Nurses Test Positive Of COVID-19 After Wearing Bin Bags Due To PPE Shortage

• Several nurses from New York and London reportedly tested positive of coronavirus or COVID-19 after wearing bin bags due to protective gears shortage.
• Nurses from Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow, England, posted a photo of themselves wearing waste bags on their heads, body, and feet, as they called on the authorities for proper masks, gowns, and gloves.
• A nurse in Brooklyn Hospital, who wears white plastic garbage at work, has also admitted that she contracted the virus.

Remember the three nurses of Northwick Park Hospital who posted a photos of themselves wearing clinical waste bags on their heads, body, and feet while working? The three brave nurses have, unfortunately, tested positive of the dreaded coronavirus.

The nurses reportedly shared their photos in the hopes that their hospital will provide them with proper protective gears, such as masks, gowns, and gloves. Three weeks after the plea, however, all three of them contracted the COVID-19 virus – along with more than 50% of their colleagues assigned in one ward.

The Northwick Park Hospital has previously declared its hospital being under emergency state after an influx of infected patients in its critical care facility. Currently, the critical care beds remain overcrowded.

“We can confirm that a number of staff members working in our COVID-19 positive areas have tested positive for the coronavirus,” a spokesperson for the London North West University Healthcare NHS told Telegraph.

The spokesperson also said that this may be “unfortunate but not unexpected”, as it “corresponds with the experience of health-care workers across the world”.

3 UK nurses forced to wear trash bags during gear shortage get coronavirus https://t.co/Z0z7hPBh5U via @nypost pic.twitter.com/N2mibuaI8p

— Chris (@Chris_1791) April 9, 2020

United Kingdom health secretary Matt Hancock said there was “just 5.7%” of doctors who tested positive of the virus. A recent survey conducted by Royal College of Physicians (RCP) contradicted his statement, stressing that the figure may be around 14.6% of medical professionals falling ill from the virus.

“Our safety and ability to care for patients is being fundamentally compromised by the lack of adequate and correct supplies of vital personal protective equipment and the slow and small-scale roll-out of COVID-19 testing,” Royal College of Nursing’s chief executive and general secretary Dame Donna Kinnair said.

Kinnair also mentioned that nurses in London are still “being forced” to share their PPEs while working on the frontlines.

Meanwhile, Kay, who is a nurse in Brooklyn Hospital and requested anonymity, revealed that she and her other fellow nurses have contracted the virus after wearing white clinical waste bag as their protective gears while treating COVID-19 patients.

Aside from Kay, the nurses in Mount Sinai, New York, who posted their photo of themselves wearing black garbage bags have also contracted the coronavirus.

There is also an increase of fatalities among professional healthcare workers in Mount Sinai.

NY's Mount Sinai Hosp mourning the loss of nursing manager. Staff tell @nypost 48yr old Kious Kelly RN tested positive for covid19 2 weeks ago, he died last night. Hosp where he worked was out of PPE, some wore plastic garbage bags. https://t.co/VSuAuxsqRt #GetMePPE #nurses https://t.co/K5UnPLgoUC

— Mary Nam (@Mary_Nam) March 26, 2020

Rebecca Yee, a Mount Sinai Pediatric nurse passed away on April 17 from #covid19.Her mother also died. #getusppe #healthcareheroes https://t.co/PtaPag0ly3 pic.twitter.com/7FzgwFhI2X

— C Zebra (@ClaireZebra) April 21, 2020

In New York City alone, 142,432 have been reported as confirmed coronavirus cases with 18,018 recoveries, and 10,977 deaths.