EDMONTON -- An emergency room nurse in South Dakota is speaking out in frustration after watching several COVID-19 patients die from a disease they insist isn鈥檛 real, describing her job like a 鈥渉orror movie that never ends.鈥
In a Twitter thread that has since gone viral, Jodi Doering said she has been screamed at by patients who accuse her of using 鈥渕agic medicine,鈥 who repeatedly tell her there must be another reason why they are sick 鈥渁ll while gasping for air.鈥
鈥淭hey call you names and ask why you have to wear all that 鈥榮tuff鈥 because they don鈥檛 have COVID because it鈥檚 not real,鈥 she said in the thread, published Friday.
鈥淭hese people really think this isn鈥檛 going to happen to them. And then they stop yelling at you when they get intubated.鈥
On Sunday, South Dakota health officials reported 23 deaths related to the novel coronavirus, increasing the total number of fatalities to 219 in the last 15 days.
According to the COVID Tracking Project, there were nearly 2,062 new cases per 100,000 people in South Dakota over the past two weeks, which ranks second in the country behind North Dakota for new cases per capita.
Despite these figures, Doering says her experiences show a disturbing level of COVID-19 denial.
鈥淭he hardest thing to watch is that people are still looking for something else and they want a magic answer. They don鈥檛 want to believe that COVID is real,鈥 she said in an interview with CNN.
鈥淭heir last dying words are 鈥榯his can鈥檛 be happening, it鈥檚 not real,鈥 when they should be spending time FaceTiming their families, they鈥檙e filled with anger and hatred. It just made me real sad the other night. I just can鈥檛 believe those are going to be their last thoughts and words.鈥
She says some patients are convinced they have been misdiagnosed, sometimes suggesting they have cancer instead.
鈥淲e鈥檝e even had people say I think it might be lung cancer. Something so far-fetched,鈥 she said. 鈥淭he reality is, since day one you鈥檝e kind of been able to say if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it鈥檚 a duck. I hate to tell you that you have COVID, but that鈥檚 what you鈥檝e had.鈥
Doering added her ER has been overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients, and while many are grateful for their care and thankful towards doctors and nurses, she notes those are not the cases she remembers.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a horror movie where the credits never roll,鈥 she told CNN. 鈥淵ou just do it all over again and it's hard and sad, because every hospital, nurse and doctor in this state are seeing the same thing.鈥濃
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