During the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses and doctors across the United States are being exposed to people that have contracted the coronavirus, causing many of these healthcare workers to become sickened.
In one major New York City hospital, 200 workers have become ill.
Two nurses in city hospitals have died from coronavirus complications.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which has infected more than 30,000 people in New York City, is taking a toll on those who are most needed to combat it: the doctors, nurses and other workers at hospitals and clinics. In emergency rooms and intensive care units, typically unflappable medical professionals are feeling panicked as an increasing numbers of colleagues get sick.
Doctors and nurses also fear they could be transmitting the virus to their patients, aggravating the crisis by transforming hospitals into incubators for the virus. Hospital workers in New York are now required to take their temperature every 12 hours, though many doctors and nurses fear they could contract the disease and spread it to patients even before they become symptomatic. Also, it is a challenge to know when to come back to work after being sick. All medical workers who show symptoms, even if they have not been tested, must self-quarantine for at least seven days and must be asymptomatic for three days before coming back to work.
Being a healthcare worker is one of the most dangerous professions in the present time. The coronavirus causes great risk for nurses and doctors but even before this pandemic started, violence and assault against healthcare workers, especially nurses, was on the rise. A recent survey by the American Nurses Association concluded that 21 percent of registered nurses and nursing students reported being physically assaulted—and 50 percent have been verbally abused.
Be safe out there!
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