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We've compiled all the latest stories about the coronavirus pandemic here so you can find them easily.We've also compiled a list of informational resources that can guide you to more coronavirus information.

The Essentials: How an infection prevention specialist keeps COVID-19 from spreading at a hospital

Melissa Bronstein, director of infection prevention for Rochester Regional Health.
Rochester Regional Health
Melissa Bronstein, director of infection prevention for Rochester Regional Health.

Melissa Bronstein is the system director for infection prevention at Rochester Regional Health.

She oversees the team in charge of keeping patients, staff, and visitors free from infections that may be caused in hospitals or other health care settings.

Under normal circumstances, that's a big job. But during a global pandemic?

"It's very, very busy," Bronstein said. "Typically, we're worried about bloodstream infections or surgical wound infections, but the coronavirus is unusual in that it can potentially spread through droplet transmission, it can spread through contact, and under certain conditions, it may be spread through the air, as well."

That means Bronstein and her team work to make sure health care workers have the right personal protective equipment and data to keep them safe both at work and out in the community.

Rochester Regional Health also set up a hotline for employees to call for guidance if they or someone in their household get sick.

Bronstein said she's been putting in 12-hour days at the office, but her phone often rings at 2 or 3 a.m., and she fields email questions from colleagues while at home. 

Infection prevention specialists, she explained, are skeptical by nature and they're always looking to learn from failure, and she has learned that a pandemic has a way of magnifying any weakness in a health care system.

"So, for example, if we had any doubt that people were following policies and procedures and wearing protective equipment appropriately, if we thought it was a little bit of an issue back in January, now it's a very big issue," Bronstein said. "People aren't doing hand hygiene 100% of the time? It was an issue before; now it's a really big issue."

When asked if she feels appreciated by taking on the responsibility of keeping health care workers, patients, and visitors safe, Bronstein laughed.

"Uh, we're feeling the pressure, and pressure is a privilege, right?" she said.

Beth Adams joined WXXI as host of Morning Edition in 2012 after a more than two-decade radio career. She was the longtime host of the WHAM Morning News in Rochester. Her career also took her from radio stations in Elmira, New York, to Miami, Florida.
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