Two weeks ago, a nurse from South Dakota went public with the story that people regularly tell her, as they’re dying from Covid-19, that it must be something else because the virus isn’t real. This same scenario is happening all over the US, according to nurses interviewed by NBC News’ Dasha Burns. Dasha went viral on Twitter with a thread detailing the three days she spent with frontline workers in Appalachia. Last night I was watching Chris Hayes’s show on MSNBC and he had a segment with Dasha. She talked to nurses in South Dakota too and they had similar stories – that patients often didn’t believe they had coronavirus until they were in critical condition from it. You can see that video here and I’m transcribing it as I don’t see a writeup online yet.
On people in Eastern Tennessee not believing covid is real
DB: The chief infection prevention officer at the hospital put it pretty plainly. She said they’ve been preparing for a pandemic like this for years. What they weren’t necessarily preparing for was that people wouldn’t believe that one was happening even as it hit their community very hard.The frontline workers I’ve been speaking with [told me] about their experiences which were tragic and heartbreaking. Nurses were seeing multiple patients die in a single shift. But then the second part of the conversation was just as heartbreaking. They were seeing patients who were coming into the hospital sick and did not believe that they had covid, even when the test came back positive.
Heather White, a nurse in Tennessee coming off a 12 hour shift
HW: We have seen some that were skeptical beforehand. An otherwise completely healthy 30-some year-old will come into the ER and be short of breath and not understand why. Once they get to the critical point it becomes more real to them. A lot of times if they just come in and they are just on a few liters of oxygen these patients decline very fast. It’s a shock to them how sick they get and how quickly it happens. At that point is really the only point when they realize that this is something very serious.On people blaming the hospital for giving them covid
DB: Another nurse told me that people will come in, test positive and blame the hospital for giving them the virus. It’s having real tragic impact on the patients themselves because they’re delaying care.I just got [to South Dakota]. I posted a thread on Twitter on what I was seeing in Appalachia. The response I got was overwhelming from nurses across the country from Maine to Texas [and confirmed the rampant covid denial among their patients].
Dasha also said that there’s a contradiction between the fact that so many people are dying in these small communities, but that nothing is shut down like it was earlier in the pandemic. Another thing she mentioned, and I can confirm this as I live in a small town, is that everyone knows one another and healthcare workers are seeing their friends and acquaintances die. In my town if you don’t know someone, you know someone they know.
I’ve mentioned multiple times that I have seen so many maskless people shopping in my town. In the past two weeks I haven’t seen one person not wearing a mask while inside. I’ve been much more careful though, and am only buying groceries first thing in the morning. The virus is hitting my community hard now and we’ve seen outbreaks in local government offices. The fact that it’s affecting people we know is making people take it seriously finally.
If you haven’t seen the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma I highly recommend it. It can be extremely hard to take as it shows the despicable ways that Facebook and other platforms operate to keep people scrolling. So many people are getting misinformation and lies, not only from the current sadistic racist government, but primarily from Facebook. Facebook needs to be shut down. It is feeding people a steady diet of garbage and conspiracy theories that are killing them and endangering countless others. This virus would not have been as devastating as it has were it not for Trump and Facebook.
THREAD: I just spent 3 days with frontline workers at hospitals in a part of Appalachia where hospitalizations have more than doubled in the last month. But hospital staff say many in their hard-hit communities still don’t believe COVID is real. Misinformation is rampant.
— Dasha Burns (@DashaBurns) November 28, 2020
photos via Instagram and credit: Jonathan Borba on Pexels and Luke Jones on Unsplash
I am nurse in Covid service and I explained to a family that their family member died of cancer because of Covid .Covid loves cancer and cancer treatment.In fact,Covid loves chronical illness
That’s why I don’t understand how people cannot take this seriously. The USA is rampant with chronic illness. I’m an RN too, with lupus, and you can bet I am so grateful that right before the pandemic started I started working in a private office. We take a lot of precautions, have enough PPE, and our main doctor really cares about our well being. I feel so bad for everyone in the hospitals right now. My MIL has cancer so we didn’t have Thanksgiving together. It’s just what has to be done. We use this as an opportunity to connect other ways, like we split making the dinner between our two households. My husband works in retail and EVERYDAY he has someone who puts up a fight about wearing a mask who he has to ask leave. One fellow even “Sieg Heil”ed him before leaving. It’s become exhausting for him having to go around and tell people to wear their masks, and then 1/3rd of them wear it under their nose. People’s lack of understanding about science, health, and sense of community is disappointing and dangerous. Thank you for everything you are doing Frenchgirl.
I had my heart surgery yesterday.
As I was getting ready to leave the hospital, the song Here Comes the Sun came on over the loud speakers. I looked around – I was being wheeled to the ground floor- and the nurse pushing me had stopped. Every single health care worker had stopped. And they were looking to the sky and smiling. As though it were the national anthem. And I felt this deep burst of happiness and joy. And I turned to my nurse and said “they just released someone with covid didn’t they?” I had tears in my eyes. The immense joy and relief on all their faces. And another nurse said -“ you could just feel it right? It had to be that. It had to be something that bright in these dark times to make us all feel this joy together”. It was incredibly moving. This was in Philly. They went through it. And people think it’s fake while a patient released makes nurses and doctors sob and cling to hope. It’s a strange place, this world.
I am so glad your heart surgery went well, Moxylady; your story touched my heart.
I’m so glad you proceeded, and that everything went well. What a moving story, both for you and them!
Thank you so much ❤️❤️❤️
Here in Lafayette La people mock you for believing in masks and science
That’s a shame, as one of my favorite places on the planet is Lafayette. I had one of the BEST meals of my life there. We always stop there before we go to NOLA.
