The Express: October Updates

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Public Health Emergency

The Express: October 2021

This issue of The Express highlights the following new resources:

Healthcare Coalition Engagement in COVID-19 Assessment (infographic)
Next Generation HCCs: Learning and Evolving from COVID-19 (webinar)
Managing the Nation’s Blood Supply During the COVID-19 Pandemic (speaker series recording)
Excess Mortality and COVID-19 Surges: Defining the Problem and Solutions (speaker series recording)
Hospital and Fire Department Roles in Decontamination Incidents (technical assistance [TA] response]
Facility Cleaning and Sanitation Guidelines (TA response)
Hospital Surge of Patients with Behavioral Health Challenges during COVID-19 (TA response)
Roles of Public Libraries in Emergency Response (TA response)

Please continue to access our COVID-19 Patient Surge and Scarce Resource Allocation page, our Novel Coronavirus Resources Page, the National Institutes of Health Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Treatment Guidelines, and CDC’s Coronavirus webpage, and reach out if you need technical assistance.

Healthcare Coalition Engagement in COVID-19 Assessment

This infographic highlights findings from a multi-phased effort that included an online survey open to all healthcare coalitions (HCC) about various aspects of their response to the pandemic and eight focus groups with a subset of survey respondents. Access the full report for more information.

Next Generation HCCs: Learning and Evolving from COVID-19 (Webinar)

This webinar will highlight key findings from the Healthcare Coalition Engagement in COVID-19 Assessment project and how they can help inform future ASPR guidance and HCC planning, response, and recovery efforts. The webinar will take place Wednesday, December 8, 2021, at 2:30 PM ET. Register today!

Managing the Nation’s Blood Supply During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Experts from the American Association of Blood Banks discuss the role of blood centers during disasters in general and specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic in this recording.

Excess Mortality and COVID-19 Surges: Defining the Problem and Solutions

In this recording, Dr. Sameer S. Kadri (Head, Clinical Epidemiology Section, Tenure Track Investigator, Critical Care Medicine Dept., NIH Clinical Center) discusses the role patient surge plays in mortality, shares a surge index formula, and explains how Medical Operations Coordinating Cells can help with patient loading.

Both of these recordings are part of the COVID-19 Healthcare Operations Speaker Series.

New ASPR TRACIE TA Responses

Hospital and Fire Department Roles in Decontamination Incidents provides resources related to the responsibilities hospitals and fire departments have in managing hazardous materials decontamination incidents.
Facility Cleaning and Sanitation Guidelines includes resources on general cleaning and sanitation of a facility that is being reopened for purposes such as hosting a monoclonal antibody COVID-19 treatment site. It also includes materials on preparing or modifying buildings for repurposing.
Hospital Surge of Patients with Behavioral Health Challenges during COVID-19 includes comments from ASPR TRACIE Subject Matter Expert Cadre members and resources related to managing a surge of hospital patients with behavioral health challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Roles of Public Libraries in Emergency Response provides links to resources related to the roles that public libraries can play in emergency response.

Subscribe to the Division of Critical Infrastructure Protection’s Bulletins

ASPR’s Division of Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) offers a variety of newsletters to keep stakeholders informed during emergency response and steady state. The newsletters inform stakeholders of the most significant issues facing the Healthcare and Public Health Sector including cybersecurity, healthcare supply chains, COVID-19, and more. If you are interested in receiving CIP newsletters, visit the CIP newsletter subscription webpage.

COVID-19 Clinical Rounds Are Back!

Peer-to-Peer Virtual Communities of Practice, a collaborative effort between ASPR, the National Emerging Special Pathogen Training and Education Center (NETEC), and Project ECHO, hosts weekly training opportunities where clinicians from the U.S. and abroad who have experience treating patients with COVID-19 shared their challenges and successes. Access past sessions and sign up to receive updates.