National Nurses United (NNU), the country’s largest nurse union, has recently released a report (Monday 28th September) stating that 213 registered nurses have died from COVID-19 and related complications in the U.S.A since the virus hit our shores.
The figures across the larger healthcare sector is extremely depressing. During the battle with coronavirus, the NNU estimates that 1,718 healthcare workers have died of COVID-19.
Research from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services formed the basis of the report, along with data from the Centers for Disease Control.
This combined with state and local public health records, as well as an in depth look at relevant social media accounts, obituaries and media reports reporting healthcare worker deaths, all came together in the calculations.
More troubling still is the fact that more than half of the registered nurses that have died (58.2%) were people of color.
This includes 67 Filipino American nurses and 38 Black American nurses.
When compared to what the BLS estimates as being the number of registered nurses in the US that are people of color (just 24.1%), the figures are frightening.
Furthermore, it seems that hosiptals remain the hotbed of the virus as far as fatalities go. 143 of the registered nurses who have died from Coronavirus, were working in hospitals at the time.
Since the pandemic began, nurses have being crying out that they lack sufficient masks, gloves, and other protective equipment. The situation is gradually getting better, but it has taken too long.
The NNU says that their figures are a conservative estimate based on the “limited” subset of COVID-19 data available. They have gone on to condemned federal and state governments in the true reportage of data on the virus.
