Via the Grand Forks Herald: With North Dakota hospitals at 100% capacity, Burgum announces COVID-positive nurses can stay at work. Excerpt:
BISMARCK — North Dakota's hospitals have reached their limit, and the coming weeks could push them past their capabilities, Gov. Doug Burgum said at a news conference on Monday, Nov. 9.
Due to a major shortage of health care staffing, the state's hospitals have a severe lack of available beds. Rising COVID-19 hospitalizations and high noncoronavirus admissions, some resulting from residents who deferred health care earlier in the pandemic, have caused the crunch on medical centers.
Burgum said hospitals are implementing their "surge" plans, and some will be voluntarily stopping elective surgeries to free up staff. He added that the state will coordinate with hospitals to move nurses to medical centers in most dire need of staff.
In an attempt to alleviate some of the staffing concerns, Burgum announced that interim State Health Officer Dirk Wilke has amended an order that will allow health care workers with asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 to continue working in COVID-19 units at hospitals and nursing homes.
The move aligns with "crisis" guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since only patients with COVID-19 could receive care from doctors and nurses with the virus, Burgum said he believes there will be little risk of more spread. He added that health care workers in COVID-19 units already wear protective gear to prevent them from contracting the virus.
The Republican governor said health care providers asked the state to take the extraordinary step, adding that "apparently some (providers) had the ability to do this in other states."
Burgum spokesman Mike Nowatzki said he didn't have information on other states that have allowed nurses with COVID-19 to return to work and referred Forum News Service to the state Health Department and hospitals who asked for the measure.
Department of Health spokeswoman Nicole Peske and Sanford Bismarck spokesman Jon Berg both said they were unaware of any other states that have taken the extreme step.
Scattered news reports from around the country suggest that some nursing homes have allowed workers with asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 to stay on the job, but Forum News Service could find no evidence of a defined policy exception put in place by a state government.
Burgum also announced that the state would be sending out new-age rapid tests to hospitals, nursing homes, schools and colleges. He said the tests that can produce results in as little as 15 minutes could free up health care workers who might have been relegated to the sidelines while waiting for test results.
The governor added that the state is looking to hire emergency medical technicians and paramedics to run COVID-19 testing operations, which would allow nurses who are currently administering tests to begin working in hospitals.