So wild. I’ve been SUPER careful this whole time. I’ve barely seen anyone outside my boyfriend since this thing started and I just got swabbed today because I’ve been feeling ill. If I can get COVID even with the minimal exposure I’ve had, I can’t believe even more people haven’t gotten it, considering how many anti maskers there are.
I wear a mask all the time and constantly washing my hands and got COVID. Wearing the mask is probably why my symptoms were very mild.
Tell them when they have their heart attacks, strokes, babies or in this case cannot breathe, please do not trouble the doctors and scientists and stay out of the hospitals..
Can confirm sick patients often don’t believe they have Covid-19.
Source: Two sisters who are nurses.
We have a mandatory mask policy in my province (Quebec) and there are still people refusing to wear masks, punching and physically attacking employees who tell them they need to wear a mask….I hate how these ignorant anti-science A-holes are also so vocal, so loud, and becoming so violent…
We’re the only province without a mask mandate, thanks to Premier Jason Trumpy pushing libertarian nonsense to his credulous followers. His government won’t even enforce the crowd limits they’ve put in place (particularly if those crowds are composed of white anti-maskers). Our health care staff are under enormous stress already, and our infection rates are increasing exponentially.
I’m scared all the time I’m out of the house, particularly when I take public transit to work. I so wish I were in a position to move elsewhere, because our provincial “leadership” doesn’t care how many people die, or how many people will suffer trying to save them from death.
I’m in Alberta too.. but in Calgary so at least we have a somewhat of a city mask mandate.. but I work for a crown corp … and they’ve implemented a mandatory mask mandate everywhere for everyone. if you walk into the building you have to wear a mask. you should hear all the complaining and people not wanting to wear one. I mean wear the mask ! wear the mask! how hard is it! even if you think this is all fake and a massive social experiment to look out for your fellow human .. wear the bloody mask.. not wearing it just shows me how much of a Selfish A-hole you are.
Jason Mc Trumpy should have found his guts and done something more effective . but i swear it’s all about money or something.
I am an Albertan as well. Edmonton and Calgary both have good mayors who have implemented local restrictions. I feel for the businesses who are dealing with belligerent idiots.
My daughters are in high school, so they are back online and I am grateful. My younger daughter and I both had Covid, despite being very, very careful. I rarely go out and she was only in school and her classes have all been really great – the kids all wear their masks without complaining, sit in their seats in a traditional set up (which is not how they have experienced learning before now), and their teachers have been superb. But then the kids leave for lunch and it all goes down the drain – they walk over to the food shops, go to the gas station, hang out in small crowds. I feel so badly for them, it must be difficult.
I am thankful for the frontline workers and for all the educators out there.
I echo the meme that has been going around that has 9 squares with photos in them of people being thanked over them and Jason Kenney in the middle with an X and “not you” on it. I’ll try to link it. There are a lot of us resisters out there but I really worry that people still won’t vote out the conservative (/libertarian) government in Alberta any time soon. I do miss Notley.
https://www.reddit.com/r/medicinehat/comments/jvisga/not_you_kenney/
A lot of Calgarians here today! The anti maskers just make me smh. Stay safe everyone! We need to be logical and take care, seeing how Kenney refuses to lead properly, and has taken to blaming immigrants for the spread in Calgary
Glad to hear from all my fellow Albertans. Things are getting scary here in Edmonton, but I must say on the rare occasions when I go out people are definitely behaving better. Much more mask compliance, social distancing and stores enforcing limits. And most of my family and friends who have been careless in the past are finally waking up. Those 1700 a day numbers are hitting people hard, but sadly it’s come too late.
Dougie finally made a province wide mandate, but it was really the mayors of cities like toronto and Brampton, ottawa and Windsor who took action much earlier. Because of the delay some people in regions of ontario still aren’t taking it as seriously as they should. Just today my dad saw a guy inside a store not wearing a mask and they have had a mask mandate in their area since April or may. He noticed the guy after he finished telling the cashier that he was going to Florida in a few weeks. So clearly a total idiot on many levels.
The numbers in Alberta are scary – I can’t believe how little restrictions Kenney (Trump of the North) is mandating. It’s shocking.
Sending you big hugs!
We call him mini-trump here. At least among the people I hang with. I know I’m probably in the minority.
I think one day this week alberta had more cases than ontario or Quebec with less than a third of the population. It’s absolutely crazy for there not to be mask mandates at this point. I also read that hospitals are being told to ration oxygen. … that’s not going to end well at all.
Sending love from BC! Even in extremely-compliant Victoria we’ve had incidents of violence against young grocery workers. There were 2 anti-mask protests here, but the police shut the second one down on the orders of our premier. Leadership makes a huge difference, and I’m so sorry, Alberta. At least Calgary has Nenshi, what a gift, but he can only do so much without MiniTrump’s help.
Yeah. Thank goodness for the Mayors in Canada. I think most of them are taking this seriously and mandating masks.
The only thing left to say to these people is that science and this virus don’t care what they believe.
I still can’t believe how many people are willing to die in the name of ignorance.
This and stupid people are stupid.
Signed, a nurse from the UK
My sister-in-law is a nurse in the UK, and her sister is the biggest conspiracy nut. She asked my SIL last week why nurses were putting people on ventilators when they knew it would kill them! My SIL was apoplectic (she was working in an ICU until she went on maternity leave). She asked her sister if she really thought that nurses, whose job it is to advocate for their patients, would put their unconscious patients on ventilators to kill them.
The level of stupid thoughlessness is just mind-blowing. (The kernal of truth behind her question is that the medical system is learning how to best treat covid and have realised that they can use CPAP machines (I think?) instead of ventilators sometimes and that ventilators can lead to worse outcomes for some patients).
