Nurses Are Furious About the CDC’s New Isolation Rules

Authored by newrepublic.com and submitted by _hiddenscout
image for Nurses Are Furious About the CDC’s New Isolation Rules

Irene, a nurse working in a Covid-19 unit outside of Boston, has had a lot of jobs since she was licensed in 1998, and she says she’s seen the nursing shortage in action for decades: When she was in her twenties and working in a hospital in New York City, she’d treat as many as 10 patients per shift. Still, this moment feels different. “I know we’re short-staffed,” she said recently, “and I understand people need to get paid.” But she disagrees with the new recommendations that allow for nurses who test positive for Covid-19 to get back on the job more quickly. “Even [the government] said they’re just doing this to keep things running,” she said. It doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the health agency she has looked to for guidance throughout the pandemic, and she feels betrayed by the forces that have conspired to give medical workers looser guidelines rather than higher pay or more staff. “Hospitals have failed us,” she said, “and management has failed us.”

Just prior to the pandemic, Irene (who asked that I not use her full name to avoid retaliation) was a travel nurse in Florida. In late 2020, she returned home to Massachusetts to her kids and took on a series of jobs in addition to her night shift at a small hospital, testing students in schools and then traveling across the state to vaccinate people who were unable to leave their homes. Many of her coworkers have second jobs, she says, and she’s seen people called in to work even when they were sick. When we spoke, Irene had just gotten off an eight-hour overnight shift during which she had to intubate a patient. “I always follow Fauci,” she said. “I trust the CDC. But now it’s every person for themselves, it feels like.” Before we got off the phone, she asked me to make sure I’m wearing an N95 mask when I leave the house.

On December 24, before the CDC altered isolation guidance for all Americans and before government officials impressed on the public the importance of returning to work, the agency issued a series of recommendations designed to offset hospital staffing shortages during a looming wave of infections. Now, nurses are able to return to a health care setting if they are “mildly symptomatic” or asymptomatic after seven days, with isolation times to be cut further should a facility experience a lack of licensed staff. When a health center enters crisis mode—as many hospitals have recently—a nurse who has tested positive for Covid can still show up for a shift, according to a set of contingency plans the agency designed. According to the plan, asymptomatic Covid-positive nurses should be scheduled before those who are visibly sick.

Zeus_Apollyon on January 3rd, 2022 at 02:34 UTC »

I mean I was laughing at how quickly the NFL adopted the new isolation guidelines, then they wonder why covid is running rampant through the NFL.

WolverineSanders on January 3rd, 2022 at 02:14 UTC »

The hospital my wife works at basically just sent everyone an email saying "it's going to suck, but you'll just have to work harder". This is of course after cutting everyone's 401k matching, laying off tons of people going into and during COVID, and refusing to pay hazard pay. The real kicker? The system has 4 BILLION dollars cash reserves

PrinceHarming on January 2nd, 2022 at 22:25 UTC »

I have a friend who is an ER nurse and recovering from a mild COVID case. She was told she has to come back to work but to go out of the building to remove her mask to drink any water and eat lunch in her car…in January in Chicago.