Monday, February 28, 2022

AHA Annual Meeting Registration Open

CDC Releases New Mask Guidance

Need to Address Oral Health Inequity

Illinois COVID-19 Update

Briefly Noted

AHA Annual Meeting Registration Open

Registration is open for the American Hospital Association (AHA) 2022 Annual Membership Meeting on April 24-26 in Washington, D.C. AHA members may register for the meeting by clicking here. IHA looks forward to connecting with Illinois hospital and health system leaders attending the event, and will host a dinner on Monday, April 25. Please RSVP for the IHA dinner here.

Due to the Congressional schedule and evolving COVID-19 restrictions on Capitol Hill, IHA is not currently organizing meetings with the Congressional delegation. Should this change, IHA will notify members who have RSVP’d for the Monday IHA dinner.

CDC Releases New Mask Guidance

Updated masking guidance was released late last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The new guidelines identify COVID-19 community levels as “low,” “medium” or “high” based on hospital bed utilization by COVID-19 patients, hospital admissions for COVID-19 and the total number of new COVID-19 cases in the area. Your regional COVID-19 community level can be determined by clicking here or calling 1-800-CDC-INFO.

In areas with low or medium COVID-19 community levels, the guidance recommends masks be worn based on personal preference and personal risk considerations—though those individuals with higher risk are encouraged to speak with their doctor about wearing a mask if the surrounding community level is at medium. At this time, more than 70% of the U.S. population is in an area designated low or medium.

It’s recommended that people in an area with a “high” community level still wear a mask in public indoor settings. The CDC now only recommends universal school masking in communities at the high level.

Click here to access audio and a transcript from a recent CDC press briefing on the updated guidance.

Need to Address Oral Health Inequity

Underscoring that disparities in oral health “pose a major global public health threat,” healthcare leaders at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are calling for research and policy changes to address dental and oral health inequities.

This focus on equalizing oral health and access to oral healthcare is the focus of a recent perspective published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The authors of the study say reducing oral health inequity will require additional research and adoption of policies that increase affordability and accessibility of oral healthcare.

Noting that per-person dental care costs in the U.S. increased by 30% over the past 20 years, the authors pointed out that “the highest burden of dental and oral disease, nationally and globally, is shouldered by marginalized and chronically underserved populations.”

Emphasizing integrated approaches have the “greatest potential for mitigating oral diseases of high public health importance,” the perspective advocated for policy changes in oral, medical and behavioral healthcare and prevention services across the community—including community health centers, schools, assisted-living facilities, primary healthcare settings and dental clinics.

Illinois COVID-19 Update

The state of Illinois and Chicago officially lifted their indoor mask mandates today. Chicago also ended its proof of vaccination requirement.

The Illinois Dept. of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 1,159 new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases, including 51 additional deaths.

Most recent IDPH hospitalization data show 943 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 157 patients were in the ICU and 82 patients were on ventilators.

The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total tests is 1.7%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity is 2%.

The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily in Illinois is 13,807 doses. IDPH reported that 76.5% of adults (18 years and older) have been fully vaccinated, while 85.9% have received at least one vaccination dose. For the Illinois population 12 years and older, 75.3% have been fully vaccinated, while 84.6% have received at least one vaccination dose. For the Illinois population 5 years and older, 71.6% have been fully vaccinated and 80.76% have received at least one dose.

Briefly Noted

If you missed a 2021 webinar on disparities in mental health from the Office for Disparities Research and Workforce Diversity (ODWD) Webinar Series, the recordings from all five webinars are now available on-demand on the ODWD website. The ODWD Webinar Series is designed for investigators conducting or interested in conducting research on mental health disparities, women’s mental health, minority mental health and rural mental health.