Nurses balance patient safety, staffing needs during omicron surge

Changes to guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have left nurses who test positive for COVID-19 questioning how best to protect their patients and support their co-workers during the current omicron surge. The latest CDC guidance allows health workers who test positive for COVID-19 to return to work more quickly, typically after five days. “The goal is not zero transmission; the goal is to get us all through this,” Anna Bershteyn, an assistant professor in the department of population health at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine, told NBC News. She said the CDC guidance is based on evidence regarding the likelihood of viral transmission and stressed the need for those returning to work to mask and social distance. (NBC News article, 1/3/22)