CDC advisory committee keeps infection control draft guidance

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee largely kept intact an infection control draft guidance that had come under criticism for having weak standards for health care settings. The committee concluded surgical masks provide adequate protection against airborne pathogens and said ill workers may return to work after three days of viral respiratory symptoms without testing. The advisory committee meeting focused primarily on written responses to CDC questions pushing back on draft guidelines to prevent the transmission of pathogens in health care settings and on proposed updates for infection control in health care personnel from 1998. Although the guidelines are optional, most health care employers use them to guide their infection control protocols. (MedPage Today article, 11/18/24)