Our podcast covers current topics such as infection prevention and control, OSHA and HIPAA compliance for dentistry. We discuss the latest regulatory information, answer frequently asked questions and give suggestions for dental practices to make compliance easy and sustainable. The Compliance Divas are a trusted source for consistent, accurate information based upon current guidelines, standards, science, and recommendations.
On Dec. 14, 2023, the CDC issued an alert about respiratory viruses that are rapidly increasing across the U.S., and that immunization for respiratory infections are very low for the 2023-2024 winter season. Find out what dental teams can do to help stop the spread and protect themselves and patients during dental procedures.
Welcome to the Compliance Divas Podcast. I'm Mary Gavoni and I'll be the moderator for this special episode about an alert from the CDC Health Alert Network. The Compliance Divas bring clarity and simplicity to compliance by navigating the regulatory world to keep you on course. You can subscribe to the Compliance Divas Podcast through your favorite podcast channel or on our website at thecompliancedevas.com. The resources that we mentioned during this episode can be found on the website, thecompliancedeevas.com, also in the show notes from your podcast app. And you can submit any questions to support at thecompliancedivas.com. And we also ask that when you finish listening to the episode, you scroll down in your podcast app and please give us a review or a rating. On December 14th, the CDC issued an alert on their Health Alert Network, or Han, regarding the spread of respiratory viruses and the need for increasing vaccinations to decrease infections and hospitalizations. So in this special episode, the divas are going to discuss this alert and what it means for dental teams. And we're going to start with our diva, Linda, who will explain exactly what is the health alert network from the CDC and how our listeners can get subscribed to it.
SPEAKER_02
Mary, learning about Han is an important aspect for all of our listeners to be aware of. It's part of the CDC's network, and it is CDC's primary method of sharing clear information about urgent public health incidents with public health officials, federal, state, tribal, local, public clinicians, public health laboratories, and even us in dentistry. So it's going to be very important that our listeners subscribe to this network alert if they're not already. And we will be sure that that link is in today's show notes. So the CDCE's Han collaborates with different federal, state, territorial, tribal, and even city and county partners to develop protocols and relationships to ensure a robust interoperable platform for this rapid distribution of information so that when they're seeing the hospital cases rise or they're seeing an outbreak in different areas, whether it's CB COVID-19 or something else, this is how Han puts out this information. So it's very important that our listeners subscribe and really key in to this news on health alert network shows. I do want to mention to our listeners, Mary, that there was a dental-specific Han that was published on October 31st, 2022. And that one was about dental unit water lines and another dental clinic that was shut down and being investigated at that time for this possible spread of disease to the dental unit waterlines. So it happens on occasion. It's very rare that there is a Han that's focused on dentistry, more so than not, Mary, these HANs are focused on general public health. And of course, dental offices fall right in the middle. So we want all of our listeners, Mary, to key in on this important update and alert and sign up for the Health Alert Network and really be in the know so they can not only protect themselves, their team, and their patients, and stay healthy and well this flu season.
SPEAKER_00
Thanks, Linda. That was a beautiful explanation. And again, I think it's important for our listeners, for their teams to be subscribers so that they know what is happening in the public health arena that, of course, affects our patients and our own safety. Our Diva Leslie is going to explain a little more specifically about this most recent alert from the CDC and what it means for dental practices.
SPEAKER_01
Well, Mary, I got this alert when it was first announced on December 14th. And what Centers for Disease Control is trying to convey to dental professionals is that the facts are that there's low vaccination rates against influenza, COVID, and RSV. And because of low vaccination rates, coupled with the ongoing increases in national and international respiratory disease activity caused by multiple pathogens, including influenza, SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 and RSV, this could lead to more severe disease and increased health care capacity strain in the coming weeks. So all professionals that are uh in the healthcare industry are alerted by Han, but as dental professionals, we should pay particular attention. In addition to increases in cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, that's often uh recognized as MISC following SARS-CoV-2 infection in the United States. It's been reported that healthcare providers should administer influenza, COVID-19, and RSV immunization now to patients if recommended. So dental health care providers can help by making this recommendation to their patients, asking them during the screening process, which we should still be doing. We we sort of stopped when the COVID-19 pandemic ended, but we should still be screening patients, and I'll um express a little bit more information on that in a moment, too, for Californians especially. But we also want to make sure that we counsel patients about getting tested and other preventative measures, including covering coughs and sneezes, staying at home when sick, and improving ventilation at home or work, and washing hands to protect themselves and others against respiratory diseases. So the screening process that I had mentioned a little bit ago, for a note for Californians, as part of the aerosol transmissible disease standard that's been in effect since 2009, we are always required to screen our patients for respiratory transmissible, like aerosol transmissible diseases. So don't stop screening, but now is a good time during your screening