The special exemption to France's quarantine rules being rolled out to hospitals, elderly care homes, doctors' offices and other essential health services testifies to the growing strain on the French medical system by the fast-spreading Omicron variant.
It is a calculated risk, with the possibility that health care workers with COVID-19 could infect colleagues and patients being weighed against what the government says is a need to keep essential services running.
Outside the health sector, for those not covered by the special exemption, France's quarantine rules require at least five days of self-isolation for the fully vaccinated who test positive.
For the unvaccinated, self-isolation is at least seven days.
Governments and industries have warned that isolation rules are creating staff shortages across a range of sectors as the Omicron variant causes surges in infections in many countries.
In some places, quarantines have been shortened, including France, to get workers back to their posts.
But in Europe, France appears to be alone in now also opening up the possibility for health care personnel to work while infected.
There are increasing signs that the variant causes less-severe disease.
But the deluge of infections is still sending increasing numbers of people to hospitals, putting those institutions under pressure, especially when medical workers are absent too.
French hospital authorities said the new flexibility from self-isolation would help them plug staffing holes if and when they open up.
"If the system becomes very strained and 50 per cent of our staff are positive, the less symptomatic will come to work because the patients will still need to be cared for," said Dr Marc Leone, head of anesthesiology at the North Hospital in the southern city of Marseille.
"But we're not in that situation yet," he said.
The new rules were detailed in a Health Ministry alert message that was addressed on Sunday to hospitals, care facilities and health authorities and was seen by the Associated Press.
The changes are being rolled out this week.
The ministry alert said France's deluge of virus infections poses "a major risk of disruption to the offer of care".
It described the measure as "exceptional and temporary" and said it will be lifted when the system isn't so saturated with virus cases.
The exemption opens the possibility for doctors, hospital staff, and those working with the disabled and other vulnerable people to stay on the job despite testing positive, on condition that they are fully vaccinated and aren't coughing and sneezing.
