RICHMOND, VA — On National Nurses Day, we take an extra moment to recognize that nurses and their colleagues have been on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, dealing with the failures of the Trump administration's chaotic and inadequate national response where he continues to squander time instead of getting needed supplies to the states.

While the Trump administration is putting lives at risk, health care workers are on the ground protecting their communities, and Democratic leaders in Virginia have acted decisively in accordance with data and science. 

Here is a round up of some highlights we’ve seen in media. 

• Op-ed from Nurse Kellen Squire in The Daily Progress about the need for widespread testing to slow the spread of coronavirus, and how the good work of staying home has done immense work toward protecting our health care workers. 
• DPVA hosted a press call with some of our health care professionals that saw coverage in VPM and NBC29. On the call, Nurse Squire was joined by Dr. Ebony Jade Hilton, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Virginia, and Dr. Wendy Klein, Medical Director of Health Brigade, a safety net clinic in Richmond, an internist, and Associate Professor Emeritus of Medicine at VCU School of Medicine. Our participants discussed their experiences fighting COVID-19 across the health industry, and what they need from the public and from the President.
• Op-ed from our Executive Director Andrew Whitley in the Culpeper Star-Exponent about Trump’s failed response to COVID-19, and how our health care professionals have been abandoned by the Trump administration. 
• Democrats are also advocating for changes to make it easier to vote in a crisis, as seen in this op-ed in the Washington Post from DPVA Chairwoman Susan Swecker, Creigh Deeds and Joe Lindsey. 
• This afternoon, DPVA posted a Twitter thread with videos from members of the General Assembly saying thank you to all our health care professionals to honor the holiday. 

"For weeks, Virginia's health care workers and leaders from across the Commonwealth have been speaking out against Donald Trump's failed, chaotic pandemic response. Today and every day, our frontline heroes deserve better than the empty rhetoric and broken promises pouring out of the White House,” said DPVA Press Secretary Carson Brown.