Registered nurses at UCLA will hold a rally Tuesday, Nov. 10 to demand that hospital administration notify frontline workers when they have been exposed to Covid-19 and to guarantee timely access to Covid testing for all nurses and health care professionals, announced California Nurses Association (CNA) today.

“It is appalling that nurses and other health care workers are not being notified when they have been exposed to Covid-19,” said Marcia Santini, an emergency room nurse. “Since the start of this pandemic, there has been minimal notification of health care workers, and we have seen nurses refused testing after possible exposure. Yet, we see that UCLA has implemented an aggressive testing program for athletes, including the daily rapid testing for the football team. As nurses, we are calling on UCLA to allow us to use our own clinical judgement to determine if and when we should be tested, in order to better protect the health and safety of our patients and communities."

According to the Los Angeles Times, within one week in late October, UCLA conducted 923 antigen and 325 PCR tests in its athletics population.

“Certainly, we are pleased that the university understands the importance of testing athletes, but we would expect them to also understand that every time we walk into the hospital we are putting ourselves, our community, and our families at risk, ” said Estela Villegas, a registered nurses who works in the pediatric intensive care unit.  “We deserve to be treated with the same respect as our athletes as we work to safeguard the health and well-being of our patients.”

• What: Rally to demand guaranteed and timely access to Covid-19 testing and exposure notification to protect community and patients
• When: Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020  11:00 am
• Where: Michigan Operation Center (MOC)
  2211 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica

Tuesday’s rally is part of a statewide day of action across the University of California system. CNA represents 4,000 nurses at UCLA.