On Saturday, South Dakota nurse Jodi Doering had a night off and decided to tweet about what she was seeing in her state. Doering’s tweets were about COVID-19 patients who are literally dying from contracting the virus but still do not believe that the virus is real, or that they have it.
https://twitter.com/JodiDoering/status/1327771329555292162?s=20
https://twitter.com/JodiDoering/status/1327771330884808710?s=20
https://twitter.com/JodiDoering/status/1327771331920883714?s=20
https://twitter.com/JodiDoering/status/1327771338698674176?s=20
Doering’s tweet thread went viral, and on Monday she was interviewed by CNN.
In the interview, Doering explained that she really hadn’t expected her tweets to go viral like this and was not blaming the victims of this virus or making a political statement. She was just reporting on some of what she was seeing. She explained she just became so sad thinking about the many patients she has seen who are in such denial and so angry that they are missing out on what is in many cases their final chances to speak with their families before passing away.
And because Doering is an adult and a professional, she held CNN’s Alisyn Camerota’s hand to explain to her that she didn’t take the anger of her patients personally. “I think it’s just a belief that it’s not real and nursing happens to be on the receiving end of that. And that’s okay. That’s where we’re there for. It’s just, in the bigger picture, when you try to reason with people, can I call your family, your kids, your wife, your friend, your brother? And they say, no, because I’m going to be fine,” it really hits hard.
She said that since they first started seeing cases of COVID-19 in March, while they have gotten better at treating and alleviating some of the cases, they cannot defeat the surges in the virus and the political bullshit that comes with fighting against basic public health protections like social distancing and wearing masks. Asked about Gov. Kristi Noem’s insistence in pretending that people should not wear masks if it makes them happier to do so, Doering explained that this wasn’t political: “I think it’s frustrating as a health care provider, because the last thing that we ask anyone when they seek care is how they voted or if they’re a Democrat or a Republican. The last thing we ever think about is that. What we think about is how can I help you?”
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