in-person events of 50 or more people throughout the U.S.

The Mitigation Strategies for Communities with Local COVID-19 Transmission are extremely informative. You can read the CDC's mitigation strategies framework or the specific strategies developed by Santa Clara, California, Seattle, New Rochelle, New York, or the states of Florida and Massachusetts.

To help keep up with news from the CDC, you can read transcripts or listen to the audio from the CDC’s daily media telebriefings on COVID-19 in the CDC Newsroom. Or subscribe to the Health Alert Network, which is the CDC’s primary method of sharing information about urgent health incidents.

The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living are conducting a daily call with the CDC. Demand to join the call is high but you can read a summary of each call on the AHCA website.

STATES RESPOND AS HOSPITALS PREPARE

Several states have ordered bars and restaurants closed except for carry-out and delivery. Ohio, Illinois, Massachusetts, California, Washington and New York among them. The New York Times explains Why America’s Virus Response Looks Like a Patchwork.

Becker’s Hospital Review spoke with a dozen infection control and clinical leaders overseeing response efforts at hospitals and health systems nationwide. Read how they’re responding in The Coronavirus Playbook: How 12 Health Systems are Responding to the Pandemic.

The New York Times reports on other hospital efforts to prepare for surges in volume and challenges created by the stringent infection-control practices required for suspected coronavirus cases.

THE CURRENT NUMBERS

The COVID-19 interactive map created by Johns Hopkins University is maintained in near real time. On March 10, it went from reporting county-level to state-level data to retain timeliness and accuracy but the JHU team expects to return to county-level reporting once it feels confident the platform can provide the most accurate, timely reports from local jurisdictions. Organizations can access the embed code for their own sites, and are asked only to provide a citation crediting the university.

RESOURCES FOR EMPLOYERS

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has guidance on Pandemic Preparedness in the Workplace and the Americans with Disabilities Act, including an ADA-compliant survey that allows employers to identify which employees are more likely to be unavailable for work during a pandemic.

For employers subject to the provisions of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the U.S. Department of Labor has compiled its relevant OSHA information in Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19, including an occupational risk pyramid for COVID-19. Most health care workers are considered at high risk with certain healthcare workers – such as those performing aerosol-generating procedures or collecting or handling specimens from known or suspected COVID-19 patients – being at very high risk for potential exposure.

HELPING FAMILIES THROUGH THE CRISIS

Parents with children in daycare or school will want to keep abreast of the CDC’s Guidance for School & Childcare, updated last on March 12. It includes a decision tree to help schools with decision-making and mitigation strategies, including recommendations for ensuring continuity of education and related supports for children.

As schools close, charitable organizations are working to fill the gap for 29.7 million children who rely on the National School Lunch Program. Check for updates to CNN’s list of organizations working to fill the gap and reach food insecure children.

There are more resources for individuals and families from the CDC, like this FAQ information about How to Talk to Children about the situation and good reminders about the importance of working to reduce stigma.

GIVING HELPS

If you can give and want to make a difference in meeting the needs in this rapidly evolving crisis, the two public health organizations leading the U.S. and the world through the pandemic both have charitable response funds.

The COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO is a secure way to contribute to the World Health Organization-led effort to respond to the pandemic. The solidarity fund will support the massive effort to help countries prevent, detect and manage the novel coronavirus – particularly those where the needs are the greatest.

Or support the CDC Foundation’s ALL OF US campaign to combat coronavirus where your dollars will help cover the many needs that arise in an emergency response that the federally funded CDC cannot cover.