Medical Headhunters Drawing Thousands of Nurses to Virus Hotspots

Before Rachel Martinez boarded her flight to New York City, she packed N95 masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer because the emergency room nurse couldn’t be sure she would find some waiting for her at her temporary job in the country’s coronavirus epicenter.

“I’m not naive to the fact that hospitals will say anything to get people down there, but I’m trusting that they’re not lying to me,” she said.

Martinez is one of the thousands of medical professionals whose jobs are dwindling outside of coronavirus hotspots and who are taking temporary jobs in places such as New York and Detroit. ...