From what I could see, nurses were pushed to work in hazardous conditions as “heroes” and “essential”. A cohort left because the risk/reward was bad in a situation where supply/demand was low, some then got huge pay bumps to be travel nurses. In short: capital interests exploited nurses willing to work for non-monetary compensation (e.g. clapping, their own sense of compassion, etc). The nurses willing to demand more pay generally got it