With Hospitals At Full Capacity, GOP North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum Allows COVID+ Nurses To Stay At Work

The Grand Forks Herald reports:

North Dakota’s hospitals have reached their limit, and the coming weeks could push them past their capabilities, Gov. Doug Burgum said at a news conference on today.

Due to a major shortage of health care staffing, the state’s hospitals have a severe lack of available beds. Rising COVID-19 hospitalizations and high noncoronavirus admissions, some resulting from residents who deferred health care earlier in the pandemic, have caused the crunch on medical centers.

In an attempt to alleviate some of the staffing concerns, Burgum announced that interim State Health Officer Dirk Wilke has amended an order that will allow health care workers with asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 to continue working in hospitals’ COVID-19 units.

North Dakota hospitals are at 100% capacity. Governor is allowing covid-positive nurses to stay at work. https://t.co/XMPdfexgZa

— Carl Zimmer (@carlzimmer) November 10, 2020