NYC nurse reveals what it’s like on front lines of coronavirus fight

I’m a Manhattan nurse on the front lines of the city’s fight against the coronavirus, and here is the reality we are facing every day: We’re being sent into battle without the weapons we need to win this war. Given this contagion’s strength, we need swift action, the right gear and the resources to stop this virus in its tracks. We would never want to get to the point of having to pick and choose people with the best survival rates to determine who gets a ventilator. At this moment, we are being instructed to clean normally one-time-use face shields and reuse them — something that in my 15 years as a nurse has never been appropriate practice. We have the resources today, but in the coming days and weeks, the fear is that we won’t have what we need to deliver safe, quality care. For example, in normal times, when nurses are exposed to a contagious disease, they get monitored and quarantined, and once cleared by testing, could back to work. If we do learn we have been exposed, we simply put on a mask and continue working until we develop symptoms. We need to practice social distancing , even in the hospital, where people should be wearing masks at all times. At this point, it would be prudent for healthcare workers to treat the hospital as if everyone is infected, because the likelihood is that we’re working alongside other people who have the virus. Yet because of the equipment shortages and rationing, the CDC has relaxed its safeguards for workers — and hospitals have followed suit.