OSHA calls for New December Update from CDC to be their Work Guidelines for Vaccinated and Non-Vaccinated

Quick Guide to Newsletter’s Content:–
OSHA calls for New December Update from CDC to be their Work Guidelines for Vaccinated and Non-Vaccinated
– CAN A HEARTBURN DRUG HELP DOCTORS TREAT COVID-19?
– Don’t be foolish….Initial Fit Test still needs to be completed if you are a Dental Healthcare Provider wearing any type of respirator.

Interim Guidance (Recent Change) for Managing Healthcare Personnel with SARS-CoV-2 Infection or Exposure to SARS-CoV-2

**As of December 23, 2021:

Due to concerns about increased transmissibility of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, this guidance is being updated to enhance protection for healthcare personnel (HCP), patients, and visitors, and to address concerns about potential impacts on the healthcare system given a surge of SARS-CoV-2 infections. These updates will be refined as additional information becomes available to inform recommended actions.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus December 2021 Update

Note from your Regulatory Compliance Specialist: Do not just look at this quick glance form. Go into the Link and read.

A. Dental Healthcare Providers still need to wear N95’s or KN95’s.
B. You are considered NonVaccinated by the CDC if you do not have all Boosters. I am not pleased with this, but it’s their way of keeping their liability safe. OSHA has not stated they want everyone to follow CDC. Again, not happy, but that is where we stand now going into the new year. Hospitals are not making it mandatory for everyone to take the booster as the newer variances are so much easier to deal with – But they are much more contagious. Vaccine people and UnVaccinated are still getting this variance.

For Dental Healthcare Providers:
1. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus December 2021 Update

For Family and Friends:
2. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/infection-control-recommendations.html

For Family and Friends:
3. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/s1227-isolation-quarantine-guidance.html

Employers should be aware that other local, state, and federal requirements may apply, including those promulgated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

CAN A HEARTBURN DRUG HELP DOCTORS TREAT COVID-19?

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors in Wuhan, China, noticed something surprising. Many of the elderly patients who survived the virus were poor – not exactly the demographic you would expect to fare well in a health crisis.

A review of the survivors’ medical records revealed that a significant number suffered from chronic heartburn and were taking an inexpensive drug called famotidine, the key ingredient in Pepcid. (Wealthier patients tended to take the more costly drug omeprazole, found in Prilosec.)

Was an over-the-counter acid suppressant helping people survive COVID-19?

This is how many medical studies begin, said biomedical engineering professor Phil Bourne, the founding dean of the University of Virginia’s School of Data Science. “There’s often a phenomenon that doctors report anecdotally, or that’s mentioned in passing in a particular research paper, and that provides a clue – a hook,” he said.

Typically, to find out whether a drug is effective in treating a particular medical condition, scientists develop prospective clinical trials. But this method is expensive and can take years, Bourne pointed out. When faced with a global pandemic, it’s helpful to explore other options.

That’s where data scientists come in. Bourne and UVA senior scientist Cameron Mura worked with an international team of researchers to analyze information from a database that holds the medical records of millions of COVID-19 patients living in 30 different countries. The team winnowed that number down to around 22,000 people, the largest sample size for a study on famotidine and the disease to date.

Phil Bourne, right, and Cameron Mura analyzed medical records from around 22,000 patients to figure out if famotidine could help patients survive the COVID-19 virus. (Photos by Tom Cogill and Sanjay Suchak, University Communications)

“The power of the electronic health record, which is really yet to be fully realized as a research tool, is that you’ve suddenly got all this data you can mine to see whether what you determined in passing or anecdotally has any basis,” Bourne said.

The team’s analysis, which appeared in the journal Signal Transduction & Targeted Therapy in July, showed that the data supported findings from other smaller-scale studies. When delivered at high doses (the equivalent of about 10 Pepcid tablets), famotidine appears to improve the odds of survival for COVID-19 patients, especially when it is combined with aspirin. It also seems to hinder the severity of disease progression, making patients less likely to reach the point where they require intubation or a ventilator.

The next challenge was to figure out why. Data scientists like Mura and Bourne perform extensive detective work for medical analyses like this one, looking at existing information and drawing upon biochemical and molecular principles to propose a cohesive theory that helps elucidate the population-scale patterns they identify.

Mura calls this “weaving a story” based on the data. He needed to work backward from massive groups of people and draw some possible conclusions about what was happening at a totally different scale – the scale of proteins that are “one-millionth the size of an ant,” he said.

One of the most dangerous phenomena COVID-19 can trigger in your body is something called a cytokine storm, which is a potentially fatal amplification of an immune response. When you become sick, your immune system releases inflammatory proteins called cytokines that tell your immune cells how to fight the infection. But in more severe illnesses, cytokine production can spiral out of control, becoming dysregulated.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/can-heartburn-drug-help-doctors-treat-covid-19?fbclid=IwAR3hQsfDrFN-V83ZPJpf4Q0b80pubGaPAKLVijjbGRlkmH8OUENjNSD1y7Y

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MSDS NEEDs to Schedule your office for the Initial Fit Test to be in compliance. We have been slammed with complaints to OSHA.

MSDS can not help you with your citations if you opt not to do the Fit Test. My clients are getting the Fit Test. They may not be using N95’s or KN95’s all the time, but they have them and they have the Fit Tests completed.

Please know that it can be for 3 people or the whole clinical staff. We do not usually take on the whole staff so you can save money. But we will if you want us to.

