States Seek to Limit Health Officials’ Powers to Act

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, public health measures to control the spread of the virus have provoked fierce debate. In recent months, at least 15 state legislatures have passed or are considering bills to limit the legal authority of public health agencies, according to the Network for Public Health Law, which has partnered with the National Association of County and City Health Officials to document the situation. In addition, lawmakers in at least 46 states have introduced bills to rein in the power of governors to take action in public health and other emergencies.

The anger fueling these actions stems from the perceived overreach by health officials, resulting in a backlash of legislative attempts to limit their authority. These include measures to prevent the closure of businesses or allow lawmakers to rescind mask mandates.

In addition, some state courts have limited the emergency and regulatory powers that governors used to respond to the pandemic. Demands for “individual freedom” spurred some of these state actions, though their consequences are likely to be more far reaching. […]

2021-11-18T10:25:06-05:00November 18th, 2021|infection control, infectious diseases, Nursing, Public health|0 Comments
Read More

Johnson and Johnson Vaccine a Valuable Addition to the COVID-19 Toolbox

With the emergency use authorization (EUA) of the Janssen Pharmaceuticals/Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, three vaccines are now available in the U.S. to prevent SARS-CoV-2 hospitalizations and death. The newest vaccine, given as a single dose and stable at refrigeration temperatures for at least three months, presents far fewer logistical challenges in getting doses to consumers.

All of the three current U.S. vaccines use a single protein from SARS-CoV-2 to enable the body to react to the whole virus. The Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are messenger RNA vaccines that use a synthetic version of part of the SARS-CoV-2 genome to teach our cells to replicate the spike protein found on the surface of the virus. This copy of the protein then stimulates the immune system to produce antibodies and other cells that will recognize the actual virus if it is encountered in the future.

The new vaccine employs a different mechanism to produce the same result. A human adenovirus, modified to disable its ability to multiply and infect, acts as a “vector” to carry a gene from the spike protein into our own cells, where the protein is replicated and activates the immune system as above.

(The Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, currently in use in the UK, Canada, and Australia, is also a vector vaccine. Granted emergency use listing by the World Health […]

2021-03-08T12:31:39-05:00March 8th, 2021|COVID-19, infection control, infectious diseases, Nursing, Public health|0 Comments
Read More

Joy, Relief, Reverence: Positive Side Effects of a First COVID-19 Vaccination

A family’s long year, brushed by COVID-19.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

On February 23, 2020, three days before a flight to Israel to speak at a nursing conference, I received a message from the host that the ministry of health had issued a restriction to stop all conferences and meetings in the health care system because of the coronavirus. I had other business scheduled, so I boarded the flight. While in Israel, I followed the global health news, and returned home a week later fully aware that COVID-19 was an emerging pandemic. But when I landed and entered the international arrivals terminal at Newark Airport, business was as usual and only a handful of us in line wore masks going through customs.

It’s been a hard year since that time. My son, a healthy 27-year-old, had COVID in late March, during the worst surge of positive cases and deaths in New York City. Testing wasn’t available. He lived a subway ride away. For 10 days, I monitored his symptoms by texts, along with his primary care provider. He fully recovered. My 95-year-old mother died in April in a  New York State assisted living facility. We don’t believe her death was COVID related. Restrictions prevented my visiting her […]

2021-02-26T09:33:01-05:00February 26th, 2021|COVID-19, infection control, Nursing, patient experience, Public health|3 Comments
Read More

Moral Courage in a Pandemic: a 14th Century Physician and Health Care Workers Today

What does it mean to be human? What values should we live by? How should we respond to those in need during a time of crisis? What would I do?

A physician during the Black Death.

Guy de Chauliac

As a hospice social worker who loves the humanities, I find that historical figures often come to mind when there’s a parallel with things that are happening with patients and their families. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve been thinking a lot about a 14th century French physician named Guy de Chauliac.

Although little known today, in his time he was one of Europe’s most respected medical practitioners. In fact, his text Chirurgia Magna was a standard part of medical education for 200 years.

I came across de Chauliac’s story years ago while researching the ‘Black Death,’ the plague that decimated Europe in the 1340s, killing up to a third of its population.

Those who have read Giovanni Boccaccio’s contemporary account of this plague in his work Decameron are often left with a cynical impression that, as Boccaccio puts […]

2020-03-27T12:15:38-04:00March 27th, 2020|Ethics, infection control, Nursing, nursing perspective, Public health|0 Comments
Read More

Nurses and COVID-19: Into the Battle with All That We Have and All That We Lack

March 23: There is an important lesson to be learned from Italy, where COVID-19 has rapidly spread, placing a sophisticated health care system on the verge of collapse. Registered nurses (RNs) are suffering from exhaustion, contracting the disease, and leaving the workforce. As we bear witness to this unfolding tragedy, it is incumbent upon all U.S. nurses to take aggressive actions to protect our colleagues, our patients, and ourselves. Nurses who are ill or develop COVID-19 symptoms (fever, cough, shortness of breath) need to stay home. We can’t afford for nurses to infect other nurses. In fact, to ‘surge’ up to meet the anticipated demand for health care services due to the pandemic, still more nurses are needed. As a profession, now is the time to:

  • implement crisis staffing contingency plans,
  • expand the workforce as soon as possible,
  • and ensure the health and safety of all nurses through stringent observation of infection prevention and control measures and access to personal protective equipment (PPE). 

Crisis staffing.

Nurses should immediately make plans for surge capacity to address likely staff shortages. Facilities should consider polling nurses about their willingness to come to work; develop strategies to address the challenges that exist as barriers to coming to work (child care, pet care, transportation); and open conversations regarding the roles nurses are willing to play during the pandemic (see Table 1).

Table 1. Nurse Staffing Actions during a Pandemic (click table to expand)

2020-03-23T10:02:32-04:00March 23rd, 2020|infection control, infectious diseases, Nursing, Public health|2 Comments
Read More

Comment ground rules

1. Please be respectful.
2. We moderate all comments.

Content disclaimer

Views expressed on the blog are solely those of the authors or persons quoted. They do not necessarily reflect AJN’s views or those of Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
Go to Top