When Will Coronavirus Disease-19 Patients be allowed to Work at the Office Again?: A Literature Study

Abstract

As numbers of coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 cases in the world rises gradually, both from unending first waves and resurging waves following successful reduction of cases on first waves, both the world and healthcare workers face an impending situation in the near future. For the world, the question may be, “When will we be allowed to work at our office again?” For caregivers, the question will be, “What may happen if over capacitance of healthcare facilities resumes until indeterminate time?” New published guidelines by WHO on clinical management of COVID-19 provided most recent recommendations on criteria for stopping isolation of COVID-19 patients based on new findings that patients positive of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 is not always transmitting virus to surroundings. Furthermore, criteria for terminating isolation are suitable for all COVID-19 cases regardless of the location of isolation or the severity of the disease without the requirement of repeated swab examinations. This further gives an advantage by lowering healthcare costs and effective allocation of health resources. Even if a negative swab result is still a condition to be deemed not to be able to transmit the virus, this should not be a barrier for someone to return to their normal activity and lifestyle while waiting for the test swab results. In the end, the choice whether to pursue a result that has no clear benefits by allocating funds for repeated swab tests at expensive costs and ignoring the productivity of professionals by carrying out prolonged isolation or to optimize the resources at our disposal.