American Nurses Association Logo (PRNewsfoto/American Nurses Association)

The following statement is attributable to Ernest J. Grant, PhD, RN, FAAN, President, American Nurses Association (ANA):
“To claim that health care professionals are inflating the number of COVID-19 cases or deaths to make more money is outrageous, baseless, and dangerous.
Nurses, physicians, and other frontline health care workers have endured brutally long shifts covered in stifling personal protective equipment (PPE). Others have faced long days and weeks caring for COVID-19 patients, working without sufficient PPE, or forced to reuse PPE multiple times, increasing their risk of infection, or bringing the virus home to those they love, illness and even death.
More than 350 nurses in the United States have died as a result of COVID-19, many others have been infected and hospitalized. All have faced extreme stress and mental anguish.
As cases and hospitalizations surge across this country, our nation’s leaders have a responsibility to call for and model public health measures to stem the spread of the disease. They should follow science and the guidance of health care professionals.
Nurses, physicians, and other frontline health care workers have demonstrated courage, commitment, and grit in responding to this pandemic, risking their own health and safety to care for others. To try to slander or place blame on these dedicated health care professionals is a shameless, blatant lie.”