This is all so heartbreaking. That last photo makes me weep.
Seeing the healthcare workers pushed to the brink, so overwhelmed, overworked and disregarded, because of the gullibility, stupidity, and supreme selfishness of people is infuriating. I’m also livid because those of us who are adhering to the guidelines may wind up with limited care if needed due to hospitals already being past capacity.
Yup. Just because you don’t believe it doesn’t mean it isn’t so. Damn these ignorant idiots taxing our health care systems and endangering others in their pursuit of “liberty.” Wear the damned mask, stay in if you can, and stop with the large gatherings.
I’m trying. I am trying to have sympathy for people who deny, all the while recklessly getting sick, infecting others, and putting health care workers at risk and putting stress on our entire healthcare system.
And enough of “applauding” health care workers. Forgive their student debt totally and immediately, raise their salaries, and put them on advisory boards- we have to listen to them.
I can’t imagine risking your life for people who call you a liar.
When my mom died of covid a coworker asked if i thought she “really” died from covid. And i walked away. Because i was too enraged to speak rationally. To tell her she is defaming doctors and nurses, as well as spitting on my mother’s fresh grave. Under this theory- then doctors and nurses revel in the cruelty of keeping the dying from seeing and touching their loved ones. And denying my mother’s daughters and granddaughter from saying goodbye, and telling her we loved her one last time.
It is a theory that makes no sense, and is insulting to the point i wish healthcare workers would sue these people for slander/libel- and take everything they own.
Sorry, that was a bit of a rant.
You rant as much as you want. I’m so sorry to hear about your mother.
“And enough of “applauding” health care workers. Forgive their student debt totally and immediately, raise their salaries, and put them on advisory boards- we have to listen to them.“
+1000
Condolences on the loss of your mom,you have every reason to be heartbroken and infuriated.Be well.
I’m sorry for your loss. Everything you said is valid.
I genuinely don’t know how you controlled yourself in response to that awful question from your coworker.
That’s just devastating, I’m so sorry this disease took your mom and that people are compounding your grief with their ignorance.
I see your comments as valid and accurate, no rant detected 😉
Ariel
I’m so sorry for your loss. You have every right to be angry.
People may have smart phones but their technology can’t save them. They are still ignorant.
To put it another way, my husband came back from Asia last December (he travelled 2 weeks of every month last year for work) and said It’s going to get bad. It’ll be here. Everyone will get it. We just want to hold it at bay for as long as possible.
His company suspended ALL travel (both domestic and international) in January 2020. His company is an American company that has multi national contracts. I can tell you it was absurd for us to hear the president be dismissive (or worse, initially not address it at all) when we knew how serious it was just based on his job.
So yes people are ignorant. Truly. They maybe have never left their small slice of life and have literally no idea how the world operates. They view everything thru simplistic terms. Good bad. Coke Pepsi. Trump Biden. God Satan. You get the idea. They have been indoctrinated and programmed and they have never once had an AHA moment.
So their brains are just not capable of fathoming the reality.
It’s sad yes. But also enough is enough.
@Ariel I’m so sorry to hear about the loss of your Mom. Sending deepest condolences and much love.
I am so sorry about your mother. Feel free to rant away.
Very sorry for your loss, Ariel…sending you and your family love.
I’m so sorry. That’s just pure cruelty to say to you especially when you’re grieving.
I am so sorry about your mother’s passing. I am a nurse but I do not work on the floor. I’m in a surgery area so I’ve taken care of covid patients but only for a short period of time.
When choosing a career in healthcare we sign up to care for the sick. So when there were sars, Ebola, covid 19 outbreaks, I felt like “ok here we go”. This is what we do! What we don’t sign up for is the foolery presented by the White House saying it’s fake. Saying it’s political. Saying don’t wear masks. And there were government policies and task forces in place to stop the spread – which 45 disbanded and ignored. Citizens who don’t believe in it shouldn’t be allowed to be admitted into the hospital. They shouldn’t receive care from the people who wore masks and did what they were supposed to do. I am well aware this can’t be tracked. It’s infuriating that people don’t listen to scientists. It’s like they choose to believe it’s not real bc it’s something they don’t understand. So my only comfort is that they’re uneducated. Darwin?? We’re ready!
And North Dakota! Didn’t mandate masks and now has military health care workers coming in to help. So they’re willing to not mandate a cheap mask but they’ll take resources from the areas that did what they were supposed to do and are still hard it. Hard eye roll.
This is no rant; it’s just the unvarnished truth. My deepest sympathies to you, my dear.
I’m so sorry about your mother.
So very, very sorry for your loss, Ariel. My deepest condolences for your family. Your thoughts are echoed by us all. 💔
I’m so sorry Ariel for your loss, as well as the circumstances of it. I hope the rest of your family stays safe, and I agree with everything you said.
I’m so sorry for your loss and you are a better person than me because that idiot needed to be punched for being so ignorant.
Ariel – I am SO incredibly sorry for your loss. I can’t even imagine… I agree with everything you said. I hope that people come to their senses. Lots of love to you and your family.
I only feel sympathy for those they infect.
Ariel, I am so sorry for your loss, I hope you and your family are doing as okay as possible during this horrible time. As Nic919 said, you are indeed a better person than me, I would have lost my sh*t spectacularly (unfortunately!)
The denials, and angry anti-mask protests in my area are just unbelievable. I cannot understand how so many people are science-illiterates. I can definitely see how Facebook is a huge part of spreading false information. A lot of people, especially older people, treat it like a news feed. I’m glad I closed my account. It’s been over 3 years, and I have never missed it.
I cannot look at FB comments on any news site because it both frustrates and saddens me. It’s truly an array of misinformation and twisted thinking.
