Nurses protested outside the White House on Thursday over a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care workers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.
Nurses with the union National Nurses United stood outside the White House alongside pairs of empty shoes lined up to represent the nurses who died due to “insufficient PPE” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“You talk about how essential, how needed, how grateful you are, and yet you throw us to the wolves,” Jean Ross, president of National Nurses United, told CNN in an interview. “You throw us out onto a battlefield without armor and the more we complain we don’t see anything being done.”
During the demonstration, the nurses protesting read the names of 88 nurses who died, according to CNN.
The union is calling on the federal government to help protect nurses with proper gear.
In response to the protests, White House spokesman Judd Deere said nurses are the “true heroes in this ongoing war” and said they have President Trump’s “admiration for the lives they are saving.”
“As the President has said, this is a locally executed, state managed, federally supported response to a global pandemic,” Deere added. “The White House has been working with governors and their teams since January on COVID-19 coordination and supplies. Every level of government needs to deliver data-driven solutions and that is what we are doing in partnership.”
Thursday’s protest was not the first time the union demonstrated outside the White House.
The union staged a similar protest outside the White House last month, demanding the administration take action to acquire more PPE.