ORANGE, CA, APRIL 20 - Nurse anesthetist Nilu Patel quietly stands with fellow nurses at UC Irvine Medical Center for an hourlong candlelight vigil at their shift change to describe conditions and the need for more N95 respirators and protective gear required to safely treat coronavirus patients. The vigil is organized by the California Nurses Association and National Nurses United unions. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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PHOTOS: Nurses on the front line in the fight against COVID-19

Nurse anesthetist Nilu Patel quietly stands with fellow nurses at UC Irvine Medical Center for a candlelight vigil at their shift change to describe conditions and the need for more N95 respirators and protective gear required to safely treat coronavirus patients. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

ORANGE, CA, APRIL 20 - Registered nurses at UC Irvine Medical Center pose for campy selfies following a candlelight vigil at their shift change to describe conditions and the need for more N95 respirators and protective gear required to safely treat coronavirus patients. The vigil is organized by the California Nurses Association and National Nurses United unions(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Registered nurses at UC Irvine Medical Center pose for campy selfies following a candlelight vigil at their shift change. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

ORANGE, CA, APRIL 20 - Nurse Maria Louviaux quietly stands with fellow nurses at UC Irvine Medical Center for an hourlong candlelight vigil at their shift change to describe conditions and the need for more N95 respirators and protective gear required to safely treat coronavirus patients. The vigil is organized by the California Nurses Association and National Nurses United unions. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Nurse Maria Louviaux quietly stands with fellow nurses at UC Irvine Medical Center for an hourlong candlelight vigil to highlight conditions and the need for more N95 respirators and protective gear required to safely treat coronavirus patients. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 06: Registered nurse Patty Pinedo takes the temperature of resident Sally Kimani as she enters a West L.A. hotel that has been turned into housing for the homeless during the coronavirus pandemic. The homeless housing is through a program with the Hotel Assn. of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, city of Los Angeles and non-profits. Kimani said she was at a shelter in Westwood for a week before moving into this hotel. She is happy to be getting three meals a day and care during her stay. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Registered nurse Patty Pinedo takes the temperature of resident Sally Kimani as she enters a West L.A. hotel that has been turned into housing for the homeless during the coronavirus pandemic. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

CHULA VISTA, CALIF. -- FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2020: A nurse gets help putting on her personal protective equipment before heading into a negative pressure room to administer care for a COVID-19 patient, at Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center in Chula Vista, Calif., on April 10, 2020. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

A nurse gets help putting on her personal protective equipment before heading into a negative pressure room to administer care for a COVID-19 patient at Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center in Chula Vista, Calif. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

MISSION VIEJO, CA - APRIL 14: Orange County Fire Authority firefighters and other first responders from Laguna Beach, Santa Ana and Irvine thank healthcare workers for their efforts to combat COVID-19. Mission Hospital on Tuesday, April 14, 2020 in Mission Viejo, CA. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Orange County Fire Authority firefighters and other first responders from Laguna Beach, Santa Ana and Irvine thank healthcare workers for their efforts to combat COVID-19 at Mission Hospital (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 14, 2020 - Red Cross nurse Edith Fernandez, right, tends to blood donor Cheri Adams as USC Athletics and the Red Cross host a blood drive to help maintain a stable blood supply during the coronavirus pandemic at USC Galen Center in Los Angeles on Tuesday, April 14, 2020. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Red Cross nurse Edith Fernandez, right, tends to blood donor, Cheri Adams as USC Athletics and the Red Cross host a blood drive to help maintain a stable blood supply during the coronavirus pandemic at USC’s Galen Center. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 16: Marsha Santini, RN at UCLA Medical Center along with fellow nurses and supporters gather to protest the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and the reuse of decontaminated N-95 respirators for frontline health care workers during this COVID-19 pandemic, at the UCLA Ronald Regan Medical Center on Thursday, April 16, 2020 in Los Angeles, CA. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Marsha Santini, a nurse at UCLA Medical Center, and fellow nurses and supporters gather to protest the lack of personal protective equipment. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Nurse practitioner Christine Alberto puts on protective gear before she and other health professionals prepare to go outside of the COVID Cabana, the name for the COVID-19 testing tent, to test a patient while they sit in their car parked next to the tent at Scripps Clinic Torrey Pines in San Diego. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune)

FULLERTON, CA - APRIL 16: Medical personnel from St. Jude Medical Center stand clustered on the sidewalk as Fullerton and Brea Firefighters, EMS and Police join together in a show of support for healthcare workers outside of the St. Jude Medical Center on Thursday, April 16, 2020 in Fullerton, CA. The southland is entering the second month of "safer at home" orders in an effort to fight the coronavirs and COVID-19 pandemic. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Medical personnel from St. Jude Medical Center stand clustered on the sidewalk as Fullerton and Brea Firefighters, EMS and Police join together in a show of support for healthcare workers outside of the St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

GLENDALE, CALIF. - APR. 14, 2020. Healthcare workers fighting the coronavirus pandemic at Glendale Adventist Hospital in Glendale gather outside the facility for a tribute to their work by Glendale police and fire personnel on Tuesday, Apr. 14, 2020. Cops and firefighters clapped, shined their vehicle lights and sounded sirens as hospital workers were showered with gratitude for their efforts to battle the contagious and deadly disease. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)

Healthcare workers fighting the coronavirus pandemic at Glendale Adventist Hospital in Glendale gather outside the facility for a tribute to their work by Glendale police and fire personnel. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

ORANGE, CA -- TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 2020: UC Irvine Medical Center health care workers bang on the windows in a return of gratitude as they watch about 25 Orange County first responders vehicles participate in a drive-by parade of gratitude as they battle COVID-19 at the hospital, which currently has 8 patients with the virus in Orange, CA, on April 14, 2020. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

UC Irvine Medical Center health care workers bang on the windows in a return of gratitude as they watch about 25 Orange County first responders vehicles participate in a drive-by parade of gratitude as they battle COVID-19 at the hospital. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

WESTWOOD, CA, MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2020 - Jennifer Adams, a registered nurse, joins fellow healthcare workers outside UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center to call for further action from the federal government's in reaction to the Covid 19 outbreak. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Jennifer Adams, a registered nurse, joins fellow healthcare workers outside UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center to call for further action from the federal government’s in reaction to the Covid 19 outbreak. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)