Hired on to a Covid unit

[HeatherWin]

Hi everyone, I have been out of the hospital setting for 5 years and jumped at the chance to work on a Covid unit. I am afraid of course but know I am going to be helping with this pandemic. I hope to not be infected but there is a chance working with this population on a Tele/ortho unit changed to a Covid unit. My question is this: As nurses who work on Covid units do you self isolate for fear of being an asymptomatic carrier? Or do you go about your life with the recommended precautions of 6 foot distancing and masks?

[A Hit With The Ladies, BSN, RN]

I've worked on my psych hospital's COVID unit when it's open. They usually don't have enough patients to staff that unit so when someone that's presumptive positive ends up negative they move that patient up to the floor and close that unit down.

I go on with my life afterward. I'm living with my parents for this Summer and it's impractical to self-isolate at home. Plus, I know my parents, they wouldn't want me to self-isolate. They're not selfish at all (-:

If you wear PPE you should be fine. To be frank, I think this corona thing is so overblown.

Quote

About 80% of Americans who have died of Covid-19 are older than 65, and the median age is 80. A review by Stanford medical professor John Ioannidis last month found that individuals under age 65 accounted for 4.8% to 9.3% of all Covid-19 deaths in 10 European countries and 7.8% to 23.9% in 12 U.S. locations.

For most people under the age of 65, the study found, the risk of dying from Covid-19 isn’t much higher than from getting in a car accident driving to work. In California and Florida, the fatality risk for the under-65 crowd is about equal to driving 16 to 17 miles per day. While higher in hot spots like New York (668 miles) and New Jersey (572 miles), the death risk is still lower than the public perceives.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-covid-age-penalty-11592003287?mod=opinion_major_pos1

[ganurses123]

How often do you perform Covid tests on the units? Every 3 days?

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

Most self isolate

[ganurses123]

I think maybe I didn’t word my question correctly. I meant when a patient is in the hospital and they have Covid like symptoms but they test negative initially do you have a standard where you test the patient again every 3 days?