California allows hospitals to force COVID-positive employees to work amid brutal staffing shortage

California is now allowing hospitals to force COVID-positive asymptomatic staff to work as the state grapples with a surge of Omicron cases and staff shortages, as Governor Newsom deployed National Guard members to assist at testing sites. 

‘Hospitals have to exhaust all other options before resorting to this temporary tool. Facilities and providers using this tool, should have asymptomatic COVID-19 positive workers interact only with COVID-19 positive patients to the extent possible,’ a statement issued by the California Department of Public Health on Saturday read.  

The news sparked outrage among advocates for health workers, who argue hospital staff has carried the weight of the pandemic on their shoulders and are now being put at risk, along with their patients. 

‘Healthcare workers and patients need the protection of clear rules guided by strong science. Allowing employers to bring back workers who may still be infectious is one of the worst ideas I have heard during this pandemic, and that’s really saying something,’ Bob Schoonover, President of SEIU California told CBS Sacramento. 

Health and human Services Secretary Dr Mark Ghaly said on Wednesday ‘some facilities are going to be strapped,’ as the Omicron variants spike worsens the situation. 

Governor Gavin Newsom has deployed 200 California National Guards members across 50 testing sites across the state and plans to deploy more in the following days. 

The Golden State has seen a seven-day average of 15,162 COVID-19 cases, with more than 6 million active cases reported in total. Infections have spiked almost 500percent in the last two weeks, and hospitalizations are now almost twice as in Christmas. 

About 40percent of hospitals are expected to face critical shortages. Kiyomi Burchill, a member of the California Hospital Association, said some hospitals have reported as much as one quarter of their staff out for COVID-19. 

Meanwhile, Governor Newsom deployed 200 California National Guards members across 50 testing sites across the state

‘In the emergency departments, we do have patients that are literally stacked up 20 to 30 in some of the hospitals, waiting for an open bed that will hopefully be available when we discharge patients,’ Chris Van Gorder, president and CEO of Scripps Health, told NBC.

The statement by California Department of Public Health said: ‘The department is providing temporary flexibility to help hospitals and emergency services providers respond to an unprecedented surge and staffing shortages,’

‘Hospitals have to exhaust all other options before resorting to this temporary tool. Facilities and providers using this tool, should have asymptomatic COVID-19 positive workers interact only with COVID-19 positive patients to the extent possible.’ 

The guidance will be enforced until February 1, and does not require hospital staff to  test negative or isolate before retuning to work. 

Staffing shortages woes in California were exacerbated by Governor Gavin Newsom’s vaccine mandate put into effect last year, which required health workers to get vaccinated or face termination. 

Meanwhile, firefighters in LA are driving sick patients to hospitals in fire trucks because 450 firefighters are sick with COVID-19.   

California health case consortium Kaiser Permanente suspended more than 2,000 unvaccinated employees in October.

But many argue that the California Department of Public Health measure will worsen the problem.  

‘We are very concerned,’ Sandy Reding, president of the California Nurses Association told NBC. ‘If you have health care workers who are COVID positive care for vulnerable populations, we can spread the COVID virus inside the hospital as well.’  

‘If we are going to set up for the surge, let’s set up protocols to have transmission reduced. Which means not have COVID positive people come to work,’ she added.  

About 40percent of hospitals are expected to face critical shortages

Staffing shortages woes in California were exacerbated by Governor Gavin Newsom’s vaccine mandate put into effect last year, which required health workers to get vaccinated or face termination

Meanwhile, Governor Newsom deployed 200 California National Guards members across 50 testing sites across the state. 

Eighteen are in Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Ventura counties, local news station KTLA 5 reported. 

Cal Guard members joining the sites will be interim clinical staff, while the sites try to hire permanent staff.  

‘California has led the country’s fight against COVID-19, implementing first-in-the-nation public health measures that have helped save thousands of lives,’ Newsom said. ‘We continue to support communities in their response to COVID by blustering testing capacity.’

More than 6,000 testing sites have been set up by the state, and more National Guard members are expected to join testing sites in the following days. 

Cal Guard members joining the sites will be interim clinical staff, while the sites try to hire permanent staff

More than 6,000 testing sites have been set up by the state, and more National Guard members are expected to join testing sites in the following days

The United States has posted its second-highest daily total for new COVID-19 cases, as one expert predicts some 5 million Americans could call in sick in the coming week in a major disruption to the economy and essential services.

On Friday, the US recorded 900,832 new COVID cases, second only to the more than 1 million cases recorded on Monday. The nation’s four highest caseload days since the start of the pandemic were all recorded in the past week.

The average daily case increase over the past seven days has been 664,732, a 64 percent increase from a week ago, according to a DailyMail.com analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University. Deaths ticked up on Friday to 2,615, a 22 percent increase from week-ago levels on a rolling-average basis, but still well below the peak a year ago. 

Hospitalizations are rising quickly towards record highs, though new data from New York suggests that many hospital admissions with COVID are now incidental, with patients testing positive for the virus after hospitalization for unrelated complaints.  

Most experts believe infections will continue to increase in the US for the next few weeks before the Omicron surge peaks in late January, with Dr. Anthony Fauci saying that the US will likely record more than 1 million cases daily on a regular basis in coming weeks.

‘It’s still surging upward… I would not be surprised at all if we go over a million cases per day,’ Fauci told WNBC-TV on Friday. ‘I would hope that by the time we get to the fourth week in January — end of the third week, beginning of the fourth week – that we will start see this coming down.’  

Though Omicron appears less likely to cause severe illness and death than prior strains, the widespread infections could force some five million Americans to stay home from work in the coming days, Andrew Hunter, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics, told the Wall Street Journal. 

Illness-related staff shortages have already hobbled a number of industries for weeks, driving more than 1,000 daily flight cancellations for 13 straight days, and the coming surge in COVID sick leave could further hammer businesses that don’t allow for remote working.