South Dakota Nurse Says That COVID-19 Patients Claim Virus Is “Not Real” Despite Positive Tests

A nurse in South Dakota has spoken out about the challenges of treating some of the most severely ill COVID-19 patients. She says the hardest part of her job is convincing them that the virus is real. 

Jodi Doering, a nurse in one of the country’s most hard-hit states, went viral over the weekend after tweeting her frustrations with people taking the virus so lightly, even on their deathbeds. 

“I can’t help but think of the Covid patients the last few days. The ones that stick out are those who still don’t believe the virus is real,” Doeing said in one tweet before adding, “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.”

https://twitter.com/JodiDoering/status/1327771330884808710

Doering spoke to CNN about her comments, where she further elaborated on the situation. 

“Their last dying words are, ‘This can’t be happening, it’s not real,” Jodi Doering revealed to  CNN’s Alisyn Camerota. “Even after positive results come back, they don’t believe it.”

https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2020/11/16/south-dakota-nurse-intv-newday-vpx.cnn

The nurse revealed that many patients try to convince staff as well as themselves that other ailments are responsible for their condition. 

“People want it to be influenza, they want it to be pneumonia, we’ve even had people say, ‘I think it could be lung cancer.’” 

South Dakota has been one of the hardest-hit states for COVID-19. This is largely in part due to Republican Governor Kristi Noem’s lax approach to the outbreak. She recently made headlines for saying that she would not enforce a mask mandate even if presidential elect Joe Biden made it mandatory.