A majority of US nurses have never had a COVID-19 test, and have had to re-use PPE like face masks, according to a survey of 23,000
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Sinéad Baker
May 21, 2020, 17:15 IST
Nurses protest against the lack of personal protection equipment amid the covid-19 pandemic in front of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 21, 2020.NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images
The majority of nurses have had to re-use single use PPE and have never been tested for the coronavirus, according to a survey of 23,000 nurses by the largest US nursing union.
87% of respondents said they have had to reuse single-use equipment.
84% said they have never been tested. Many also said their skin or clothing has been exposed while treating virus patients.
PPE shortages have sparked protests from nurses, and some have made makeshift replacements from trash bags and swim goggles.
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87% of US nurses have had to reuse single-use personal protective equipment when treating coronavirus patients and 84% have never been tested for the virus, according to new survey of 23,000 nurses across the country.
It also found that 72% of nurses have had their skin or clothing exposed while treating coronavirus patients.
National Nurses United said the results shows that "dangerous health care workplace conditions have become the norm since COVID-19 struck the United States."
Bonnie Castillo, the organization's executive director, said: "This new survey shows that nurses are still fighting today for optimal personal protective equipment (PPE), fighting to get tested, and fighting for their own lives, and their patients' lives."
The survey also found that 27% of respondents who work with confirmed coronavirus patients said they had been exposed without appropriate PPE and worked again within 14 days.
It also found that 500 nurses had a positive coronavirus test result, and that 500 more nurses were still waiting for their results when they took the survey.
Medical staff across the country have reported having to reuse PPE like N95 masks, even though the US Food and Drug Administration says that N95 respirator masks "should not be shared or reused."
"Project Airbridge," a program designed by Jared Kushner to fly personal protective equipment PPE from Asian manufacturers to US hospital suppliers, is also largely coming to an end, even though the shortages persist.
More than 100 nurses have died of COVID-19 in the US, the union said.
Castillo said: "The richest country in the world will call nurses heroes without even bothering to invest in mass producing N95 respirators and other equipment to keep nurses alive.
"Nurses signed up to care for their patients. They did not sign up to die needlessly on the front lines of a pandemic.Our message to employers and the Trump administration is: Platitudes are empty without protections. For our sake, for the public's sake — give us PPE."
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