March 12, 2020

COVID-19 Updated U.S. CDC Guidance

On March 10, 2020 the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S. CDC) released the following new or revised guidance in response to concerns around national and local shortages in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) supplies, particularly N95 respirators:

• Infection Prevention and Control
• Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
• Long-Term Care Facilities

Other guidance issued includes

• Guidance for Based Precautions and Disposition of Hospitalized Patients
• People at risk for serious illness from COVID-19.

Maine CDC is also providing additional guidance to providers seeking COVD-19 testing at Maine's Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory (HETL):

• Providers no longer need to call Maine CDC for authorization prior to submitting a sample for testing
• Nasopharyngeal (NP) and throat (oropharyngeal) swabs no longer need to be sent in separate viral transport media. NP and OP swabs can be submitted in a single container of viral transport media

Advisory (PDF)