I’ve been worried about small towns for awhile. There’s precedent for this; small towns were still being hit with Spanish Flu years after the virus had left large cities. The combination of isolation and lack of public health resources can be deadly. It may come to rural areas later, but it’s more devastating when it happens.
Isolation, lack of public health resources and fuelled by ignorance, sadly.
My parents live in a very small town and things have been okay, but when I looked at the map the other day, their county was a very dark purple, which is the not-good color. My aunt and uncle who also live there tested positive and have since recovered, which was surprising because they’re both 80+. But yes, there’s definitely a lag between the large cities and rural areas. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of the new cases are showing up in rural areas.
I watched The social Dilemma twice, I have never had a Facebook and thankfully neither does my daughter;she’s a senior in HS and her only social media is instagram.
I see so clearly what social media and the news does to brainwash people.People in my town are big Trumpsters and they watch Fox and who knows what they read on social media.My grandma has said the pandemic will end November 4(bc she thought Trump would win)and many others were saying that too-people also *don’t believe the numbers *as in how many covid cases and in the case of the election results.
My grandma said to me a couple years ago that she wants to watch other news outlets besides Fox,but “they all are lying so I can’t watch them,they make no sense “…It’s awful.
Another good documentary that is specific to Covid is “Under Control”on Hulu.
I watched half of Under Control. I just couldn’t take it any longer it’s infuriating and I felt so bad for the scientists.
At the end it states in print that the day after the documentary came out Donald Trump was diagnosed with covid.Oh the irony…
And I agree with you about how infuriating and how disrespectful to the actual scientists.
I watched The Social Dilemma as well, it’s a real-life horror story. Things have gotten way out of control and we are actually killing ourselves with our own stupidity
@Spicecake38: Instagram is owned by Facebook. I know it’s different (most ppl don’t get their “news” from Instagram) but unfortunately, your daughter’s engagement on Insta does feed FB’s bottom line.
Thanks for that,I’m a real dummy with all social media platforms-although I’m not at all surprised to hear the insta/FB connection.My daughter is very quiet and studious I think in a year she only has about 9 posts. I’m trying to pick my battles and respect her choices as next year she’ll be away at college and do as she wants anyway .(even now she can too,I know)…
Even to me I think it looks fun,but I just won’t go there…yet!
A college friend is dating a nurse who works in a hospital with newborns, and she just posted about how she’s not taking the vaccine, and tons of her coworkers agreed.
Qanon has told people it’s Bill Gates’s vaccine and he’s doing nefarious things with it…and a tragically large number of Americans believe it. Our stupidity it killing us.
Then they’ll probably be out of a job then lol. Most hospitals don’t mess around with that stuff. My old hospital made it very clear that you had to get the flu vaccine every year (barring immune medical issues) and if you didn’t, you had to wear a mask every moment you were within the hospital, and there were placards everywhere stating that if you were seen with a mask you weren’t vaccinated, so everybody knew you were the dipshit who didn’t get it. With COVID, they’ll probably tell you to line up or get out.
Legitimately, the easiest way around this is to simply bar people from schools and businesses. Any large company should be requiring it. I work for one of the largest medical companies in the US, and they’ve made it pretty clear it’ll be “highly recommended” (read: get the damn vaccine or else).
I think so many businesses cannot or do not want to deal with angry anti-maskers. Early on there was at least one place where security turned a woman away for not wearing a mask, and she came back with her husband and he shot the security guard dead! All over wearing a mask to go shopping. I have also been in line at the grocery store waiting to go in and seen people trying to push in past the line without masks, and store employees having to physically remove them.
I read that Australian airlines will not let people fly without PROOF of a vaccination next year. I hope other countries follow that protocol. Unless you have a medical specific condition, you need to get the vaccine. I’m going to be first in line (after first responders). I have asthma. I would prefer not to die.
I work for a large hospital system, and because the vaccine was approved through emergency protocols, my hospital system can’t mandate that people take the vaccine. I still will, because I contracted Covid at work and it was terrible. But I know a lot of coworkers, including clinical staff, who are not going to take it.
Front line workers on the first run of the vaccine I can see being nervous getting it. Fine. Save it primarily for high risk patients.
But months down the line from now when we’re seeing real time efficacy and/or lack of side effects? No excuse. Fire them. These people are acting like children with no regard for anyone else. Treat them with the exact same lack of regard.
The liability that these companies will have once the vaccine is distributed widely and some of their employees remain stupid enough to not get it will be enormous. It will be cheaper to fire the anti maskers because they are a walking liability that will costs hundreds of thousands.
Totally agree as an Rn
The irony of people posting on social media that the “Bill Gates vaccine” will have a microchip to track their movements from their phones with voice recognition and location tracking turned on while Alexa listens to them all day long…🤦🏻♀️
Apparently they’re perfectly fine being tracked by tech giants like google, Facebook and Amazon who provides software services for like half the commercial websites on the internet. Bezos vast wealth isn’t because he’s successfully selling you extension cords and birdseed Janet. But sure, Bill Gates wants to put a chip in you to track you for what purpose?
The fact that these people can be on their deathbed from Covid and still deny the reality around them is some 1984 or Heaven’s Gate cult sh@t. It would be funny if it wasn’t so heartbreakingly tragic and cruel.
Thank you for pointing this out! We were just talking last weekend about how adds for things we’ve never google searched but talked about have increasingly been appearing on our phones across many apps and platforms and that is an obvious microchip they hold in front of their science denying faces for hours and hours a day 😏
Such a good point, Sarah! The disconnect is extreme.
Or they equate wearing a mask with “giving up their freedom” when they willingly give TSA all their information, hand over an ID, take off all their accessories, get x-rayed and manhandled to get on a plane. All because way less people died on 9/11 20 years ago.
