Nurses in Washington have spoken out about what it was like battling the coronavirus pandemic during the first days of what they describe as a “war” while warning about a little-known symptom associated with Covid-19.

“If you Google signs and symptoms of coronavirus, it’s runny nose, fever and cough. I haven’t seen a runny nose yet,” Chelsey Earnest, registered nurse for Life Care Centers of America, told CNN. “What I see is much different than that. I saw what I describe as ‘red eyes.’”

Ms Earnest, who works at the Life Care nursing home in Kirkland, Washington, explained that the “red eye” symptom appears on Covid-19 patients like “red eye shadow on the outsides of their eyes” and said — in some cases — it was the only symptom a patient exhibited before dying due to complications from the virus.

“It’s something that I’ve witnessed in all [Covid-19 patients],” she continued. “You can describe it like allergy eyes: The white part of your eye is not red.”

Washington saw the first outbreaks of the coronavirus pandemic take place in the US after the country confirmed its initial case of the novel virus on 20 January. The state suffered multiple outbreaks at nursing homes housing the elderly, causing an alarming rate of deaths as the virus tends to have more severe complications for older patients and people with underlying conditions.

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Ms Earnest described the current situation hospitals are facing across the country as a state of “war” in which “supplies are limited, the help is slow to get to you and there’s lots of casualties … and you can’t see the enemy”.

At least 129 people tested positive for the virus who were linked to the Life Care nursing home where she works, including a third of the staff, and 29 people died as a result of the outbreak.

Nancy Butner, vice president of the Life Care Centers for America’s northwest division, defended the nursing home from a report published by the US Centre for Disease Control, which said its “limitations in effective infection control and prevention” in part led to the major outbreak.

She said the nursing staff works in multiple facilities associated with Life Care Centers, which she noted is a common practice, adding: “In health care you work in different settings.”