Despite the possibility of high-paying, temporary jobs in areas hard hit by COVID-19, Gov. Andy Beshear is pleading with Kentucky healthcare workers to stay in the Bluegrass State during the coronavirus pandemic.

In his daily media briefing on Tuesday, Beshear said advertisements are circulating promising high hourly wages for healthcare workers willing to go to work in areas such as New York with high occurrences of novel coronavirus COVID-19. An advertisement shown by Beshear during the briefing touted a pay rate of $13,000 per week for physician assistants and nurse practitioners, plus stipends, reimbursements and lodging.

Beshear acknowledged the offers are attractive, but he also said those healthcare professionals are needed in Kentucky and will be vital to the state’s response the virus. He also said any healthcare professional who goes out of state to work must quarantine for 14 days once they return to Kentucky. The quarantine would be in accordance with a previously issued executive order addressing those who travel out of state for an extended period and then return to Kentucky, and those traveling into Kentucky from other areas with the intention of remaining in the state.

“We have advertisements out there from other states or hard hit regions willing to pay big dollars and it’s causing some issues in some of our healthcare facilities,” Beshear said. “Folks, we need you to be a part of Team Kentucky. We know that there might be other opportunity out there. But if you go to another state and come back, you’re going to have to self-quarantine for 14 days.

“And going to a hotspot, though they need help, and then coming back, we’re going to have to be really strict about that if you do it, because your potential for exposure is so much greater,” he said.

Several firms with online listings are offering high wages for nurses, as well, through temporary positions in New York. Some of the jobs are advertising hourly wages as high as $110 per hour and are listing as “Urgently hiring.” Beshear asked Kentucky’s healthcare workers to remain in the state to aid in the response to the coronavirus pandemic.

“We need you. We don’t have excess. We want to help all of those around us,” Beshear said. “But if it’s appreciation, let me tell you, you got it, not just from me, it’s from everybody all over this Commonwealth,” he said.

He added that healthcare professionals’ “efforts are going to be incredibly important in helping us get through this.”

window[‘bsa_content_preview_only_263719’] = true;