Rhode Island went from firing unvaccinated health care workers to allowing the COVID-positive to work

After implementing a coronavirus mandate for health care workers this fall, Rhode Island has now opened an option for COVID-positive health care workers to continue working if their facility is facing a staffing crisis.

“Also, facility administrators should be using their clinical judgment in making staffing decisions. For example, a facility may opt for a COVID-19 positive worker to only care for COVID-19 positive patients,” Joseph Wendelken, a spokesperson from the department of health, told the Providence Journal on Saturday.

A memo was sent to employees of state-run Eleanor Slater Hospital on Friday explaining that “those who are exposed or have a positive Covid test but are asymptomatic” can continue reporting to work “in crisis situations for staffing” if they wear N95 masks.

The memo came after Rhode Island updated its isolation and quarantine guidance in December to reflect the CDC’s updated guidance.

“For the general public, the updated guidance (which shortens the isolation and quarantine period in some instances) is reflective of science that indicates that most SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the course of illness,” Wendelken told the Providence Journal.

Workers at other hospitals and skilled nursing homes in the state who are “mildly symptomatic” can also continue working if the facilities are facing a staffing crisis, according to the Rhode Island Department of Health. Any hospital that needs to activate crisis staffing mode needs to notify the state Department of Health. – READ MORE