An emergency department nurse working on the frontline of the COVID-19 outbreak in the US has written a letter calling for New Zealanders to "be thankful" for our country's response.
The nurse said in the letter posted to Reddit on Wednesday they were now considering moving countries after everything they had been through during the pandemic.
"I've had more bad shifts in the last few months than I've had in the last decade - and I've had bad shifts. I worked a mass casualty event that was international news, which, I know, doesn't really narrow that down for our country."
The letter says issues including leadership from the US Government and President Donald Trump, access to PPE, and the public's attitude to the virus had impacted their response.
Kiwis should be thankful to live in New Zealand - "let me tell you exactly what I mean by how lucky you are", the letter says.
The nurse said they have had to treat many people who were suffering from the effects of COVID-19.
"I had a young 30-something-year-old have a massive right-sided stroke. [They were] healthy otherwise, only had COVID."
There was also "an ironman athlete who still couldn't walk up a flight of stairs two months post-infection [due to] clots in the lungs".
Other issues in the hospital were people coming in not knowing they had COVID-19, and others who refused to use protection.
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"[I] had a positive person yesterday refuse to wear a mask. Said it wasn't his problem to keep other people from getting COVID.
"I've been an ER Nurse for ten years, and I think that takes the cake... This was such a casual disregard for anyone else that I just can't comprehend the level of unconcerned callousness required for that."
The nurse also pointed out that hospitals have to fight for supplies during the pandemic as there isn't enough for everyone.
"Single time use PPE six months ago is 'use it for a week or two' now. I'm actually thankful because the place I work at has used their size to effectively elbow other places out, in a bidding war, for critical supplies. Just a wretched thing to have to feel thankful for."
The letter says Trump "didn't give a sh*t how many people died".
The nurse said as a result of all of the issues, they were now looking to move to New Zealand, whose response was second-best in the world - to Vietnam.
"When you see those anti-maskers and those hoaxes and QAnon f***tards, just tell them to be thankful they live in a country where they can do that without your leader actively wishing for their deaths to help them politically."
The US now has over 6.3 million cases of COVID-19 and 190,000 deaths.
