In France, the Corona virus, and in particular the Omicron variant, is spreading more and more and more hospitals and other health care facilities are reaching their limits with their staff. For this reason, the French government has now decided on anexemption from the quarantine regulations for health care workers.
As of this week, if they are infected but have few or no symptoms, they should continue to treat patients. Actually, there is a quarantine obligation of at least five days for vaccinated staff. The government accepts that they may infect the patients, but it is more important to keep the facilities running. The regulation was welcomed by many facilities, which can now do without hiring new staff. The cynicism of this new regulation is also shown by the fact that the workers practically only come to the facility to work; exchanges with colleagues, e.g. during a break, are to be avoided - the risk of infection still exists. So instead of ensuring that health workers get better pay and thus counteracting the staff shortage, the already exhausted and now Corona-infected employees continue to be forced to work for poor wages. So far, none of the promised improvements have been implemented by the government. But there is resistance: Already in 2020, there were militant protests by health workers who demanded improvements at the beginning of the pandemic. The most recent example of the protests is an indefinite strike by emergency room staff in northern France.
