Nurses Are Raising Red Flags About Hospitals’ Coronavirus Response

The Washington State Nurses Association has reported that some nurses at the hospital in Washington state where at least seven people have died from the virus have not received instructions on what to do after learning they had been exposed to COVID-19 patients. One nurse at EvergreenHealth in Kirkland, speaking to a Washington radio station, said she was “100 percent certain” she came into contact with the virus yet had been told to report to work as long as she wasn’t experiencing fever, cough, or other symptoms. (In a statement to the station, the hospital said it was communicating its protocols to employees “regularly” and establishing systems for notifying employees who had possibly been exposed.)

“I don’t understand why Evergreen isn’t protecting their own staff,” the nurse told KUOW. As of Tuesday, she was still working.