Health & Fitness
Video: MA Nurses Ask Residents To Continue Social Distancing
National Nurses Week runs through May 12, and nurses are asking the public to help them by staying vigilant against coronavirus.
WORCESTER, MA — For National Nurses Week, nurses from across Massachusetts are asking the public for a favor: stay the course with efforts to keep the coronavirus curve as flat as possible.
Nurses from across the state represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) on Wednesday released a series of videos addressing the public about the need to stay vigilant in the fight against coronavirus. The state's overall coronavirus hospitalizations have been dropping in recent days, according to state data — but it will take effort to keep those numbers continuing on that trend
"While nurses and healthcare professionals have been battling COVID-19 in hospitals and healthcare facilities across Massachusetts, countless individuals have given their all to defeating this pandemic in many other ways," nurse and MNA President Donna Kelly-Williams said in a news release. "During this National Nurses Week, we thank everyone who is doing their part and ask for continued help so we can provide every patient the level of care they deserve."
The state's coronavirus curve may have peaked on April 21 when close to 4,000 people were hospitalized across the state. As of May 5, 3,564 were hospitalized. Although lower than the peak, the total hospitalizations have risen from 3,539 on May 3.
At the same time, the state is starting to move toward a reopening. This week, Gov. Charlie Baker said some businesses would begin to open by May 18, but only if the state sees a sustained downward trend in cases. And golf courses are reopening this weekend.
Over 4,400 people in Massachusetts have died of COVID-19 over the last two months, and 72,000 have tested positive.
National Nurses Week runs through May 12, what would've been Florence Nightingale's 200th birthday. She's credited with founding the nursing profession.
