Dem-Run State Government Tells COVID-Positive Workers to Stay on The Job
Given just how quickly the omicron variant of the coronavirus is spreading, it’s beginning to look very likely that a vast majority of Americans could test positive in the coming weeks.
Luckily for us, the symptoms associated with omicron are repeatedly fairly mild when compared to delta and other mutations, at least in folks who’ve been vaccinated and/or boosted. The issue with omicron is very much just how transmissible it has become.
Of course, this is still quite a problem, especially in industries where a positive COVID test could send you home for days or weeks.
Perhaps that’s why California is now asking COVID-positive health care workers to remain on the job.
Daylong waits in the emergency room. No one to answer the phones. No one to take out the trash. And more patients arriving each day.
That’s the scene playing out at some hospitals across Southern California as the Omicron-fueled surge of COVID-19 contributes to a crippling shortage of doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers. While Omicron is causing significantly fewer serious illnesses than last year’s winter surge, the unprecedented number of people becoming infected has left the medical infrastructure on edge.
State officials are attempting to address California’s staffing shortage through a sweeping policy change that allows asymptomatic healthcare workers who have tested positive for the coronavirus to return to work immediately. The policy, set to remain in place through Feb. 1, is designed to keep many healthcare workers on the job at a time when hospitals are expecting more patients.
Not everyone was a fan, however.
“The situation just feels so hopeless,” said Erin McIntosh, a rapid-response nurse at Riverside Community Hospital. “I went into healthcare wanting to help people, but now I’m the vector. Someone is coming to me in their time of need, and I could potentially be passing them COVID.”
One has to wonder if this new approach is a symptom of California’s reckless governance or a reaction to its previously-unsatisfactory attempts to control the spread of the illness.