Infection Prevention and Control between Legal Requirements and "German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology" Expert Assessments: A Cross-Sectional Study in September-November 2022.

BACKGROUND: In contrast to the beginning of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, more and more hospital issues are regulated by policy.

AIM: To identify differences between experts' recommendations and legal requirements regarding infection prevention and control (IPC) strategies.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted between 2022/09/29 - 2022/11/03 addressing 1319 members of the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM), the response rate was 12%. Reported here are the expert's recommendations on different IPC strategies.

FINDINGS: The majority (66%) of experts would recommend universal mask usage, with 34% recommending it seasonally, even after the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The medical microbiologists (MM) were more likely to recommend continuing to wear the masks indefinitely than IPC experts. Concerning the mask type, medical masks were recommended more frequently by IPC experts (47.3%), while FFP2 masks were more preferred by MM (31.8%). The majority (54.7%) would advise universal screening of employees, mainly in settings with extremely vulnerable patients and if the regional incidences were high, at a frequency of twice a week. With at least 50%, the dominant advice for employees being exposed to SARS-CoV-2 was working with daily testing and wearing a mask, regardless of the length of exposure.

CONCLUSIONS: The expert recommendations deviate from the legal situation and appear to be more differentiated and proportional. The influence of specific experience and expertise on the mask recommendation should be investigated in more detail. For relevant policy decisions, a quick, focused, and broad-based consultation of expertise could be of added value.