This Centers for Disease Prevention and Control New COVID-19 guidelines aimed at alleviating staff shortages have recently been introduced, but these recommendations may harm the claims of patients and medical staff, nurses and doctors.

The CDC recommends that asymptomatic or mild COVID-19 symptoms and non-fever medical staff return to work in hospitals with shortages after five days of isolation, even if they have not taken a negative test.Healthcare providers-many of them are Near or full load operation-The consequences of exposing employees and patients to the virus and not having enough staff to take care of each patient.

“Nurses are moving away from the bedside,” said Kathleen Murphy, president of the Massachusetts Nursing Association and an intensive care nurse at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “Because of these ethical dilemmas, they can’t experience this situation again. We are all trying to respond to CDC’s guidance to reduce isolation time because we don’t want to put our patients or colleagues at risk.”

Few hospitals are in a “crisis” state as defined by the CDC. As a last resort, it does not impose any restrictions on employees who are COVID-positive. But observers warn that this situation may change soon.

Margo Wolf O’Donnell, a labor and employment partner at Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff, said: “In the next few weeks, we can achieve this goal.” “The five-day resumption period may cause anxiety. But I think it’s necessary to keep society running in the next few weeks.”

According to the 3,000 intensive care beds in Illinois, as of Wednesday, only about 265, or 9%, were available. Illinois Department of Public Health. Nearly 2 of the 5 ICU beds are occupied by COVID-19 patients. IDPH data shows that about 17% of the state’s hospital beds are available. Many hospitals in Illinois and other states suspended non-emergency operations again.

Murphy said that approximately 60% of Brigham’s beds are occupied by unvaccinated COVID-19 patients, and the hospital is operating at full capacity. She said that due to the shortage of manpower, the hospital had to close some beds, and about a quarter of the night nurses at Brigham Hospital had been calling for illness.

Workers often need paid or sick leave while in isolation, which may lead to turnover.

“It’s not just nurses, but respiratory therapists and doctors,” Murphy said. “We ordinary people don’t have enough employees.”

CDC shortens the recommended quarantine period from 10 days to 5 days data This indicates that COVID-19 is most contagious one or two days before the onset of symptoms and two to three days after the onset of symptoms.Although many healthcare professionals believe that the quarantine does not need to last more than five days, most Recommend a negative test Before returning to work.

“Since the CDC issued these new guidelines, there has been controversy and confusion within medical institutions,” said Craig Laser, an associate clinical professor at Arizona State University. “Most of the time hospital staffing is in crisis mode now, so the guidelines don’t really address how to apply them at these times.”

The American Medical Association stated that the CDC guidelines are risky.

AMA Chairman Dr. Gerald Harmon said in a statement: “If they follow CDC’s new guidelines, that is, five days after the end of the quarantine without a negative test, they may return. Work and school are contagious,” and pointed out that an estimated 31% of people are still contagious five days after testing positive for COVID-19. “Doctors worry that these recommendations put our patients at risk and may further overwhelm our healthcare system.”

The health system is taking a different approach to when COVID-positive employees should return to work. The disclosure policies regarding the risk of infection also vary.

An internal memo shows that Colorado’s health system does not require employees to be tested for COVID-19 when they develop symptoms. “Workers and providers with symptoms of runny nose, sore throat, body aches, and/or loss of taste or smell may continue to report work unless symptoms worsen,” it reads.

Sanford Health, headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, said any employee with symptoms should not work.

“First, we will not require any of our employees to come to work when they feel unwell. We want to ensure that they have the opportunity to stay at home and recover and return to work when they feel good,” said the doctor. Jeremy Cauwels, chief physician in Sanford.

The Cleveland Clinic adopted the CDC’s new recommendations. It requires workers who have been vaccinated or infected with COVID-19 in the past six months to return to work after five days if they are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms and do not have a fever. The clinic said in a statement that workers do not need to undergo a negative test to return to work.

The Cleveland Clinic says that healthcare workers who are positive for COVID-19 must wear surgical masks or N95, and may change their tasks to protect patients with weakened immune systems.

A spokesperson for the clinic said these changes only apply where needed. The surge in COVID-19 cases in the Cleveland area has caused major local systems to postpone non-emergency procedures.

Providence, which operates hospitals in five western states, said it follows CDC and local health departments’ requirements for resumption of work for asymptomatic and symptomatic COVID-19 cases with employee contact.

“Only in emergencies, CDC guidelines and some local health department requirements do allow hospitals to equip COVID wards with COVID-positive caregivers,” a Providence spokesperson said. “Although we are facing a shortage of personnel, fortunately Providence has not adopted this staffing model.”

Neither Providence nor the Cleveland Clinic said whether they will notify patients if COVID-19-positive staff is treating patients. According to the CDC, medical institutions should notify patients and staff when the facility is operating in accordance with crisis standards, outline operational changes and describe infection prevention measures.

Vice President Nancy Foster said that, as recommended by the CDC guidelines, many systems are considering which areas of the hospital should not allow employees who test positive to enter, and what mitigation strategies need to be adopted, such as using N95 Or equivalent respirators continue to wear masks according to the Quality and Patient Safety Policy of the American Hospital Association.

The association said in a statement: “This statement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will enable medical staff to resume taking care of patients more quickly and safely, which will help alleviate the severe labor shortage crisis faced by hospitals across the country.”

The lawyer said that the CDC guidelines have largely protected hospitals and other medical institutions from litigation.

Colin Luke, a partner at Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, said: “When they make a decision in a crisis, as long as they are as cautious as possible in this situation, the litigation will be difficult to succeed.” “The hospital hopes. Make mistakes in workplace safety and are doing everything they can to protect the workforce and meet the needs of patients.”

Industry observers say that most hospitals require employees to return after a five-day quarantine period, even if their test results are not negative.

“Healthcare organizations are gambling. If they don’t know the status of their employees and the employees don’t report illness, then they are healthy and able to work. What is ethical and what is allowed are two different things,” Arizona State Said the university’s laser. “Given the nature of the entire pandemic, disclosing disease status and vaccination status is still a difficult situation.”

Massachusetts lawyer Matthew Cortland (Matthew Cortland) said that the CDC will tell clinicians who have tested positive for airborne highly infectious respiratory pathogens to return to work, which is “ridiculous.”

“This is not normal,” he said.

Cortland said that it is not yet clear how to protect medical staff from malpractice lawsuits because these regulations vary from state to state.

“In terms of bioethics, I think patients clearly have a right to know whether any medical staff caring for them is positive for SARS-CoV-2,” he said.