NYC: Nurses Demand Better Protection - Coronavirus Pandemic

NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 6, 2020: The speaker is Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez, RN, President of New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA). Amid the outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), public and private hospital nurses and medical practitioners rally outside Harlem Hospital Center in upper Manhattan demanding better protection from COVID-19 (personal protective equipment (PPE) and COVID-19 testing for all medical practioners) . Among the attendees was NY State Nurses Association (NYSNA), the largest NY State union. Nurses stood the recommended 6 feet apart holding signs that read “Patients before profits,” and “Respect Public Hospital Nurses.” NY Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio were criticized for not having taken preemptive measures to strengthen NYC Hospitals in the event of a pandemic like that of COVID-19. Anna Binkowsky, a respiratory therapist at Harlem Hospital said, “When we started having COVID patients come to Harlem, we were told that we can use one N95 (mask) per shift. Now we are told we can use one N95 per week for all the patients. The gowns are hard to find. What is next?” Binkowsky said she spent $400 of her own money purchasing protective gear online. (Surgical Face Masks and gloves). (Footage by Tomas Abad/Getty Images)