Health authorities around the U.S. are increasingly taking the extraordinary step of allowing nurses and other workers infected with the coronavirus to stay on the job if they have mild symptoms or none at all
Summary
- The move is a reaction to the severe hospital staffing shortages and crushing caseloads that the omicron variant is causing.
- California health authorities announced over the weekend that hospital staff members who test positive but are symptom-free can continue working.
- France last week announced it is allowing health care workers with mild or no symptoms to keep treating patients rather than isolate.
- Dignity Health hospitals in California have not yet implemented the new guidelines but said it may need to do so in the coming days and weeks.
- Gavin Newsom and other state health leaders “are putting the needs of health care corporations before the safety of patients and workers,” Cathy Kennedy, the association’s president, said in a statement.