Sharp increase in hospital workers getting Covid

The number of coronavirus infections among hospital workers is increasing significantly, especially among nurses and carers. Hospitals currently deal with between 10 and 25 percent of their staff having Covid-19, De Telegraaf reported after surveying eight large hospitals.

"It is getting out of hand in Amsterdam, just like in London. This is really a big city problem," Amsterdam UMC director Mark Kramer said to the newspaper. "We see the repercussions of the infections among Amsterdam residents - 40 percent test positive - in our staff. One in four AMC and VU employees now test positive, often to their surprise. A week ago, it was still 1 in 20. The holidays and the more contagious Omicron variant together caused a corona explosion."

With high numbers of Covid infections on top of pre-existing staff shortages, hospitals are again scrambling to get enough people on duty. Kramer is considering changing the hospital's policy, he said to the newspaper. "Because many personnel who tested positive have no symptoms, we are thinking about deploying infected but symptom-free personnel anyway. Fully protected, of course."