National Nurses United

But in Nepal at the time, only women were allowed into nursing school. So when Chaudhary got the opportunity to come to the United States, he didn't hesitate. He graduated from nursing school in 2015 and began working at UC Davis Medical Center in 2016. "It was a dream come true," recalled Chaudhary. "As a nursing student, I completed a lot of my clinical hours at UC Davis and had always imagined myself working there." Today Chaudhary still works at UC Davis, but he is no longer car- ing for patients. He suffers from more than 70 debilitating symptoms including brain fog, dizziness, heart palpitations, and fatigue—all associated with Long Covid, an illness he contracted on the job. "It is heartbreaking," said Chaudhary. "I love bedside nursing and now I am a hospital operator [for the communications system]. I don't even know how long I will be able to do this." Unfortunately, Chaudhary is just one of millions of people who are living with the debilitating effects of Long Covid. In June of 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 5.5 percent of all adults in the United States—which translates to some 14 million people—reported they were experiencing symptoms from Long Covid. "Since the emergence of Covid we have seen far too many nurses pay the price for the CDC's refusal to insist on following the precau- tionary principle," said Jane Thomason, National Nurses United's (NNU) lead industrial hygienist. "This has resulted in an enormous number of avoidable Covid infections and tragic deaths among health care workers. Today we see many people struggling to live with Long Covid." Without proper protections and precautions, nurses are more likely to be exposed at work to a disease that increases their likelihood of losing their whole livelihood and profession. NNU has always argued that the first line of defense against Long Covid is prevention of Covid infection by ensuring that nurses and patients are protected. That is why since the start of the Covid pandemic, NNU has been advocating tirelessly for a strong national infectious diseases standard coupled with robust enforcement. But throughout the pandemic and even now, our workplaces are not taking proper precautions. To help illustrate the need for such protections and to better understand what is happening right now in hospitals across the country, NNU surveyed nurses from across the country on infec- tious disease measures in their facilities in March and April of 2024. "This survey of 775 nurses from 45 states and Washington, D.C. shows us in stark detail how hospitals are failing to provide essential elements of infection prevention, including patient screening, isolation of infected or potentially infectious patients, or provide the necessary personal protective equipment to health care workers," said Thomason. The survey found that one in six nurses reported that patients in their facilities were never screened for infectious diseases. A major- ity of nurses report inconsistent isolation of patients who have or might have a respiratory infectious disease. Inadequate screening and isolation of infectious/potentially infectious patients puts health care workers, patients, and visitors at increased risk of exposure to infection with respiratory infectious diseases. In January 2024, NNU conducted a nationwide survey asking more specifically about Long Covid experiences among the 2,600 registered nurse respondents. The survey found that many nurses reported experiencing Long Covid symptoms that impacted their work or daily life. Nearly 70 percent of nurses who responded reported they had been diagnosed with Covid at least once. Of those nurses, more than 53 percent said their Long Covid symptoms have affected their ability to work, and more than 65 percent of those nurses who've been diagnosed with Covid said their Long Covid symptoms have impacted their daily activities outside of work. Though NNU successfully won an emergency temporary stan- dard on Covid-19 for health care workers in June 2021, the first emergency standard issued by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) since 1983, OSHA has yet to make the standard permanent. NNU is unrelenting in pushing OSHA to create a permanent standard not only limited to Covid-19, but cov- ering all infectious diseases, and is now circulating a petition collecting signatures to do just that. C haudhary's struggle to reorganize his life after his Long Covid diagnosis is a clear example of what is at stake when nurses are not protected from infectious disease on the job. Very early in the pandemic, in March 2020, Chaudhary was working as a charge nurse in the ICU when he became ill with what he believes was Covid. However, because his symptoms didn't match the understood profile of Covid at the time, he was not able to get tested for Covid. "I had fever for almost a week and a half and a cough that wouldn't go away," said Chaudhary. He said the cough was so intense that it was impossible for him to lie down. "I had all these gastrointestinal symp- toms, muscle aches, and like sore throat that wouldn't go away." "There are many barriers to getting a Long Covid diagnosis," said Rocelyn de Leon-Minch, an industrial hygienist with NNU. "For those who were infected early in the pandemic, they may not have a positive test that shows their infection, as testing was severely lim- ited. In addition, the majority of Long Covid cases are in people who J U LY | A U G U S T | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 4 W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N A T I O N A L N U R S E 17 W hen Shoharab Chaudhary came to the U.S. from Nepal in 2010 at 22, he came with one goal in mind, to be a nurse. "When I was in high school I didn't know what I was going to do, so I started volunteering at [our local children's hospital]," said Chaudhary. Initially he thought he might want to be a doctor, but he quickly changed his mind. "I was really inspired to become a nurse, because as a nurse you get to be closer to the patient and get to spend more time with them."

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