California proved to be the center of the Covid-19 pandemic in December with record cases. Since March 2020 the state has reported over 2.1 million positive cases. Hospitals and medical professionals are in great need of assistance as ICU facilities reach capacity. Sadly, hospital executives and state legislators have made their experience combatting the virus even worse.
The department of health and hospital association in California voted to have overwhelmed nurses care for even more Covid-19 patients per room and on each floor. Due to this decision our nurses on the frontline wont see any kind of relief.
Mawata Kamara an active nurse at San Leandro Hospital stated “We are already drowning; you should not be pushing our heads under water”. Nurses like Mawata have been working overtime for the last 10 months and don’t always have access to much needed PPE.
Nurses are the heroes of the pandemic. Sadly, 244 medical professionals have already perished due to coronavirus and there has been over 65,000 reported cases within the medical community. Nurses lack the resources to give each patient the individual attention they need.
As conditions are worsening many overwhelmed nurses are leaving their positions. Hospitals have furloughed, laid off staff and have closed units even though the need for more nurses and facilities remains in demand.
Hospital management is cutting it short when it comes to providing medical professionals with PPE, providing testing, contact tracing and other effective measures that could help combat the spread of Covid-19 in hospitals. This coupled with partial lockdowns is not helping the spread of the virus. Hospital professionals and our Governor in California are doing a disservice to medical professionals especially our cherished Nurses.
