South Dakota Nurse's Tweets About COVID Positive Patients Who Don't Believe in the Virus Go Viral

Those who don't believe the coronavirus is real can still wind up catching it. That's something hospital workers have seen regularly throughout the pandemic and it's made an impact on them. Jodi Doering, a registered emergency room nurse from South Dakota, told folks online about patients who test positive and still deny that COVID is what's making them so ill.

Doering began her Twitter thread on Saturday, saying she had a night off from the hospital, but that COVID patients were still on her mind. "As I'm on my couch with my dog I can't help but think of the Covid patients the last few days," the nurse wrote.

"The ones that stick out are those who still don't believe the virus is real. The ones who scream at you for a magic medicine and that Joe Biden is Going to ruin the USA. All while gasping for breath on 100% Vapotherm," she wrote. "They tell you there must be another reason they are sick. They call you names and ask why you have to wear all that 'stuff' because they don't have COVID because it's not real. Yes. This really happens."

Doering repeated that she couldn't stop thinking about them. "These people really think this isn't going to happen to them. And then they stop yelling at you when they get intubated. It's like a f***ing horror movie that never ends. There's no credits that roll. You just go back and do it all over again," Doering continued.

"Which is what I will do for the next three nights," she concluded. "But tonight. It's me and Cliff and Oreo ice cream. And how ironic I have on my 'home' Hoodie. The South Dakota I love seems far away right now."

Doering's tweets have since gone viral, and she appeared on CNN to talk with Alisyn Camerota about her experience working the frontlines amid the pandemic, especially with virus nonbelievers.

"I think the hardest thing to watch is that people are still looking for something else and they want a magic answer, and they don't want to believe that COVID is real," Doering explained. "It wasn't one particular patient, it's just a culmination of so many people. And their last dying words are 'this can't be happening, this is not real,' and when they should be spending time FaceTiming their families, they're filled with anger and hatred."

Doering said it made her very sad the other night, and she was shocked that that would be their last thoughts and words. She would ask COVID patients if they wanted to help them call their loved ones, and they would say that they're fine. However, Doering would see their oxygen levels drop lower and lower, knowing things weren't looking "fine."

The RN also explained that people would be rationalizing that they were not sick with covid, and it was influenza, pneumonia, and have even said lung cancer instead. "These people get sick in the same way, you treat them in the same way, they die in the same way, and then you do it all over," she told CNN.

Additionally, Doering noted that as a healthcare professional, the last thing they think about regarding their patients is whether they voted Democrat or Republican in the recent presidential election. They want to focus on how they can help.

"Anybody who uses any chance to make this political makes any healthcare provider want to scream. Because at the end of the day, we just want to help," she said. "And if we don't get some help from the public as far as mask wearing and social distancing, there's a thing on the internet right now that says 'I'm not the first line of defense, I'm the last line of defense.' And it's true in South Dakota.

"By the time you get to me, and the team we work with, it might be too late for some, and that is heartbreaking."

As of publishing, there are over 11.1 million confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States, and 246,000 confirmed deaths.