NYC nurses plead for protective gear to fight virus outbreak

Nurses battling New York's coronavirus outbreak me anguished pleas Saturday for more protective equipment, saying officials' claims of equate supplies are falling short of reality.

At a news conference outside city-run Jacobi Hospital, nurses called for more masks and or gear to safeguard mselves against virus that has so far sickened more than 44,000 people and killed over 500 in New York state, mostly in city.

At least one health care worker, Mount Sinai West assistant nursing manr Kious Kelly, 36, has died of virus. Ors also have fallen ill around metropolitan region.

Jacobi nurses said manrs at Bronx hospital have been rationing protective equipment, making m unable to change out high-end particle-filtering masks kwn as N95s as often as y should.

“We have a number of workers -- two in this hospital, two nurses -- fighting for ir lives in ICUs right w,” pediatric nurse Sean Petty said, blaming a scarcity of equipment.

City officials have insisted re’s eugh protective equipment for roughly next week, though y’re worried for weeks after. Mayor Bill de Blasio said city delivered 200,000 N95 masks to hospitals Friday, with 800,000 more to come Saturday, along with los of less-protective surgical masks and or gear.

city hospital system’s president, Dr. Mitchell Katz, said at a news conference Friday that staffers working exclusively with coronavirus patients could conserve supplies of N95 masks by wearing one throughout ir shifts, with surgical masks over it that can be changed more frequently. Some ors have chosen to wear helmets with reusable air filters -- somewhat like “a Darth Ver mask,” he said.

In some patient-care settings, a surgical mask will suffice, he said, “but if you feel more comfortable wearing an N95 mask, we're good with that.”

Petty said policies on protective equipment were being driven by shorts, t science, and he slammed officials as subjecting medical workers to avoidable risks of contracting COVID-19, disease caused by virus.

“We will t let any health official or government official say that we have eugh” protective equipment, he said, “until every health care worker has an N95 for every time y interact with a COVID-19 patient.”

For most people, new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older ults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

Im Credits: AP