Around 26 percent of Filipino registered nurses are among the more than 3,200 health care workers who died due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the United States, according to a report from the nation’s largest organization of nurses.
A report by The National Nurses United (NNU), titled “Sins of Omission,” reveals the continued failures by local, state, and federal governments to track and report data on the COVID-19 deaths and infections. The report is an update to NNU’s report that was first published in September, 2020 of the same name.
Of the 3,200 deaths, 329 were nurses, 170 of whom were nurses of color, including Filipinos and Blacks.
Eighty-three registered nurses or 26.4 percent who have died of COVID-19 and related complications are Filipino, the report said.
"Filipinos make up 4 percent of RNs in the United States. Just under half of registered nurses of color who have died to date have been Filipino (48.8 percent)."
Black nurses, meanwhile, make up 12.4 percent of registered nurses in the US. Nearly one-third of registered nurses of color who have died to date have been Black or 31.2 percent, it added.
The deaths of these health workers were documented using publicly available information, such as media reports, social media, and obituaries as of February 11, 2021.
The NNU, however, believes the number of deaths reported are likely conservative as many cases have not been reported by traditional news sources.
“The lack of transparency about nurse and other health care worker deaths due to COVID-19 is a travesty,” said Jean Ross, RN and president of NNU.
“Our state and federal governments must hold the healthcare industry accountable and require hospitals and other health care employers to publicly report the COVID-19 deaths of their workers," Ross added.
He added many of these deaths would have been prevented if greater effort had been made to prioritize the distribution of personal protective equipment to the health workers.
"We cannot forget the deaths of so many health care workers, including 329 registered nurses, who were forced to work without the personal protective equipment they needed to do their jobs safely.”
Zenei Triunfo-Cortez, RN and a president of NNU, also called on the CDC to fully recognize aerosol transmission and to update and strengthen its COVID-19 guidance to provide protection from inhalation of virus in the air.
“It is unconscionable that so many nurses and health care workers lost their lives. We look forward to the impending issuance of an emergency temporary standard on infectious diseases by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to provide comprehensive occupational health protections to nurses, other health care workers, and all essential workers.”