Visitor restriction during the COVID-19 pandemic did not impact rates of Staphylococcus aureus colonization in the NICU patients.
J Perinat Med
; 51(4): 586-589, 2023 May 25.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36190160
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES:
In our neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), patients are screened for colonization with Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and decolonized if positive. During the COVID-19 pandemic, our NICU significantly limited its visitor policy. We assessed for a difference between S. aureus colonization rates before and after the visitor policy change, which coincided with the exponential rise of COVID-19 cases in New York City (NYC).METHODS:
We calculated rates of newly S. aureus colonized NICU patients during January to June 2020 and compared rates pre- and post-implementation of the new visitor policy. Additionally, we obtained the weekly incidence of COVID-19 in NYC and assessed for a correlation between COVID-19 rates and S. aureus colonization.RESULTS:
The number of newly colonized patients per thousand patient days was 4.65 pre- and 3.95 post-implementation of the new visitor policy. The difference was not statistically significant (p=0.66). Furthermore, there was no correlation between the incidence of COVID-19 in NYC and the rates of S. aureus colonization in our NICU (R2=0.02).CONCLUSIONS:
Our results suggest that limiting visitation of patients is not associated with a decrease in S. aureus colonization rate. Hospital unit leaders may need to focus on other strategies in order to reduce colonization.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Staphylococcal Infections
/
Cross Infection
/
COVID-19
Limits:
Humans
/
Newborn
Language:
En
Journal:
J Perinat Med
Year:
2023
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country: