Las Vegas, NV (AP) - A hospital company with several facilities in southern Nevada said Monday that it will cut to five days its return-to-work target for medical personnel who test positive for COVID-19.
Dignity Health joined facilities around the nation taking steps to let nurses and other workers infected with the coronavirus stay on the job if they have mild or no symptoms of illness.
A company statement pointed to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and attributed the move to “the spread and impact of the COVID-19 omicron variant in southern Nevada, and in anticipation of a continued increase.”
The CDC in December cut its isolation and quarantine recommendation in half, from 10 days. It cited evidence that people with COVID-19 are most infectious two days before and three days after symptoms develop.
Case numbers are climbing sharply in Nevada, according to state health data, but few new coronavirus deaths have been reported. The number of deaths statewide is 8,528 since the pandemic began in March 2020.
Demand for COVID-19 tests has created long lines at a relocated drive-through testing center set up at Sam Boyd Stadium, and the Southern Nevada Health District has announced that test centers will open in coming days at two shuttered casinos — Texas Station and Fiesta Henderson.