Microsoft probably has their info anyway so they might as well get the vaccine. (Honestly, these people!)
For those saying the conspiracy theorists are talking tracking, they have moved on from that. Now it’s nano technology particles in the vaccine to control us, our thoughts, our actions, it’s capable of remote upgrade, turning us into an AI. One of my fb acquaintances posts this daily. We’re too dumb and gullible to see (apparently)
My mom is suddenly anti-vax about the covid vaccine even though she and all her siblings had all their childhood shots and she made sure me and my brother got all of our childhood vaccines and she and my dad get flu shots every year. She’s recently discovered Facebook in the past couple of years and uses it as a new source, I think. She keeps asking me (with a sneer on her face) if I’m going to get the new covid vaccine when it comes out, and how can we know that it’s actually a safe vaccine and not just a way for the vaccine maker to make money. And I have to re-educate her and remind her that there are regulations and testing that have to be followed for all vaccines and that it wouldn’t be released if it wasn’t safe and at least somewhat effective. And she seems to get it. But by the next time I talk to her she’s anti-vax about it again. Facebook is talking to her way more often than I am. And it’s incessant. The random memes and anti-science stuff that gets posted. The “articles” that aren’t news articles. And it’s all amplified and re-posted and shared by all the other late-50s year old, middle class, middle American childhood friends from catholic school that she’s suddenly reconnected with.
She even recently asked me if I thought unions were a good or bad thing. And the inflection in her voice made it seem like she thought they were very bad. Even though all the men in her family have been union firefighters for 3 generations and that’s how they were able to go from poor immigrants who didn’t speak English to solidly middle class and able to pay for private school in one generation. I asked her if she likes health and dental plans, annual raises, a living wage, sick days, vacation time, personal time, the 40 hour work week, the weekend, and child labor laws. She claimed she didn’t know that all those things came about because of unions and the labor movement. And I asked her how she was able to form a negative onion about unions if she didn’t know what they did. She seemed to understand that it was strange that she suddenly was anti-union without knowing much about them. But she insists she’s not getting her news from Facebook.
She’s started to lie about how much time she spends on Facebook and where she’s getting her “information.” She’s not that smart. She’s not great at critical thinking and can be easily manipulated to believe things that are scary or sensational. And it’s easier to talk to Facebook than talk to me or my brother who challenge her views and make her think logically, and send her real news articles that are boring and hard to read.
That’s my MIL too, and others I know. It’s frightening the hell out of me frankly.
I have a successful, brilliant (IQ-wise) friend…who TRULY BELIEVES that “The Cabal” is behind this virus as a means to “cull the population” and that Gates’ vaccine will hold a microchip. He is English, has lived in Spain for the last 10 yrs. I literally asked him the other day, “WHO *ARE* YOU?? You are NOT the person I’ve known for almost 30 yrs!!”
I just can’t wrap my head around otherwise “smart” people who have been warped.
@theog it’s pretty common knowledge that the people who get sucked into cults are not necessarily stupid. Quite the opposite. Honestly this whole anti vax, qanon, trumpism, covid denying thing is similar to a cult.
wtf … do people not understand that science and tech have progressed such that yes we can develop a safe vaccine if we need to in a matter of months and not years?! I thought nurses were supposed to be smart?? I’m not good enough at science and what not to even get into nursing school but I’m not anti vaccine.
Those who believe, will get the vaccine and be safe from those who don’t. Meanwhile the anti-VAXers will get ill or die. Darwin.
This is so depressing to me, Tiffany. So much senseless suffering and death because people are completely gullible and don’t know how to separate “fake news” from real reporting. I blame Trump SO MUCH for this. He’s the nightmare that just keeps going.
Not surprised with the mishandling of it and the misinformation that Trump has been spreading for 10 months. There are still trolls and fools running around on Twitter comparing it to the flu, when it’s nothing like the flu. In every pandemic there’s always a group of “rat lickers” (deniers) who say it’s not that bad and it will pass even as the plague itself is killing them in record numbers. The Black Plague itself had its share.
Right now I think some peeps are caught in a covid fatigue loop. Where I live I’ve noticed that people aren’t masking up as much as they did in the beginning. Sure you still have to mask up when you go into a grocery store but once out they take the mask off which defeats the purpose. I’ve had to go out of my way to avoid my neighbors because they don’t wear masks, just wave from afar and don’t come near me.
I feel trapped in my apartment building for this reason. People are so reckless and we live in an area of high risk. I get terrible anxiety now every time I need to leave home for groceries or other essentials like doctor because every single time, there are multiple people without masks and if you ask someone if they need a mask or politely request they put one on given that it’s the rule in the building, they scream at you. They try to force themselves into the tiny elevator when I’m in there with my bike and panniers, barely room for that let alone for another person, and zero ability to social distance. I am worried for my safety and afraid to leave home.
I hear you. When I have to dump my weekly trash I try to wait until late in the evening before doing it because the dumpsters are all the way in the back of the garage. If I have to go out during the day I try alternative routes out of the building and try to open the doors with my elbows. I’ve been opening the big rolling gate to the garage lately because I really don’t want to touch that side gate to the sidewalk with any part of my body to be honest. Everyone and their kitchen sink goes through that side gate to get to the little side street.
omg Anna, that is so awful. I have the same issues in my building, but they don’t try and get in the elevator with me. they would be evicted if they did that, as the building management put up signs not to get into an elevator with more than 1 other person if you are not all in the same household…even WITH a mask. But they do refuse to wear the masks, and I know the isht has been going down in the main office. They’ve hired a security guard to be in the main office all day now. We’ve always had nightime security here, mostly parking lot, but never this.
