COVID-19 Resources for EVS Professionals

• Project Firstline: To stop the spread of infectious disease threats—including COVID-19—anyone working in a health care facility needs a foundational knowledge of infection control and must understand and be ready to implement infection control protocols and procedures throughout their work day, including during every patient care activity and health care interaction. 

  CDC’s Project Firstline is a collaborative of diverse health care and public health partners that have come together to make that happen.
  Learn More

• PATHWAYS TO CLEAN –  eLearning Bundle certificate program: Turnkey cleaning and disinfection solutions for outbreak and pandemic surge response.
  Access eLearning Bundle
• Ready. Set. Clean. Hospitality eLearning Bundle certificate program: Turnkey cleaning and disinfection solutions for outbreak and pandemic surge response for a hospitality setting.
  Access eLearning Bundle
• COVID-19 EVS Cleaning Essentials Refresher Training Toolkit
  Download Now (members-only)

Omicron Variant: What You Need to Know

The United States has named Omicron a Variant of Concern in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Stay up-to-date with COVID-19 by visiting the CDC's COVID-19 website.

Vaccine Considerations

Strategies are needed for healthcare facilities to appropriately evaluate and manage post-vaccination signs and symptoms among healthcare personnel. These considerations are based on the current understanding of signs and symptoms following COVID-19 vaccination, including timing and duration, and might change as experience with the vaccine accumulates. 

• Post Vaccine Considerations for Healthcare Personnel

Well Being and Self Care

• Health Care Professional Self Care
• Regulating Emotions
• Treat Yourself

Special Message: After months on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, environmental service professionals have served as a source of comfort for patients not able to see loved ones, while maintaining rooms to the highest standards of cleanliness. EVS personnel are heroes deserving of recognition, but never forget they are human, too, and also may need care.

To support these health defenders, AHA has a number of behavioral health resources, including a page dedicated to COVID-19: Stress and Coping Resources.

Webinar Series

• COVID-19 Challenges for Health Care Environmental Services: Open Forum Part 3, August 18th,
  12:00pm CST
  Register
• Solution Sharing Open Forum: Health Care Environmental Services’ Response to COVID-19 Challenges –Continuing the Conversation
   View On Demand
• Solution Sharing Open Forum: Health Care Environmental Services’ Response to COVID-19 Challenges
   View On Demand
• Post COVID-19: Transitioning Environmental Services to a New Normal
  View On Demand
  Coronavirus Update, Part II: Health Care Professional Preparedness and Response to COVID-19, with Dr. Michael Bell, Deputy Director, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Members-only webinar.
  View On Demand
• Coronavirus Update—What Health Care Professionals Need to Know to Prepare for COVID-19, with Dr. Michael Bell, Deputy Director, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Members-only webinar. 
  View On Demand | Download Post Webinar FAQs

Infographics

EVS Considerations Airborne Precautions Medical Waste

Preparedness

Healthcare Professionals: FAQs

• Making Handwashing Solution for Use in Global. Low-Resource Settings
• Comprehensive Hospital Preparedness Checklist for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
• Hurricane Season Preparations

Reopening

• Thermometers to States
• Protecting Yourself While Using Transportation

Cleaning and Disinfection Information

• Cleaning and Disinfection for Households 
• Cleaning and Disinfection for Community Facilities

Personal Protective Equipment

PPE Information

FDA Reissues EUA for Certain Disposable FFRs
The FDA reissued the emergency use authorization (EUA) for imported, non-NIOSH-approved, disposable filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) manufactured in countries other than China. The FDA revised and reissued this EUA to authorize for emergency use only those respirators listed in the EUA’s Exhibit The agency also announced that no new respirator models will be added to Exhibit 1. Read the EUA notice, including Exhibit 1. 

• PPE Preservation Best Practices
• Updated Proper PPE Use
• General FAQ’s on PPE
• CDC Sequence for Donning and Doffing PPE
• What personal protective equipment (PPE) should be worn by environmental services (EVS) personnel who clean and disinfect rooms of hospitalized patients with COVID-19?
• List of Personal Protective Equipment  FDA Emergency Use Authorizations
• FDA Approves System for Decontaminating N95 Respirators
• Decontamination and Reuse of Filtering Facepiece Respirators using Contingency and Crisis Capacity Strategies
• FDA allows use of respirators that are not NIOSH approved.
• Emergency Use Authorization (EUA)

Checklist for Healthcare Facilities

• Strategies for Optimizing the Supply of PPE
• Strategies for Optimizing the Supply of N95 Respirators during the COVID-19 Response

Environmental Infection Prevention

N List Disifectants COVID-19 Infection Control Basics for Environmental Services Workers

• Interim Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations for Patients with Suspected or Confirmed COVID-19 in Healthcare Settings

• Protect Your Patients and Staff form COVID-19: CDC Recommended Infection Control Procedures

• Implement environmental infection control

• EPA Registered Disinfectants qualified under EPA’s emerging viral pathogens program for use against SARS-CoV-2 (List N) 

• CDC Healthcare Infection Prevention and Control FAQs for COVID-19

Cleaning and Disinfection 

• Interim Guidance for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Systems and 911 Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs)
• Enforcement Policy for Sterilizers, Disinfectant Devices, and Air Purifiers During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Public Health Emergency | FDA

Isolation Rooms

Isolation Room Information

• What Healthcare Personnel Should Know about Caring for Patients with Confirmed or Possible COVID-19 Infection

• CDC Interim Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations for Patients with Suspected or Confirmed Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Healthcare Settings

• General guidance on clearance rates under differing ventilation conditions.

Air Change Formula

• Determining Air Changes Per Hour (ACH) in the Field. Watch this video from the American Society of Health Care Engineers.

Personnel and Personnel Training

• Toolkit for Worker & Employee Safety
• Train and educate health care personnel
• Criteria for Return to Work for Healthcare Personnel with Confirmed or Suspected COVID-19 (Interim Guidance)

Staffing

Staffing Strategies

Stay informed about the local COVID-19 situation. Know where to turn for reliable, up-to-date information in your local community. Monitor the CDC COVID-19 website and your state and local health department websites for the latest information.

Waste

Medical Waste Infographic  Waste Management Information

The CDC has determined that medical waste generated in the treatment of COVID-19 patients and patients under investigation (PUIs) be managed in accordance with routine procedures. There are no additional packaging or transportation requirements from the Department of Transportation (DOT) for regulated medical waste or sharps.

Retirement Communities and Independent Living Facilities

The CDC released new guidance for retirement communities and independent living facilities to better aid in the planning, preparation for, and response to coronavirus disease 2019. The guidance is based on what is currently known about the transmission and severity of coronavirus disease. Residents in retirement communities and independent living facilities are considered to be at higher risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes because of older age and because they may have underlying health conditions. 

• Guidance for Retirement Communities and Independent Living
• Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in Retirement Communities and Independent Living Facilities (Interim Guidance)
• Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Checklist: Older Persons

Leadership

Crisis Management Leadership

In the absence of pre-determined procedures, a novel crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, can overwhelm contingency plans and test leadership’s decision making. Follow these four principles to help you manage the unexpected. Note: Click screen if content doesn’t begin automatically. 

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