North Dakota nurses worry about working with sick colleagues

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Like many medical workers around the world, the coronavirus pandemic is a burden that Fargo emergency room nurse Adam Johnston can't escape. The grim reality follows him everywhere: at work, where people die every shift; at the grocery store, where people rail against his city's mask requirement; and at home, where he struggles to sleep.

He’s gotten through the long months, including North Dakota's current virus wave that is among the worst in the U.S., by finding solace with fellow nurses during brief breaks where they can swap tips on beating insomnia or just vent frustrations. But he and many other nurses fear things are about to get even harder now that Gov. Doug Burgum has allowed the state's beleaguered hospitals to use infected but asymptomatic workers to treat COVID-19 patients.

“It’s going to make you question every time you want to sit down and grab a five-minute snack with one of your co-workers,” said Johnston, who is the president of the state’s Emergency Nurses Association. “You’re always going to think, ‘Am I 6 feet away from them? Am I safe? Am I not?’”

Burgum said his decision could help North Dakota's hospitals, which are at or near capacity after a surge in cases that began over the summer and has only gotten worse. But Johnston and many other nurses feel he's saddling them with yet another burden while resisting imposing common safeguards to stanch the spread of the virus that might be less politically palatable in the conservative state.

Like some of his Republican counterparts in other states that have had big spikes in COVID-19 cases, Burgum for months took a business-friendly approach that puts the responsibility for slowing the virus on individuals rather than government mandates, so as to protect “both lives and livelihoods.” It wasn't until...