process when you're asking patients, maybe upon confirmation call, if they're experiencing any COVID-like symptoms, if they are to maybe go into a little bit of information, if it's applicable, about getting tested and also the necessary follow-up from a physician so that they can get those antiretroviral medications as indicated. So another thing I want to amplify is that there's been reports of increased respiratory disease that have been described in multiple countries recently. And CDC is tracking increased respiratory disease activity in the United States for several respiratory pathogens, including influenza viruses, SARS-CoV-2, and RSV, across multiple indicators such as laboratory test positivity, emergency department visits, wastewater, and hospitalizations. Currently, the highest respiratory disease activity in the United States is occurring across the southern half of the country with an increasing activity in the northern states. And so we do have resources available in our show notes that can lead you to the maps that show where the activity is increasing. And in the past four weeks, it's interesting to note that hospitalizations among all age groups increased by 200% for influenza, 51% for COVID-19, and 60% for RSV. Oh, and just a couple other thoughts, influenza, COVID-19, and RSV can result in severe disease, especially among unvaccinated persons, infants, older adults, pregnant people, and people with certain underlying medical conditions, still remain at the increased risk of severe COVID-19 and influenza disease. Infants and older adults remain at highest risk for severe RSV disease. And it's the leading cause of infant hospitalization in the United States. So the key reasons for the co for the low vaccination rates, in case our interested our listeners are interested, is that we have a lack of proper recommendation from providers. So many times the healthcare providers are not giving the information to our patients. Concerns or issues about unknown or serious side effects, again, maybe due to not enough information or misinformation. People are worried about the occurrence of mild side effects. Oh, you know, I don't want to feel bad, I don't want to be sick, so I'm not gonna get vaccinated. And then the lack of time or forgetting to get vaccinated. So providers, including dental providers, should leverage all available tools to increase the uh immunizations against influenza, COVID-19, and RSV. And the CDC has a communication tool, again, in our show notes, that will help dental practices communicate to patients information and opening a discussion about getting vaccinated. So that's something that I think that we should be well aware of and then understand that antiviral medications are currently underused or underutilized. So our patients who do report that they're not coming in because they're sick might be better guided by their physician to be able to access those types of medications. Maybe a comment could be made that if we're counseling an appointment because someone is sick, you know, please contact your healthcare provider to see what antiretrovirals might be available to you to maybe uh lessen your symptoms or perhaps rule out under the the chance of higher risk hospitalization. So, in wrapping up, let's just keep in mind that this Han announcement is mostly due to the fact we have rising rates of these respiratory viruses, there's low vaccination rates that are leaving people at greater risk of serious illness, and there are more than just respiratory viruses that are spreading at this time. So public health agencies are on alert, and we want to make sure that our patients get that information so they may not be getting it otherwise, except from us in dental practices.
SPEAKER_00
Thank you, Leslie. That was a great summary of that information from the alert from the CDC. One of the things that I wanted to mention is that there are some states that allow dentists to administer influenza vaccines. So if that's something that a practice is legally allowed to do and they feel comfortable doing that, then it could be as simple as you come in for your appointment and you talk to the patient, counsel them about the value of an influenza vaccine, for example, and then the patient can make a choice. The biggest concern, I think, is just access to information. Where do we go to get the right information about what's happening with respiratory viruses? And we used to rely very heavily on the CDC COVID tracker, and that is still available in a limited sense, but what the CDC has introduced now is an update page on respiratory viruses. It's called respiratory virus updates, and the link is in the show notes. There's a lot of information there, and there's a lot of focus on what Leslie was talking about, which is RSB, COVID-19, and influenza. And there also is a link to a resource from the CDC on vaccinations. So if anyone has any questions about vaccine safety, any health conditions that would preclude vaccination and so forth. But I tend to agree with the statistics that the CDC is telling us that there's lower compliance, if you will, of vaccines, lower incidence of people being vaccinated this year. As I have been doing training with my clients and I asked them, have you had your flu vaccine? And a lot of people are saying no. They think it's not as important because the pandemic's over and so forth. And there's still a lot of misinformation about the flu vaccine. It is not a live virus vaccine. So you cannot get the flu from the flu shot, but you may feel bad for a day or so, but that's your immune system working to produce antibodies to protect you. So thank you again for tuning in to this special episode. We wanted to call this to everyone's attention, especially with the holidays coming up and people being around families and out in public and with others where they may be exposed to respiratory viruses. The compliance divas brings clarity and simplicity to compliance by navigating the regulatory world to keep you on course. You can submit your questions to support at thecompliancedivas.com. The resources we mentioned will be in the show notes for your podcast and also on our website, thecompliancedivas.com. And please, when you're finished listening to the episode, scroll down to the bottom of your app and give us a rating or a review. Happy holidays, everyone.
