New York City nurses write to Tucker Carlson to share their experiences facing coronavirus pandemic
Nurse in isolation says she can't get tested for coronavirus despite showing some symptoms.
Tucker Carlson spent part of Friday's edition of "Tucker Carlson Tonight" reading parts of letters from two anonymous New York City nurses detailing their experiences on the frontline of the fight against the coronavirus.
"I'm currently in isolation because I was exposed to a COVID-positive patient 12 days ago. In my unit ... we're just wearing a regular gown, a face mask with ... eyes and head exposed," wrote one nurse. "We do the entire procedure face-to-face with the patient with just a regular mask and gown, even when they show signs and symptoms of COVID-19."
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The first nurse also outlined the difficulty of getting tested before talking about her fears for her and her family's health.
"I'm on my eighth day of isolation, experiencing coughing with a runny nose, pounding headaches and diarrhea," she wrote. "I've tried to call the hotlines that they're giving to the people of New York to get tested. They just turned me down since I'm not sick enough. It terrifies me that I haven't been tested because I'm turning 51 soon and suffer from asthma, diabetes and hypertension."
"What scares me the most is what will happen to my son [with] a lifelong condition," the first nurse wrote, adding that her husband was a home care provider who was also ill-equipped.
Carlson then read a passage of the second nurse's letter about her experience.
"There's about triple the usual influx of patients being wheeled into the E.R.. Many of the patients are sent home without being tested because they do not meet all the criteria," the second nurse wrote. "There's always a lingering fear that someone we sent home might actually be sick."
The second nurse detailed the re-use of masks and other supplies, saying 80 percent of beds were filled with coronavirus patients. She also talked about her fear of getting herself or her family sick.
"There's a lot of pressure because we nurses have a responsibility to all patients. At the same time, we fear getting sick and getting our families sick," the second nurse wrote. "It's a very tense environment right now."
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"In the past week, we've had a patient come in for non-COVID-related procedures. After the procedure, the patient told us they were exposed prior to coming in and sure enough, they tested positive," the second nurse said. "Things like this make all of us suspicious, on edge all the time."
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