France allows some COVID-19-infected medics to keep working

By JOHN LEICESTER
Associated Press

LE PECQ, France (AP) — France is allowing health care workers who are infected with the coronavirus but have few or no symptoms to keep treating patients rather than self-isolate. The extraordinary stopgap measure is aimed at easing staff shortages at hospitals and other medical facilities caused by an unprecedented explosion in virus infections. The special exemption to French quarantine rules testifies to the growing strain being placed on the country’s health care system by the fast-spreading omicron variant. The exemption is also a calculated risk, with the possibility that health care workers with COVID-19 could infect colleagues and patients being weighed against the need to keep essential services running.