As part of ongoing efforts to fight COVID-19, numerous states are allowing nursing students to directly enter the practice of nursing via temporary licenses, rather than requiring graduating students to first pass a licensing examination. Georgia and Ohio have recently announced that graduating nursing students may apply for such temporary licenses, and lawmakers in Illinois are calling on the state to do the same. These actions are intended to alleviate a shortage of nurses available to treat the anticipated surge in the coming weeks and months of patients infected with COVID-19.