Anger after the Governor of North Dakota asks COVID-positive medical staff to continue working

Review by Emily Henderson, Bachelor of ScienceNovember 18, 2020

However, despite the trauma and malaise of the past eight months, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgham was shocked. Said last week Healthcare professionals who test positive for the coronavirus but show no symptoms can still report to work.Order along CDC Guidance To alleviate staff shortages, allow asymptomatic health care workers who test positive to work only in the COVID unit and treat patients who are already infected with the virus.

However, many feel that the idea puts workers and their colleagues at risk.It comes as North Dakota Faced with one of the worst outbreaks of COVID-19, we are tackling a shortage of medical staff.

“Frankly, I’m worried that someone will die because someone wasn’t in time,” said McKaymy, a nurse enrolled in Bismarck’s emergency room.

According to data from the COVID tracking project Over 9,400 North Dakota was COVID-19 positive last week alone.About 1 in 12 residents of North Dakota Infected Infected with the virus; nearly 1 in 1,000 people die. North Dakota Health Department in early November report There were only 12 open ICU beds in the state.

McKaymy said Bergham’s orders violated everything she was taught as a nurse.

“It would be very scary if hospital managers started to force COVID-positive staff to go to work. We are trained to do no harm and COVID-positive asymptomatic Asking a sexual nurse to return to work puts the patient at risk. It puts fellow staff at risk. “

Nine months after the pandemic, it’s clear that healthcare professionals are already facing increased risk. Lost on the front lineA joint effort by the Guardian and KHN is investigating the deaths of 1,375 healthcare workers who are believed to have died of COVID-19 since the outbreak of the pandemic. Almost one-third of those health care workers were nurses.

McKaymy described a long shift in the emergency room that began accepting patients overnight because he was incapable of admitting patients to other wards of the hospital. The nurse picks up extra shifts to cover the sick colleague and takes on multiple important patients at once.

It is a scene that unfolds in hospitals nationwide while the coronavirus spreads unabated.As of Monday, more than 11 million people in the United States Was infected With the virus, health officials reported 180,000 new infections in one day. And the country is preparing for another milestone: it will soon exceed 250,000 deaths from COVID-19.

Healthcare workers are overwhelmed and exhausted. According to a recent National Nurses United survey, more than 70% of hospital nurses are afraid to get COVID-19 and 80% are afraid to get their family. More than half said they had trouble sleeping and 62 reported feeling stressed and anxious. Almost 80% say they have been forced to reuse disposable PPEs such as the N95 respiratory system.

Many health care workers feel abandoned due to omissions at the state and federal levels. When Governor Bergham ordered infected but asymptomatic nurses to report working in the COVID unit, North Dakota said such measures could significantly reduce the spread of the virus. Despite expert guidance, he did not carry out state-wide mask mandates.

Tessa Johnson, a registered nurse at Bismarck’s Nursing Home and chairman of the North Dakota Nurses Association, issued a statement last week condemning Bergham’s order to keep infected nurses working.

She said the state could have done more to prevent patients from getting infected in the first place. “We asked for, asked for, and asked for a Maskman date, but that didn’t happen,” she said Thursday.

On Friday night, Burgum talked about his face, issued a mask mandate, and ordered individuals to cover their faces in corporate, indoor public places, and outdoor public places where physical distance was not possible.

“Our doctors and nurses working bravely on the front lines need our help, and they need it now,” he said. Press statement..

Still, Johnson said there is a gap between what healthcare professionals are experiencing in North Dakota health care facilities and how the general public perceives the virus. And even before Burgum’s comment, some of her colleagues felt that they had to choose between taking all precautions or taking a limited vacation. “The other day, one of my close friends and a healthcare professional told me,’I don’t want to use paid vacation, so unless I’m very ill, I have no way to get tested.'”

McKaymy, an ER nurse, said she didn’t have time to handle the stress of the past few months. She focuses on staying healthy and keeping her patients alive in preparation for what she expects to be a difficult winter. “We will break our backs and work as hard as we can physically,” McKaymy said. “But it’s great to ask us to join us as a potential source of infection.”