Lab Matters Summer 2022 | Page 27

PUBLIC HEALTH PREPAREDNESS & RESPONSE

by Michael Marsico , senior specialist , Biosafety & Biosecurity

The COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed the public health workforce and laboratory professionals across the globe . New roles , especially around community outreach , emerged for biosafety and other professionals . Below two APHL Biosafety and Biosecurity Committee members share their perspectives on challenges around biosafety and biosecurity and ideas to strengthen the field of biorisk management .

Jill Power , MS , M ( ASCP ), CMQ / OE ( ASQ )

Deputy Director New Hampshire Public Health Laboratories

Part of my role as the biosafety / biosecurity officer ( BSO ) during the pandemic was to assure everyone in the laboratory was working in the safest environment possible . We didn ’ t understand a lot about this virus , but were comfortable knowing we had processes , equipment and administrative controls in place to protect workers as they managed the specimens . Risk assessments were performed in the testing laboratories as well as our specimen receiving area , which is equipped with a small biological safety cabinet ( BSC ). The decision was made to place all specimens in the cabinet while verifying integrity , identity and any other quality or safety issues . If a leaking specimen was found , we developed a process to double bag it and place a tag on the bag to alert the testing team . As time went on and specimen numbers started surging , we ended up cancelling the test request on leakers and discarded them in the receiving area . A lot of safety training had to be done for the specimen receiving group and the testing teams . The testing team supervisors managed technical and related safety training . Because we had one incident that occurred as a possible exposure early in the pandemic , it was well-documented , processes were changed and the initial risk assessment was updated . We monitored the health of the staff who were potentially exposed , and fortunately , no exposures were identified .

As BSO , I was involved externally with new partners , such as long-term care facilities ( LTCF ) and correctional facilities who were trying to navigate new testing process for their residents . A visit to our local state correctional facility to see how they managed incoming residents and suspected positive residents helped me better understand the restrictions and difficulties caused by the pandemic and we tailored our safe practices recommendation as best we could . I was also involved in a team that monitored and processed how COVID-19 testing was being coordinated in New Hampshire . I was able to give safety and quality recommendations that included specimen collection and handling biohazardous waste to this group , which was then used or passed along to partners .

For new public health biosafety workers , more training and experience in laboratory operations is needed . Let ’ s get our hands dirty and dissect a biological safety cabinet , learn realtime respiratory fit testing , develop and perform a risk assessment process that suits your laboratory and train on how to evaluate your local clinical laboratories — all without watching a video or reading a book . I ’ m not sure biosafety is considered part of laboratory operations in general , but perhaps it is something for laboratories to consider to ensure biosafety is taken seriously in the future .

Sarah Elizabeth Totten , DrPH , M ( ASCP ), CIC

Metro Regional Manager , Infection Prevention University of Colorado Health

The importance of biosafety and biosecurity has been a moving target for some time . SARS-CoV-2 , along with Ebola and H1N1 before that , has provided an opportunity to see the “ holes in the dam .” COVID-19 , due to its expansive impact and duration of pandemic status , has created the ability for public health officials to speak loudly about program limitations and overarching inabilities to address exposure events . The workload of biosafety professionals was huge and I doubt I was the only person that wished for cloning capabilities .

The “ ideal ” state was replaced with “ good enough ” in order to get ahead of testing needs during COVID-19 . Now the challenge will be regaining traction as previously strict requirements have been replaced in the presence of extenuating circumstances including additional personal protection ( i . e ., masks ). We have created a perception that Microbiology can be established as rapid and pointof-care testing . Ensuring safety , proper containment and preventing exposures to disease will be major points to address moving forward for biosafety and biorisk professionals . n