The court order should be a signal to the Department of Labor and Occupational Safety and Health Administration to take the next necessary step — extending the Emergency Temporary Standard.
NNU commended the U.S. senators who sent a letter to President Biden and Secretary Walsh urging the administration to quickly issue a final permanent Covid-19 OSHA standard for health care workers.
The push comes at a critical moment, following OSHA's announcement that it will be rescinding the emergency temporary standard that has been in effect since June 2021.
Eliminating the isolation time and sending asymptomatic or exposed health care workers to work will guarantee more preventable transmission, infections, hospitalizations, and death.
National leading labor organizations and unions petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals to order the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue a permanent standard to protect health care workers against Covid-19.
National Nurses United demands that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maintain its existing guidance on ten-day isolation for health care workers who have tested positive for Covid-19.
Widespread transmission will continue to result in evolution and spread of new variants of concern, such as Omicron, making a permanent standard even more important
