3/25/22 – Covid-19 Weekly Update

CHAP’s COVID-19 Weekly Update
In this “one-stop shop” update, CHAP will provide a roundup of important COVID-19 information from various federal sources.

All health care providers should be monitoring COVID-19 incidence rates in their state/county on an ongoing basis.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC provides weekly data about case rates, deaths, testing, and vaccine administration on their COVID tracker webpage.

 

Quarantine and Isolation (CDC, 3/22/22)
The CDC has updated its guidance for the general public related to people with COVID-19 and COVID-19 close contacts.  They also added a Quarantine and Isolation Calculator tool to help determine how long individuals need to isolate, quarantine, or take other steps to prevent spreading COVID-19.

 

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: FDA to Hold Advisory Committee Meeting on COVID-19 Vaccines to Discuss Future Boosters (FDA, 3/21/22)
The FDA announced a virtual meeting of its Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) on Wed., April 6, to discuss considerations for future COVID-19 vaccine booster doses and the process for selecting specific strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus for COVID-19 vaccines to address current and emerging variants. Along with the independent experts of the advisory committee, representatives from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health will participate in the meeting.

 

HHS Distributing an Additional $413 Million in Provider Relief Fund Payments to Health Care Providers Impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic (HHS, 3/22/22)
HHS, through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), announced more than $413 million in Provider Relief Fund (PRF) payments to more than 3,600 providers across the country. This is the fourth round of PRF Phase 4 payments, totaling nearly $12 billion that has been distributed to more than 82,000 providers in all 50 states, Washington D.C., and five territories since November 2021. This is in addition to HRSA’s distribution of American Rescue Plan (ARP) Rural payments totaling nearly $7.5 billion in funding to more than 44,000 providers across the country over the past four months.

 

HHS Recognizes One-Year Anniversary of Health Center COVID-19 Vaccine Program to Advance Equity in Pandemic Response (3/21/22)
HHS recognized the one-year anniversary of the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Health Center COVID-19 Vaccine Program, which received funding from President Biden’s American Rescue Plan and has provided COVID-19 vaccines directly to thousands of HRSA-supported health center sites nationwide. To date, health centers have administered more than 20 million vaccines in underserved communities across the country through the HRSA program and partnerships with states.

 

FEMA Provides Another $128 Million for Colorado COVID-19 Response (3/22/22)
FEMA has approved more than $128 million in additional Public Assistance funding for the COVID-19 response in Colorado. The assistance was made available under a major disaster declaration issued on March 28, 2020. FEMA has now approved more than $1.71 billion in Public Assistance grant funds to Colorado for the COVID-19 response.

 

US Department of Labor reopens rulemaking record, schedules public hearing on proposed final rule to protect healthcare workers from COVID-19 exposure (3/22/22)
OSHA has reopened the rulemaking record partially and scheduled an informal public hearing to seek comments on specific topics that relate to the development of a final standard to protect healthcare and healthcare support service workers from workplace exposure to the COVID-19 virus.  Submit comments online, identified by Docket No. OSHA-2020-0004. Submit written comments by the deadline of April 22, 2022.