Linda typically needs to show the Doctor how to complete an Initial Fit Test with one staff, then we do it together on the second staff and the doctor does it the third time by themself and Linda watches. More than just one doctor can be trained to complete Initial Fit Testing. This saves you $50 per staff and the production time that the doctor would rather use for patients.
Send MSDS the following details for scheduling

(1) How many staff will be fit tested with MSDS’ help (It can be 3 or more)

(2) How many total clinical staff will be filling out the Confidential Medical Clearance Questionnaire (All the clinical staff members that would involve in aerosols will have to fill this Questionnaire before and get approval before the day of class).  We will send you the website link for your office clinical staff to fill out the questionnaires.

(3) MSDS Schedule coordinator, Saba, will send you a Preliminary invoice so that there are no surprises.

(4) MSDS Schedules your class after we receive the Approval from our partners in Occupational Health. (They have to keep these medical forms for 30 years past the staff’s last day of employment). And the Doctor cannot ever view them, so he cannot do the backup on them. The Fee includes the Occ Health Provider Approving staff and also includes any additional emails and discussions they may need to have with the staff to help approve them.

(5) We complete the class through Webinar Jam, and I will guide the DHP step by step to make sure they have everything they need to be successful.

(6) You will need a hood, 2 manual nebulizers, saccharine, and the Personalized Respiratory Protection Manual.   Again, we can mail all of these products to you. If you need to order N95’s we are running a SALE Get each of the 3 models 3m 8200 and 3m 8210 and 3m 9205+ for $2 each.

Here is the Link:  https://www.msdssafety.com/product/n95-respirator-mask-on-sale-$2-pc

(7) Due to financial restraints, if your office wants to split the fee into 3 months, we are happy to comply.

**With our background in Healthcare (Rescue Squad, and Flight Nurse/Paramedic) we have been able to answer any and all questions up to date.  Even staff with claustrophobic tendencies have done extremely well. As many of you know, I do have the gift of gab!

*We typically schedule two weeks out to make sure that the staff gets their approval from their medical questionnaire, the office receives the products in time, and also receives the RPP Manual in time.

See the details below in this email.  Any products below may also be purchased through MSDS direct. We will send you a preliminary invoice, but here is one to view the list of items on the Preliminary Invoice.

The Products are as follows:
A. Fit Testing Hood – you will need one (1)
https://www.msdssafety.com/product/fit-testing-hood-59-ea

B. Fit Testing Bulb Nebulizer – you will need two (2)
https://www.msdssafety.com/product/fit-testing-bulb%E2%80%A6izer-69-ea-m9934/

C. Saccharine to make
Threshold (.83%) & Fit Test Solution. (83%) – Premade will be sent out with no additional charge (if you purchase the rest of the products)
https://www.msdssafety.com/product/fit-testing-saccharine-powder-23-30ml-m3335/

D. N95’s  – you will need one (1) for every staff member to be Initially Fit Tested.  They come in a box of 20.  If you purchase a box of 20 of N95’s you get a package of 10 isolation gowns for free.
https://www.msdssafety.com/product/n-95-respirator-mask-m9920/

E. FIT TESTING N95’s for your Personalized Respiratory Protection Program for the Dental Healthcare Provider  – (3) needed if you want MSDS to train the DHP.
https://www.msdssafety.com/product/personalized-respiratory-protection-program-for-the-dental-healthcare-provider-m9918/

F. Personal Respiratory Protection Program Manual for the Dental Healthcare Provider – If you purchase the Entire Training System, you will get $200 off of our RPP manual. Just email for a coupon code.
https://www.msdssafety.com/product/personalized-respiratory-protection-program-manual-for-the-dental-healthcare-provider-m9926/

G. Occupational Health Physician Clearance & Secure Backup – This is for all staff members who will be wearing the N95 or White Listed KN95’s. This includes an Occ Healthcare Provider reviewing and potentially speaking with the staff. It also includes the mandatory backup for 30 years past the staff members’ last day of employment.
https://www.msdssafety.com/product/secure-backup-of-the-medical-questionnaires-and-occupational-clearance-m9922/

H. UV Lamp – The Newsletter will guide you on the fascinating study on this type of UV Lamp, destroying Covid in 60 seconds!
https://www.msdssafety.com/product/ultravoilet-light-uv-light-499-ea-1-m9923/

MSDS only has 6 cases of N95’s left, but enough to get all of my clients Initially Fit Tested and will track down more if needed. I know all of the dental reps also have them available. They must be NIOSH Approved. We are currently selling them for $4.50 each.

We have had a lot of Clients state they were told – level 3 masks with a full-face shield if there is no N95’s. This is not going to fly anymore – as Dental Suppliers have NIOSH-approved respirators available as does MSDS.

** Links to accessories to help with UV light:
– Aluminum sheet (To Help reflect the UV light off a wall)
https://www.amazon.com/VIVOSUN-Mylar-Diamond-Highly-Reflective/dp/B01N5MHXQD/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?ie=UTF8&%2AVersion%2A=1&%2Aentries%2A=0

MSDS
Linda L. Cannon
Director of Safety Compliance

Phone: 1-757-718-1515
Toll Free: 1-800-483-0223

Email: MSDS@cox.net

www.MSDSSafety.com

MSDS' best practices website is not a standard or regulation, and it creates no legal obligations, nor does it change any existing OSHA or other government standard or regulation. The guide is advisory in nature, informational in content, and is intended to assist employers in providing a safe and healthful workplace.