Howard University Hospital nurse dies from COVID-19: DCNA

A Howard University Hospital nurse died last Friday from coronavirus, according to the District of Columbia Nurses Association (DCNA). 

Officials said Wednesday the nurse was the first member of DCNA and National Nurses United to succumb to COVID-19.

RELATED: DC, Maryland and Virginia coronavirus case totals climb over 4,000

The DCNA said in a statement that many nurses and employees at the hospital who worked with the nurse are now concerned because they have not been tested for the virus.  

“It is hard to fathom that nurses who have been exposed to patients with the virus were not tested immediately,” said Edward Smith, the executive director of the DCNA. “I find it blatantly irresponsible and a dangerous practice.... If an inordinate number of clinicians become ill in the District, it will result in a tremendous strain on D.C. hospitals to deliver care during this crisis, and we don’t want that to occur in the nation’s capital.”

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