COVID-19 Update October 6, 2022

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease Director Dr. Anthony Fauci announced on Tuesday that there is a possibility of a new COVID-19 variant emerging this winter.

Over the past two winters, the U.S. has experienced drastic surges in cases, most recently due to the outbreak of the Omicron variant BA.1. Fauci said in his statement that as the country enters the winter months once again, there will always be a risk of increased cases for all respiratory viruses. According to Axios, this is due to the winter months ushering people indoors, to shared spaces with poorer ventilation.

In Arizona and across the country, cases have plateaued. According to the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) COVID-19 data dashboard, the state is still hovering around 3,500 new cases per week, with 36 deaths reported in the past week.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released an advisory on the efficacy of Evusheld, the only option for pre-exposure prophylaxis of COVID-19 released under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). Evusheld may not neutralize certain strains of the virus, and the FDA updated its fact sheet for health providers.

Healthcare worker advocacy groups continue their plea to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to institute stronger guidance to protect healthcare workers from the spread of COVID-19. National Nurses United, the largest union of professional nurses in the U.S., sent a letter last Friday to the Center requesting that they reverse relaxations in guidances. From NNU President Jean Ross, RN:

While some changes move in a more protective direction, overall, these updates will result in decreased protections for healthcare workers and our patients, which will result in increased transmission, illness, and death.

Now is not the time to remove protections from Covid-19. The United States continues to see a significant level of transmission, with over 88 percent of U.S. counties experiencing high or substantial transmission.

Inspired by the confusion of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is now seeking to compile the first National Directory of Healthcare Providers and Services (NDH). CMS is currently seeking comment on how such a directory could reduce maintenance burden on providers and payers by creating a single, centralized system.

Currently, the healthcare directory landscape is fragmented, resulting in patients sometimes struggling to find up-to-date information about providers in their network and providers facing redundant and burdensome reporting requirements to multiple databases. Because of that burden, directories often contain inaccurate information, rarely support interoperable data exchange or public health reporting, and are costly to the healthcare industry.