Thanks @Darla There are signs up in this building, too, but people just ignore them, including residents, vendors, and visitors. No joke, I’ve been trying to design a way to get down via my balcony (over 20 stories up) using rappelling techniques I learned in high school…just so I don’t have to go into the hallways, elevators, and lobby. Sounds crazy but my anxiety is just growing by the day, and management refuses to do anything about it. If people are coming back with guns to kill people in stores who tell them to put on a mask, I’m sure big real estate conglomerates do not care to put $$ to enforce in resident lobbies… I just do my best to stay safe. Early on in the pandemic, I found a six-pack box of hazmat suits, may start donning one (and fully spraying down afterward in my tiny 3’x3′ foyer) just to go to the store. It’s not the store that’s the issue; it’s just getting from apartment to the outside world. 🙁
Leah, Anna, Daria…we have the same problem here at my condo complex. Signs are posted to wear masks on the property, do not share elevators…and yet… sigh. I’ve called the office, they’ve issued bulletins to homeowners, and yet… The other night, around 10, I was taking my furry nephew out for a quick pee before bed. There was a man, sitting in the lobby (w/a golden), NO MASK in sight. I asked him if he could please hold his dog as we passed, and please put on a mask, or did he need one (I carry an extra in my pocket always). OMG you should’ve heard the stream of obscenities directed at me!!!
As soon as I got outside (as fast as I could!) I called the Guard and reported it. Don’t know what happened, but he was gone when I got back to the lobby. I was so shaken!
I wait till I get inside my car untill I take off my mask cause I feel like walking from the grocery store to the parking lot could still lead to exposure since there are multiple people walking around the parking lot. I thought everyone did this????
I am just all out of empathy for these broken, stupid covid deniers. I am at the point where I think they shouldn’t be clotting up the medical system for their treatment, that they should stay home and await death or not, as God chooses. If you have spent the last year wallowing in covid denial, sending money and giving support to the man who has made sure this is a painfully fatal pandemic, don’t go get help. You have said God can do what (s)He will and you acted in a way that endangered you, your family, your community and the medical community, stay home and deal with it yourself.
I hear and feel you on this. I feel the same way.
Agreed @Betsy
This is exactly how I feel. They should be denied medical help. They are causing illness and death amongst healthcare workers and clogging up the system so that patients who have been following the rules can’t get the help they need. This is going to sound Orwellian, but my fantasy is that anti-maskers should have to get a tattoo on their hand indicating that they are anti-mask. This would identify them at hospitals and prevent them from getting care. I wonder how many of them would change their tune at the prospect of not getting care.
Totally agree.
I don’t have sympathy to spare those people. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Dying insisting that what’s killing you isn’t real is the height of dark satire to me. If you wrote that into a story, nobody would believe it. That’s how inane it is.
As for medical staff in places like South Dakota…well, there’s a lot of older nurses and doctors retiring in other states because they’re over it. If I were them, I’d be shining up that resume and getting the hell out of dodge. Why waste your life paying taxes to a state governor that doesn’t care about you? Frankly, if I were big, wealthy blue state, I’d be looking to poach those people to replace the ones I’d lost. Tired of your state f*cking you over? So are we, the states that shut down early and now have to open up our hospitals to surrounding states that didn’t. Come here, and we’ll pay to transplant you.
I totally agree, but then despair because those states will still have two senators to screw the rest of us over.
Someone somewhere posted that they are no longer using the phrase “avoid like the plague” because apparently lots of people don’t avoid the plague.
Oh the satire of our real life.
It’s insane to me that it takes people they know getting sick and dying to take it seriously. But then again,, we here in the US watched what happened in Italy, and thanks to our total lack of leadership, did nothing.
I’m in NJ, and we got hit very hard in the beginning, so there haven’t really been protests or anything here, but there certainly are idiots who still don’t believe it. They do seem fewer than in the beginning though, and more people immediately shut them down with facts, so that’s good.
I saw so many patients die in NYC in April and May. Some died in the ambulance, some in the ER, some crashed unexpectedly on the hospital floors, and most of those who were intubated and ended up in the ICU never made it out. A tracheotomy was considered an ICU success story. It’s infuriating to see other areas of the country dismiss and deny what happened to NY when we were blindsided. No one should be learning the hard way this many months later.
I had a conversation with my mother about 2 weeks ago where she told me Well at least things are getting better it’s almost over now
I was ……… WHAT
She told me the hospitals are empty
I said what the actual F are you talking about.
She was going on about how the numbers were good and no one was in the ICU with covid.
I was …… WHAT!!
My sister and I both work at Long Beach Memorial, a major trauma hospital. And have both told her what we experience and have seen with our own eyes.
At that point in a week we had gone from 11 in the ICU to 32 (now we are at 73) and we had to open the second covid floor back up.
She told me your sister said it was getting better, and I said No at no point did she say that, she said the numbers and how it was rapidly getting worse, I was standing right there.
My mom was oh that’s not what I heard, I’ll have to look into that.
I was ….. I AM Fing TELLING YOU THE UP TO THE MINUTE NUMBERS
And it’s not just the active covid numbers that are bad, in surgical Interventional Radiation we are seeing high numbers of covid related damage Strokes, blood clots (lotttssss) heart, lung, kidney damage, lots of prepping for dialysis, and brain lesions.
These people a lot of the time only had a mild to moderate case of covid. There is so much secondary damage.
And unless you happen to have a xray or ct scan you won’t know you have damage.
My mom is so typical, evangelical republican, says she doesn’t really like trump but voted for him twice because of scotus and pro life ect reasons. A closet racist and bigot. And apparently dumber than a box of hair and a brainwashed sheep.
She watches fox and is on facebook.
She isn’t on twitter and doesn’t believe trump tweets the stuff I says he does, doesn’t believe it when I show her directly.
