Nurses appeal to the recent decision of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Shorten the time medical staff need to be isolated After testing positive for COVID-19, it is “unreasonable” and this may lead to more cases and even death.

Zenei Triunfo-Cortez, president of the National Federation of Nurses, said that action is needed to stop the spread of the virus, especially when the highly-spreading variant of omicron spreads across the country, leading to a surge in cases And the hospital is overcrowded.

Triunfo-Cortez said: “This is not the time to shorten the isolation period or the isolation period,” he warned that shortening the isolation period may endanger patients and staff.

According to the revised guidelines, the CDC stated on December 23 that asymptomatic health care workers infected with COVID-19 can return to work after testing negative after 7 days, or if there is a need for personnel, and have received booster injections Of medical staff no longer receive booster injections, they can return to work faster and require isolation after high-risk exposure to COVID-19.

“As the healthcare community prepares for the expected surge in patients caused by omicron, the CDC is updating our recommendations to reflect our understanding of infection and exposure in the context of vaccination and booster doses. Our goal is to ensure that healthcare workers and Patient’s safety, and solve and prevent our medical institutions from being overburdened,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said In the press release.

Across the United States, the National Guard has been called to help hospitals overcrowded by the surge in COVID-19, and healthcare providers are struggling to take care of the influx of COVID-19 patients.

Dr. Katie Passaretti, vice president and corporate chief epidemiologist at Atrium Health, said the number of COVID-19 cases has increased dramatically.

“With this, we need to keep our hospital running in a healthy way,” Passaretti said.

She said the system is still passing new guidelines and “figuring out how to apply them in a healthcare environment in a safe way.”

“We will not make these decisions lightly. We are evaluating the latest CDC recommendations on the isolation and isolation of medical staff and the general population, and will make changes when necessary to ensure the best care and care for our patients, teammates, and the community. Safe,” Atrium Health said in an email statement.

The Cleveland Clinic said it is changing its quarantine and isolation standards for healthcare workers in accordance with new CDC guidelines.

“As the omicron variant sweeps our community, in order to meet key staffing challenges and ensure that we can safely meet the needs of patients, the Cleveland Clinic is changing its return-to-work policy for COVID-19 caregivers to communicate with the CDC regarding Emergency guidelines for alleviating staff shortages and quarantine and quarantine,” the Cleveland Clinic said in an emailed statement. “This guide is temporary and only applies to certain locations as needed while we continue to respond to this emergency.”

According to the new policy, Cleveland Clinic medical staff who have been vaccinated or infected with COVID-19 in the past 6 months can return to work in five days if they are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms and do not have a fever.

Cleveland, Ohio, where the Cleveland Clinic is located, is one of the regions hardest hit by the latest wave of COVID-19 cases in the country.Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on December 20 Dispatched 1,050 members of the Ohio National Guard Help the state’s hospitals, most of which are concentrated in northeastern Ohio.

Dr. Shereef Elnahal, President and CEO of Newark University Hospital in New Jersey, said that he welcomes the changes in the CDC.

“The net effect is positive because we can allow asymptomatic medical staff to return to work earlier than before. Our current main capacity limitation is staffing,” El Najal said in an email comment.

Elnahal said that at this point, the omicron variant has proven to be less serious. He said that although the number of hospitalizations has increased, less than 10% of people need ICU-level care, and many people have shorter hospital stays.

El Najal said: “So far, I am still more worried about understaffed and unemployed employees putting pressure on our hospital staff, rather than the burden of COVID.”

Matthew Cortland, a Massachusetts lawyer, stated that the CDC is “basically experimenting with health care workers”, telling them to return to work if they are positive for COVID-19 and may Expose their colleagues and patients to the virus.

Passaretti said the nurses felt they were “sacrificed again.”

“The hospital industry says there is a staffing crisis. The staffing crisis is caused by them. They created it. They drove the nurses out of the clinic due to unsafe working conditions,” Passaretti said. “It is painful, unbelievable and unreasonable that the hospital would do this.”