Most professional and collegiate athletes have access to rapid COVID-19 testing, while some frontline healthcare workers have never been tested during the pandemic, reports The Washington Post.
Many sports leagues have struck contracts with private labs to ensure their athletes can get regularly tested for the virus — an expense most hospitals cannot afford. The National Football League issued 43,148 tests to 7,856 players, coaches and employees between Nov. 8-14 alone. Meanwhile, a recent survey from National Nurses United showed about two-thirds of its more than 15,000 members had never been tested for COVID-19. Many nurses have expressed frustration at this testing discrepancy or held protests over their lack of testing, reports the Post.
Jane Sandoval, a 58-year-old emergency room nurse at San Francisco-based California Pacific Medical Center, is one such nurse who's never received a COVID-19 test.
"There's an endless supply in the sports world," Ms. Sandoval told the Post. "You're throwing your arms up. I like sports as much as the next person. But the disparity between who gets tested and who doesn't, it doesn't make any sense."
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