It’s mind boggling
I think religion I a big part of this, they are primed to believe whatever they are told that falls in line with their world view.
I grew up in the church and see the indoctrination and cult like brainwashing for what it is now.
I have a similar experience with my trump-supporting parents in PA. They believe trump over my sister and me, docs in NJ and NY respectively. Yep.
Wow. Trumpers/evangels believing fake news over first-hand reports from their own family members who are healthcare workers. I’m so sorry you both have deniers in your own families while you work in hospitals every day.
I tried talking and presenting facts until I was blue in the face, for months. Nope: the election was rigged, and Covid’s a Democratic plot. I’ve GIVEN UP; nothing but absolutely nothing permeates. I don’t understand how any health care workers keep putting themselves at risk and through exhaustion for all these people. They are saints in my book, and certainly deserve massive raises and debt forgiveness.
And here in Appalachia, we have real live “holiness” religious sects where they won’t seek medical treatment for anything, and they sure as heck won’t get a vaccine. I’ve had them as students and I am NOT looking forwards to their return to campus in the Spring. When shutdowns were happening one of my students was still crossing state lines every weekend for church services. At least we have an on campus mask mandate.
The thing that is especially annoying with people who disbelieve actual facts and claim “that’s not what I heard,” is that you can tell them the real facts, or send them a news article with the real facts and they will claim “oh I don’t read The NY Times/listen to NPR/listen to Dr. Fauci, that’s a liberal newspaper/radio station/person. They’re biased.” And when you ask them who isn’t biased, who would they listen to, where do they get their “real information,” it’s always something like TRump, FOX news, or “my cousin Karen on Facebook.”
I asked my MIL how many Pulitzer prizes Fox and that other even worse station have received. She considers them trustworthy, but nt the NYT or the Washington Post!
Hi, avid celebitchy reader her.
Felt compelled to share my own covid-period experiences after reading some of yours.
So 28 y.o Parisian here, that decided in September 2019 to try to work in some damily fatmland in no other place than the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa).
The experiences of the covid pandemic in the DRC, as in many underdeveloped African countries that have been “spared” by the worst of Covid feels like playing an everyday russian roulette.
To sym up, as I had put ALL OF MY MONEY into investments in the DRC, returning to France would have been for me
, if not an illogical decision, a complete economic suicide.
So against my better judgment, I decided not to get on the last Air France plane, from Kinshasa to Paris, that had been provided by our French embassy and was really the last ride to France before the “aerial lockdown” that took place in February.
Not fully realising the decrepitude of the DRC health system, I soon found out much more about tgatwhen it came to light that the entire country only possessed:
-83 medical repirators. Yes for ALL THE 100 MILLIONS INHABITANTS.
-and that because of some highly irresponsible communucation mistake from the gov, the Congolese people had come to the conclusion that covid was just the latest oax ftom those in power to justify aid coming from abroadt, aid that would eventually serve nobody but themselves (which ended being true but that’s anither story).
Then came in April, asI had not taken my anti-malaria medecine as I should, I first tough that what I was experiencing was a bad case of malaria, that maybe hit me harder, as I had never had it and do nog have antibodies to “protect me”.
The issue wqs rhat the more the days went by the more my symtoms departed feom those commonly attributed to malaria:
– my head pounded as it had never befire. I literally started waking up cringing in pain
– I could not keep anything down whether it was solid or fluid, henve j kost something like 7 pounds in 10 days or so.
-then came the shortness of breath. As i had , at this point unintentionnally quarantined in my apartment, i decoded to have a stroll outside my apartment (still on my property and in contact with no one may i add) and for sime reason i felt that aftet simply strolling for 4 minutes I couldn’t stand straight as i seemed to suffocate. It iccured to me that I HAD been laying down for the most part of the week and never really had to “test” my respiratory system by actively walking.
After the shortness of breath came the unease while sleeping. It seems that as I slept on my back I prevented my lungd from expanding as they should have and was recommanded by a friend to sleep in the tummy and do some respiratory exercices.
That is when I decided to call my parents: I
Wanted them to know what I was going through in case one day I woke up with a massive shortness of breath and did not make it.
With 83 medical respirators in the country, there were no doubt in my mind that I never would have been able to find one for me in time had it been necessary.
I was very lucky in that after 12-13 days my symptoms diminished and that I “made it” without any medic assistance. That marked a first for me: I never have been in a position to ask myself whether I would make it.
So far the DRC gov has spent less than 1 million usd for covid during this pandemic.
It’s probably about a few days of the president’ office or a few days of shopping for rhose in power buf that is what they estimated 100 millions peoples life was worth.
For all that is worth, had covd it countries such as the DRc or other failing states as it has Italy, France of the USA, the human cost would have been CATASTROPHIC.
With no infrastructure and an economy that is mostly informal, any form of socisl distancing is IMPOSSIBLE.
Do j really feel tahg those anti-maskers are jusg dwelling in their luxury, a luxury allows nothjng but ignorance.
My main concern as I have not been able to see a doctor in 18 months are the LT effects.
I still fell some shortness of breath from time to time, some other times my nervous system acts up and others mild symptoms but 99 percent off the time I feel fine.
Fp, that is a very riveting story, and I’m sorry you have suffered so much. My son worked for Save The Children, and learned fast that most poverty in America is not the same as poverty in Niger or India. I hope you continue to feel better every single day, and best wishes.
Thank you for sharing this story. I wish you all the best, of course!
It’s not just that people have died, and will continue to do so (terrifying). For me, it’s also that there is lasting damage, and not just of the hemotoxic and pulmotoxic variety…someone on Twitter shared that her 12 year old survived it, but that his teeth are now falling out.
I think about that a lot.
