Labor unions condemn new Newsom public health policy on COVID-positive hospital workers
Two influential and powerful health care labor unions condemned California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday for putting corporate interests ahead of public health after state regulators announced that hospitals and other institutions can compel asymptomatic workers to return to work even if they tested positive for COVID-19 or were exposed to it.
“Gov. Newsom and our state’s public health leaders are putting the needs of health care corporations before the safety of patients and workers,” said Cathy Kennedy, a registered nurse and president of the California Nurses Association. “We want to care for our patients and see them get better – not potentially infect them. Sending nurses and other health care workers back to work while infected is dangerous. If we get sick, who will be left to care for our patients and community?”
In a letter issued Jan. 8 to all providers, Cassie Dunham, the acting deputy director of the California Department of Public Health, wrote: “From Jan. 8, 2022, until Feb. 1, 2022, HCPs (health care personnel) who have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and are asymptomatic may return to work immediately without isolation and without testing, and HCPs who have been exposed and are asymptomatic may return to work immediately without quarantine and without testing..”
Dunham noted that the change in state policy mirrors one issued Dec. 23, 2021, by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stating that hospitals may return asymptomatic workers to duty if they are facing staffing shortages. The California Hospital Association as well as the Service Employees International Union California also have assailed the CDC guidelines.
Jan Emerson-Shea, a spokesperson with the California Hospital Association, said that because the omicron variant of COVID-19 is spreading like wildfire throughout the state, many health care workers are either sick themselves, have been exposed to the virus, or are caring for family members.
“This crisis is happening at a time when our state’s health care workforce is already depleted after nearly two years of fighting the pandemic,” Emerson-Shea noted in her statement. “Every hospital’s situation is different, and there are various strategies hospitals can use to respond to the workforce challenges they face. Hospital leaders are in the best position to determine what measures are best suited to their local facilities, recognizing the need to protect patients and staff as they respond to the COVID surge in the coming weeks.”
In a statement issued Monday, Bob Schoonover, president of SEIU California and executive director of SEIU California, said: “Health care 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.”
Union leaders said they were outraged that the CDPH ruling also allows nursing homes to call back asymptomatic staff, pointing out that those facilities saw nearly 10,000 COVID-19 deaths during the pandemic, making them among the most dangerous places to work and to live.
“Nowhere did we see more tragic COVID death in this pandemic than in our nursing homes,” said April Verrett, President of SEIU Local 2015 and Executive Board Member of SEIU California. “Yet, our governing public health-care agencies—from the CDC to our local health departments and health safety enforcement bodies—continue to fail us, putting expediency above sound public health guidance. This guidance does the same.”
Responding to an inquiry from The Bee, UCD Health and Kaiser leaders said they had received the updated CDPH guidance over the weekend and were reviewing its content. Dignity Health leaders said that they would implement the CDPH guidelines only if a hospital is facing a staff shortage that would jeopardize its ability to provide care. Sutter Health did not reply.
“We plan to continue testing employees who have symptoms of illness before they return to work unless conditions change,” the UCD statement noted. “As usual, we are encouraging our employees who are feeling sick or showing symptoms of illness to stay home until they feel better.”
In the Dignity statement, company leaders said they must do what’s necessary to manage the significant increase they are seeing in COVID-19 patients: “While we have not yet had to implement these guidelines, we may need to adopt this approach in the coming days and weeks. We implore everyone in our communities to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 during this current surge by following public safety measures, wearing a mask, social distancing, and getting the COVID-19 vaccine and booster as soon as possible.”
News reports from Rhode Island say a hospital there had a COVID-19 outbreak among 28 of its roughly 200 patients after instituting a similar policy. However, the leaders of the state-run Eleanor Slater Hospital said that all but one of the COVID-positive staff who returned to work had worked with COVID-positive patients and no patients tested positive for COVID-19 in the ward where the one asymptomatic employee had reported for work.
The CDPH guidance comes as the number of COVID-19 patients has doubled in the state’s hospitals over the last 10 days. The agency suggests that COVID-positive or COVID-exposed be deployed to work with COVID-19 patients or in areas where staff shortages are extreme.
Amid the nation’s rapid surge in cases of COVID-19, the Biden-Harris Administration said Monday that it is requiring insurance companies and group health plans to cover the cost of over-the-counter, at-home COVID-19 tests. Individuals covered by private health coverage should be able to get them at no cost starting Jan. 15.
This story was originally published January 10, 2022 at 2:39 PM with the headline "Labor unions condemn new Newsom public health policy on COVID-positive hospital workers."
