(NewsNation Now) — A number of nurses’ unions are asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reconsider its new guidelines that put some people who test positive for COVID-19 back into the workforce after five days of quarantine, rather than 10 days.

Pennsylvania Nursing Union Association CEO Betsy Snook said nurses are concerned that the policy will push people who aren’t recovered back into the public, potentially infecting more people. More infections could lead to a greater burden on hospitals at a time when medical workers already are feeling overwhelmed, she said.

“This isn’t just a physical exhaustion,” Snook said. “These folks are emotionally exhausted. When we see a patient get really sick, and most likely die, it is a real toll on them emotionally.”
Regardless of hospital bed space, “people will die” if there are no nurses left to care for patients, Snook said.

Under the new CDC recommendations, people with COVID-19 should isolate for five days instead if 10. If they’re asymptomatic or their symptoms are resolving (no fever for 24 hours) they should wear a mask around others to minimize the risk of infection.

The five-day quarantine applies only to those who no longer have symptoms and are fully vaccinated.

During his appearance Thursday on “Morning in America,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said the CDC” made a decision to balance what’s good for public health at the same time as keeping society running.”

The worldwide surge in coronavirus cases driven by the new omicron variant is the latest blow to hospitals, police departments, supermarkets and other critical operations struggling to maintain a full contingent of front-line workers as the pandemic enters its third year.

In the U.S., states such as Massachusetts have called in hundreds of National Guard members to help fill the gaps in hospitals and nursing homes, where they serve meals, transport patients and do other nonclinical work.