During this unfortunate @BrighamWomens COVID-19 outbreak, blaming us, the “weary” workers, is not the solution. As a resident affected by this outbreak, here are the realities of why healthcare workers NEED routine rapid testing:

Masking: Most residents work in cramped working spaces, and we can’t leave our floors if we have sick patients we’re checking in on. We eat when we can, and it’s not possible to eat with a mask on...

Masking: Patients are ideally wearing masks too, but sometimes they are delirious or short of breath. Can we really expect them to mask all the time? And if they’re unmasked and sharing rooms, the virus can spread.

Symptom screening: Hospitals screen employees daily for new symptoms, but can you tell if it’s a “new runny nose (not related to seasonal allergies)?” Do you get tested for what are likely just allergies? Does testing time affect your decision?

Testing: At many hospitals, getting test results can still take up to 72 hours. While awaiting your results, you may have to miss up to three days of work, burdening the rest of your team and affecting patient care.

Quarantine: If you are a healthcare worker with a high-risk COVID exposure, the CDC says to stay home for 14 days. You could become infectious in that time period. Most hospitals, though, tell us to keep working unless symptomatic.

If they need us to keep working, they have to test us regularly and rapidly. Asymptomatic spread exists. Presymptomatic spread exists. It’s likely aerosolizing. If schools and athletic programs can do routine rapid testing, hospitals MUST do it. We owe it to our patients.

Grateful to the @BrighamChiefs and the hospital epidemiology team for their swift response and continued hard work during this outbreak. Hopefully all hospitals can learn from this and increase routine rapid HCW testing as the second surge looms.