Preventing Aerosol-Transmissible Diseases in Healthcare Settings: The Need for Protective Guidelines and Standards-Workshop Report.

There is an urgent need for stronger protection from aerosol-transmissible diseases in healthcare settings-for workers, patients, volunteers, and visitors. Concerned that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) lacks diversity in expertise and experience and has not consulted widely with all concerned parties regarding a planned update to the 2007 Guideline for Isolation Precautions, a workshop was developed to consider the science and lessons learned before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sponsored by the New York/New Jersey Occupational Safety and Health Center, Preventing Aerosol-Transmissible Diseases in Healthcare Settings: The Need for Protective Guidelines and Standards was held on October 13, 2023, with these goals: describe current CDC/HICPAC infection prevention guidelines, review current scientific understanding of aerosol-transmissible pathogens, and consider perspectives from a wide range of groups currently excluded from the CDC HICPAC process.

Make Health and Safety a Part of Global Struggles Against Imperialism, Racism, and Other Oppressions.

Deborah "Deeg" Gold was presented in November 2016 with the Alice Hamilton Award of the Occupational Health and Safety Section of the American Public Health Association. Deeg worked for more than 20 years for the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) as a field compliance officer, senior industrial hygienist, and then became the agency's Deputy Chief for Health. Prior to joining Cal/OSHA, Deeg Gold was a rank-and-file worker health and safety activist in her union. She is also an activist on many social justice issues, including opposing the death penalty and is a queer activist. This article is Deeg's award acceptance speech.