With coronavirus cases surging, nurses in North Dakota demand a statewide mask mandate

A nurse.
(Image credit: Cengiz Yar/Getty Images)

Nurses in North Dakota are pushing back against a new policy stating that they can continue working after testing positive for the coronavirus, as long as they do not show any symptoms and only treat COVID-19 patients.

North Dakota has the worst infection and death rates per person in the United States, and is experiencing a shortage of health care workers and hospital beds. Gov. Doug Burgum (R) announced the new policy on Monday, and the North Dakota Nurses Association said in a statement on Wednesday it "recommends that all other public health measures to reduce the demand on the health care system and address staffing shortages are deployed before implementing this particular strategy."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.