UC nurses angry that they are targets of anti-Asian hate while they care for Covid-19 patients

NNU/CNA GRAPHIC

Asian American and Pacific Islander nurses af the University of California's five  medical centers are angry that as they care for COVID-19 patients, at the same time, they are being attacked by racists blaming them for the pandemic.

UC registered nurses are outraged by the ongoing racist and xenophobic attacks against Asians and call for solidarity with Asian communities and a public commitment to solutions that work toward ending structural racism and promoting social equity and healing, announced California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) last week.

UC nurses are speaking out across the state to condemn the ongoing xenophobic attacks against Asian communities,” said Dahlia Tayag, RN at UC San Diego. “Physical safety is critical to having a healthy community. Asians are being attacked in California and throughout the country. We must unite to challenge anti-Asian violence, harassment, and racism.”

RNs at the medical centers at UC Davis, UC San Francisco, UC Los Angeles, UC Irvine, and UC San Diego are available for interviews today.

The rise of anti-Asian hate incidents during the pandemic is appalling for nurses, many of whom are of Asian descent. As members of the Asian communities, they experience structural racism firsthand. For example, while nurses of Filipino descent represent 4 percent of all U.S. registered nurses, they have disproportionately suffered more than a quarter of Covid-19 RN deaths, according to a March 2021 NNU report.

“CNA/NNU nurses continue to be on the front lines of health care fights but we also continue to fight against racism, a public health crisis,” said Rosa Villarroel, RN at UCSF Mission Bay. “We support Asian communities, the workers in the hospital and the communities we serve. We want to let Asian communities know we see and hear their pain. As a Latinx/Indigenous woman I am no stranger to the traumatic effects of racism but together we can all stand up, speak out, and fight against two public health crises: Covid and racism.”

Anti-Asian sentiment spiked across the country at the onset of the pandemic in 2020, spurred by those who promote conspiracy theories and xenophobia, and we are now seeing a disturbing resurgence. Racial violence and harassment targeting these communities has skyrocketed in recent weeks, striking some of the most vulnerable among us – seniors in the Bay Area. Tragically, an 84-year-old Thai man was fatally attacked in San Francisco and a 91-year-old man sustained grave injuries from an attack in Oakland’s Chinatown.

#StopAAPIhate, a community-based organization collecting reports of anti-Asian incidents, reports that over 500 attacks nationwide in the first two months of 2021. In the year of the pandemic, from March 2020 to March 2021, there have been over 3800 hate attacks against AAPI, reports the CBO.

“We are furious that Asian communities are being attacked and harassed,” said Melissa Johnson-Camacho, RN at UC Davis. “As nurses working in a women-dominated profession, we are especially aware of violence against women. More than two-thirds of the incidents reported to Stop AAPI Hate were reported by women. We must fight structural racism and sexism and stop the violence and harassment.”

“We care for our patients and we care for our communities,” said Fong Chuu, RN at UCLA. “As nurses we value life. The massacre of six Asian women was a horrific tragedy. The women were targeted because their lives were not valued. An attack on our Asian neighbors and communities is an assault on us all, and we have an obligation as a society to condemn and prevent it.”

“We are confronting the xenophobic legacy of former President Trump,” said Marlene Tucay, RN at UC Irvine. “His labeling of the pandemic as the ‘China virus’ has led to this increase in racist attacks against Asian communities. These racist attacks are part of the growing public health crisis in our country that has been exacerbated by the pandemic. Covid-19 has had a disproportionate impact on communities of color. As nurses, we know that working to achieve social equity is ultimately at the heart of ensuring public health and safety for all.”

Nurses: California needs to do more on protective gear

Bonnie Castillo, RN, executive director of the National Nurses United and the California Nurses Association.

The coronavirus infection rate is outpacing any attempt to slow it down. The problem is the promises made by politicians is outpacing the deliverables.

The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United Saturday (March 21) called on California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state officials to sharply escalate steps to get immediately personal protective equipment to nurses and other health care workers.

“While the Governor has taken some important steps, including the statewide stay-at-home order, and reopening two closed hospitals, we need to do far more, especially in producing proper personal protective equipment,” said Bonnie Castillo, RN, executive director of CNA and NNU.

“We hear from scores of nurses every day, across the U.S., and many of them in California. They still do not have access to proper protective masks, such as N95 respirators, and full head-to-toe protective clothing,” said the a Filipino American registered nurse.

“They fear for their safety, for their patients’ safety, for their family’s safety, and for their co-workers’ safety. If they are not protected and safe, more people will die, and the virus will continue to spread in greater numbers.”

To make matters worse, the California Department of Public Health, which has been underfunding public health budgets for a decade, yesterday informed California hospitals that it is waiving the state's current strong requirements on hospital safety.

This waiver will allow hospitals to sharply lower practices on a wide variety of standards, including personal protective equipment (PPEs) and even safe nurse staffing for patients (nursing ratios).

On PPEs, CDPH cites the much lower, non-mandatory, guidelines suggested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that is allowing hospitals to use vastly inferior materials, such as bandanas, that provide almost no effective protection when patients are highly contagious.

“At a time when nurses are already being told to use makeshift, inferior coverings, see N95 respirators locked up, and even being disciplined when they bring in their own N95s, this is the worst message we can send to hospital employers,” Castillo noted.

“When nurses see that neither public officials, nor their hospitals, are putting much value on their safety, that is a prescription for even further disaster,” warns Castillo, “that will have tragic consequences and do nothing to stop an escalating disaster.”

California should be moving in exactly the opposite direction, said Castillo.

While President Trump has refused to use his authority under the just re-enacted 1950 Defense Production Act to order domestic manufacturers to mass produce personal protective equipment, as well as ventilators and other critical hospital supplies, states should take the steps they can, said Castillo.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said he will use state funding to pay businesses to mass produce protective equipment for health care workers. “Gov. Newsom should do that as well,” Castillo said.

NNU has surveyed more than 8,200 nurses from all US states and territories. As of March 16, Just 55 percent report have access to N95 respirators, and only 27 percent have access to the highest standard, powered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs).

Only 24 percent say their employer has sufficient PPEs on stock to protect staff when the inevitable surge of COVID-19 patients occurs.