On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Secretary Xavier Becerra renewed the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration, effective April 16, 2022. The first U.S. public health emergency declaration for COVID-19 was issued in January 2020 as the global pandemic response began and has been renewed every 90 days in adherence…
Read More »The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on Wednesday announced, at the recommendation of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), that it will extend its Security Directives and Emergency Amendment requiring the use of face masks on public transportation and transportation hubs for 15 days through May 3, 2022. The move comes as…
Read More »On Thursday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the first COVID-19 diagnostic test that detects chemical compounds in breath samples associated with a SARS-CoV-2 infection. The test can be performed in environments where the patient specimen is both collected and analyzed, such as doctor offices, hospitals, and…
Read More »The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) this week transitioned from publicly reporting COVID-19 data on a daily basis to two days per week. Reporting on COVID-19 cases, test positivity, hospitalizations, ICU numbers and availability, deaths, and vaccine coverage will now be reported on CDPH’s public dashboards only on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Read More »This week, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) updated its COVID-19 guidance for local health jurisdictions on the isolation and quarantine of the general public. The latest guidance updates remove quarantine recommendations for asymptomatic exposed persons, add recommendations for work exclusion or restriction in certain specified high-risk settings, and include an updated definition for…
Read More »The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (OSHSB) this week published a notice of its proposed readoption of the COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS). The current ETS was adopted by OSHSB on December 16, 2021, and became effective on January 14, 2022. The emergency filing of regulations…
Read More »The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) late last week issued the Safe and SMART Events Playbook to support event operators produce events that are safe from COVID-19 transmission. The Playbook is based on the California SMARTER Plan and seeks to provide best practices and resources to be used for any type of event. The…
Read More »Consistent with the California SMARTER Plan, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) recently announced it has notified PerkinElmer of its intent to terminate its contract for COVID-19 PCR test processing through the Valencia Branch Laboratory (VBL). Effective May 15, 2022, CDPH will transition from a centralized COVID-19 test processing model at VBL to a…
Read More »This week, the U.S. Senate failed to advance a $10 billion COVID-19 relief measure to provide continued funding for COVID-19 therapeutics, research, development, and response through the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund (PHSSEF). The new funding would be offset by repurposing unspent, previously appropriated COVID-19 relief funds. Late last week, Senate Majority Leader…
Read More »This week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that more than 59 million Americans with Medicare Part B, including those enrolled in a Medicare Advantage Plan, now have access to over-the-counter (OTC) COVID-19 tests approved or authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at no cost. Persons with Medicare…
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