Asymptomatic health care workers with COVID-19 allowed to continue working in Oklahoma
The Oklahoma State Department of Health is allowing health care workers who have tested positive for COVID-19, but aren't exhibiting symptoms of the virus, to continue working at hospitals and long-term care facilities.
But the Oklahoma Nurses Association opposes allowing asymptomatic COVID-19 positive nurses to continue working, and called the recommendation a “reckless” solution to the state’s staffing shortage.
Travis Kirkpatrick, Health Department deputy commissioner, said asymptomatic health care workers can only be used as a last resort during short periods of time where it is absolutely necessary. The agency reviewed the question after some long-term care providers expressed concerns that they would be unable to continue offering care without this allowance.
“Because some Oklahoma hospitals and nursing homes are experiencing staffing shortages, the Oklahoma State Department of Health is allowing asymptomatic staff who previously tested positive for COVID-19 to continue working,” Kirkpatrick said in a statement. “This is something already happening in many other states, and we ask that it only be used as a last resort in emergencies and extreme staffing shortages.”
Medical staffers who have tested positive for COVID-19 will not be allowed to treat non-COVID patients. Hospitals and long-term care facilities will mostly be asked to self-regulate and come up with their own protocols to keep COVID-positive workers from interacting with non-COVID workers and patients.
Critics have said it would be difficult for health care employers to keep COVID positive and non-COVID workers completely separate when they share many common spaces in the entrances, hallways and restrooms of facilities.
Kirkpatrick stressed that state officials did not make this decision lightly, and only health care workers who have volunteered to work while they are asymptomatic should be allowed to work.
"No nurse should ever be forced to work when they are asymptomatic," he said.
The state's Nurses Association fired back, saying it is unreasonable to ask asymptomatic COVID-19 positive nurses to work because it endangers their safety, the safety of their patients and could increase the spread of the virus.
"Why would we imperil our nurses, patients, and other health care staff by resorting to the use of asymptomatic COVID-19 positive nurses when we haven’t exhausted other strategies?" the group said in a statement.
The Nurses Association also criticized Gov. Kevin Stitt for not responding to a letter the group sent earlier this month detailing its recommendations to help hospitals with staffing concerns.
The group said that until Oklahoma takes additional steps to reduce the spread of the virus, like imposing a widespread mask mandate, it's unreasonable to ask asymptomatic COVID-19 positive nurses to work. Some Oklahoma cities have implemented local mask mandates, but Stitt has refused to implement a statewide mask mandate.
Dr. Scott Michener, chief medical officer at the Comanche County Memorial Hospital in Lawton, said the state's decision on asymptomatic medical workers is baffling.
"To me, that just seems like the most insane thing," he said. "You won’t mandate a mask, but you’re going to let COVID positive health care providers work? It seems like the logic is backwards."
Without offering specifics, Health Commissioner Dr. Lance Frye said the Health Department is working with various medical and health care groups to help increase the number of available nurses and other medical professionals. Many health care experts have said Oklahoma has long had a nursing shortage that is now being exacerbated by the pandemic.
Oklahoma is competing with other states for nurses, and the Nurses Association is asking the state to use some CARES Act funds to attract more nurses, said Jane Nelson, the group's executive director.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises most asymptomatic health care workers can return to work at least 10 days after first testing positive for COVID-19.
In the event asymptomatic health care professionals continue working, they should continue to submit to temperature checks and wear personal protective gear at work, the CDC says. If the worker develops even mild symptoms of COVD-19, they should cease working.