Despite an alarming shortage of nursing staff and resources at hospitals across the United States, at least 10,000 graduating nursing students in California may not be able to join the novel coronavirus fight because of state regulations preventing them from becoming licensed.

California requires nurses to pass an exam issued by the National Council State Boards of Nursing. However, several graduating students told CNN they are struggling to secure exam dates because testing facilities have scaled down operations over coronavirus concerns.

Stuck at home: Many have also been unable to work mandatory clinical hours shadowing medical professionals because hospitals remain under lockdown orders. Still other students have told CNN they are experiencing delays obtaining their school transcripts for applications because many universities have closed or transitioned to online studies until further notice.

"We're sitting at home with skills that could be an asset to any one of the hospitals here in California," Stanbridge University nursing student Danielle Kaplan told CNN. "We're not asking for any type of change in patient care or how well patients are treated. We just want to advocate for the thousands of us who simply want to help."

Kaplan launched an online petition pleading with Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Board of Registered Nursing to consider waiving regulations so they can help respond to the influx of Covid-19 patients. As of Friday evening, the petition had more than 1,500 signatures.

"We are already in that process to expand their licensing capacity to meet this moment," Newsom said at a press conference Friday when asked about the nursing students. "Those conversations are well underway."

Officials with the California Health and Human Services Agency told CNN they are actively working on solutions to address the coronavirus crisis.

"As you can imagine, we are looking at a myriad options to address COVID-19. We don’t have any updates on nursing students for you," Kate Folmar, deputy secretary at the agency, told CNN in a statement Friday.

Emergency solution: Last week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the state would temporarily issue permits to graduating nurses yet to take the licensing exam and suspend other regulations for students to assist with the Covid-19 response. It is unclear if or when California will follow.

"There are a lot of people who want to help who have the knowledge and education to help but they just don't have the piece of paper to enable them to do that," Robert Murray, a graduating nursing student at Stanbridge University, told CNN.

The California Department of Consumer Affairs did not respond to CNN requests for comment.