You may have seen the video since over 6 million people have. The nurse was bawling her eyes out because she was forced to quit her job because the hospital she worked for allegedly was making her take care of coronavirus patients without a mask or protective clothing because the hospital lacked the resources and her claiming she was determined to continue nursing but at a hospital that was supplying protective equipment.
It was a great story, which CBS was promoting to the hilt, The only thing that could have made it better would have been if there was even a small shred of truth to it. CBS loved the narrative, so they didn’t bother vetting her story. Unfortunately, the entire story was built lie upon lie.
First of all, she had taken a leave from her job in an effort to be an internet “model”. She returned to that job for only one day but quit to become a blogger and :”influencer.” Guess which party. The hospital did only assign her 1 patient with coronavirus and they did provide her with safety equipment, which the hospital said they have plenty of. No one was asked to care for patients without personal protection, including a mask.
“I quit my job today,” Vera says in the viral video, tears streaming down her face. “I wanted to work, and I was assigned to a COVID patient on an ICU unit that has been converted to a designated COVID unit.”
“None of the nurses are wearing masks,” she claimed, “not even surgical masks in the hallways when they’re giving report to each other.”
“I had my own N95 mask,” the woman continued. “I told my manager, I understand we’re short on supplies, but let me protect myself, let me feel safe. I have family that I have to come home to, and the way things are looking, this isn’t gonna get any better.”
CBS, which apparently picked up the video from the blogger’s heavily trafficked Instagram page, added sad music and a video caption: “This nurse had to make a difficult decision in order to protect herself and family members with pre-existing conditions.”
CBS News posted a follow-up “clarification” on Monday: “Imaris Vera, the nurse in this video, clarified her experience on Monday in a tweet: ‘We were each assigned 1 N95 per 1 covid patient’s room but was not allowed to wear it outside of the room, wear our own N95 mask around the Nurses station or Halls, which I came prepared with.’”
“The hospital, Northwestern Medicine, acknowledged that Imaris Vera had quit her job, but referred CBS News to Vera as to the details of why,” the news outlet added.
In tears, a nurse says she quit her job after she was asked to work in a coronavirus ICU without a face mask: “America is not prepared, and nurses are not being protected” https://t.co/ywoSuLOPYP pic.twitter.com/S5BsnlO5nt
— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 5, 2020