On Tuesday, July 21, registered nurses will hold a vigil at Sutter Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland, to remember their colleague Janine Paiste-Ponder, RN, who recently died of COVID-19, the California Nurses Association (CNA) announced today. Paiste-Ponder had been a member of CNA for more than 25 years.

Registered Nurses from HCA and Kaiser Permanente hospitals in San Jose will address the virtual Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday morning to voice their alarm over failure by their hospital administrations to prioritize COVID-19 testing for frontline caregivers exposed to the virus that they warn is exacerbating the pandemic crisis.

Registered nurses at Chinese Hospital will assemble and be available to media at Portsmouth Square in San Francisco to highlight the connection between racism and public health.

National Nurses United (NNU) will hold a memorial on Tuesday, July 21 to honor the more than 160 nurses who have lost their lives from COVID-19 in the United States, and to demand the Senate act swiftly to protect nurses on the frontlines. Nurses will gather at the Capitol demanding that the U.S. Senate pass the HEROES Act, which would provide much needed personal protective equipment (PPE) and regulatory protections for frontline health care workers.

Community groups, Commissioner Brandon Johnson, and residents in Cook County will gather on Thursday, July 16 at 9:00 am outside the Richard J. Daley Center at 50 W. Washington for a press conference shortly before a special Cook County board meeting about the 2020 and 2021 budgets and the massive shortfall projected as a result of COVID-19. The groups and Commissioner Johnson will call on the county to divert money from the jail system and instead invest money in county supportive services in Black and Brown communities not administered by law enforcement.

In a historic move, registered nurses at St. Mary’s Hospital and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tucson, Ariz. voted overwhelmingly to approve their first contract with the National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United.

With record coronavirus cases rocking Florida, Registered Nurses from St. Petersburg General Hospital, Largo Medical Center, and Northside Hospital will come together Wednesday to alert the public to an explosion of unsafe conditions at their hospitals.

With coronavirus cases establishing record infections, and hospitalization cases and deaths exploding across the U.S., National Nurses United today urged all school districts and policy makers in states where the pandemic shows no signs of slowing to postpone returning to an in-person learning model.

Before summer’s end, an estimated 27 million people will lose their health insurance due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to the 29 million who were uninsured before this pandemic even began. In response to the dire need for systemic reform, National Nurses United will be hosting a Summer Strategy Call for thousands of activists across the country.

In a vote by its national Executive Council, National Nurses United (NNU) has endorsed Vice President Joe Biden for President.