A preliminary study by Kaiser Health News and the Guardian found more nurses died from the pandemic than any other of the 177 confirmed deaths of healthcare workers.

KHN and The Guardian reported 68 of those deaths were nurses, and 21 of them were doctors. Workers in the "support" category such as home health aides and occupational therapists, accounted for 30 deaths followed by administrators and other medically related professions, according to their website. 

According to Business Insider, nurses on the frontline have expressed concern over their health and safety since they spend much more time with patients than all other healthcare workers. Earlier this month, The Guardian cited dire shortages of protective equipment, under staffing, and an overburdened healthcare system as reasons medical care workers were dying.

Masks have been rationed and sometimes shared, nurses claim, adding N95 masks were often locked up and not distributed. At Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, nurses were photographed wearing trash bags as protective gear, according to Today.

The KNH and Guardian study also found a disproportionate number of deaths of people of color and those born outside of the United States from the virus. This reflects similar statistics gathered by The Marshall Project that stated people of color made up 52% of "excess deaths" from COVID-19 even though they comprised only 40% of the population.