I know someone who survived it. He’s 43 and said it was two weeks of awful but now he’s suddenly losing his hair and has prostrate issues. Neither of these conditions was present before he had covid. His doctor told him that he’s not alone in having these types of after-effects. We will be seeing so much more of this type of thing in the years to come.
Oh my god. This is horrific. Absolutely heartbreaking. Agree with you and @Other Renee that this is long-term and we have no idea the kind of effects that will continue to be revealed.
There is so much we don’t know about long term effects.
I was thinking losing one’s smell is not that big a deal, until I read someone’s account of not tasting any food, not smelling smoke, fire, or gas, and not being able to smell or taste anything at all: no fresh bread, no flowers, no nothing. Even that sounds horrible to me.
It’s probably impossible to do this because of HIPAA and this anecdotal data from nurses, but I would like to see a study of the demographics of those denying until they’re dying.
A few months ago, the Trump administration seemed to make some actual moves to control the virus or expand access to resources in certain areas (can’t remember specifically right now, but maybe Florida). My theory was that their internal data showed there was a risk of killing off a significant portion of their voters or a significant number of white people, so they felt they had to act. Now Trump has no incentive to help anyone, and he is in fact vindictive enough to encourage conspiracy theories to accelerate the spread of covid so President Biden has even more of a catastrophe to try fix.
This @Coco
He’s utterly self absorbed and utterly evil.
I’m in an urgent care walk in that’s become covid hell all day long. Lines of people wrapping our building every single day, we’re short staffed because people are quitting or getting sick, we do have a decent amount of masks and gowns finally, but gloves have been a tad hard to find so we ration those, and we have to purchase our own Lysol aerosol, I’m fkng tired. This weekend I was cussed out multiple times, had the cops called on us for not enforcing social distancing enough to someone’s liking, and we got a ton of negative reviews because the wait was so long. Like I’m sorry can you not see the 30 people ahead of you?! People still think the customer is always right, they went out without masks on thanksgiving and saw friends and family, then have the nerve to come in for testing(exposing even more people in that process), and complain about waiting?!? It blows my mind, truly can’t wrap my head around that kind of selfishness. When I called one lady back she said, “4.5 hours for a rapid covid test is fkng ridiculous”, I snapped at her that I completely agree and wish people would stop getting exposed and wear masks and stay home like we’ve been asked to do……the lightbulb went off and that shut her up real quick.
But, back to the article, lol, yes people don’t believe they have covid, especially here in the south. I’m seeing quite a few patients who test positive elsewhere and come to our clinic for a second test, of course they don’t mention that until we tell them their test is positive, “yeah I got a positive yesterday but I didn’t think it was right”, so you wait in our lobby exposing more people and exposing us when we swab you, then sit in your room without a mask on while you wait, knowing you already had a positive test and not telling anyone because you think you can trick a virus or we’ll skew the results if we know ahead of time?! Idiots.
That is insane that people come to urgent care to be tested when they don’t have symptoms but just want to make sure they didn’t get it from their non-socially distanced, no masks, huge thanksgiving party. And it’s even more insane that people who have already tested positive, don’t begin to quarantine, but instead hop around to different urgent cares, don’t wear their mask, and expose everyone, to be re-tested just to see if they “really-really” have the virus.
Your work days must be awful. I am so sorry for the stupid people.
This is horrible @Jess I can’t imagine what you and your colleagues are going through daily. Sending light and strength your way. And thank you for continuing despite all.
Jess I’m so sorry. Thank you SO MUCH for all you are doing. I can’t think of anything else to say, but I won’t forget your post.
Thanks y’all 🙂 I just ask that if you need to get a test just be patient and kind with the staff, and it never gets old hearing people say thank you, it makes me tear up every single time. I feel silly even complaining because I know it could be so much worse, I could be working in the hospital and see people dying alone every single day:(
This is why I’m amazed the human race has made it this far –
It’s 2020 – we’re supposed to have flying cars and colonization on Mars. Instead we’re dumber now than we were at a time in history when people thought drilling a hole in your head to let evil spirits escape was a rational way to deal with illness.
Yours was the perfect last comment, after I went through reading all of these first hand stories just gobsmacked.
This @grabbyhands
Grabbyhands – Please don’t give our orange Fearless Leader any ideas. Next thing we know he will buy a kazillion head drillers with our tax money and announce head drilling as the miracle cure for COVID-19.
Ironically, his most devoted followers already have a hole in their head.
The social dilemma is very very good and a must see. I only use fb for my chronic illness support groups, and even that I don’t like.
This is Trump’s legacy. Nice job, asshole. (I’m a COVID nurse and am freaking livid)
I do blame him totally for discouraging mask wearing. I will never forgive him for this.
I work in a hotel in West TN and had a guest tell me that they’d come from Pigeon Forge and “no one was wearing masks there. It was glorious.”
I was just like “okay have a good night” from behind my plexiglass. She was wearing a mask but still. It’s such a simple thing to do in order to protect yourself and others. Just shut up and do it.
This is all so hard. A personal story…
During the pandemic my husband chose to leave me. I’m an American and moved to Canada to be with him. We have a 3 year old with special needs, and I’m a SAHM because of that. I was a psychotherapist in the states.
I’m very isolated right now. His family doesn’t reach out (it’s complicated). I have depression and am a recovering alcoholic who has relapsed. They’ll be days where I’ll go without talking to anyone other than my son. Obviously, all programs are closed, etc. I was trying to figure out how to get back to the states w my son to be around people who love me.
We have a family farm that has an empty house. I was trying to figure out how to get there. My mom passed away a few years ago and her best friend who is like a second mother is close by. I was trying to talk it through with her. She wants me to come down so she can take care of us so badly. I told her I was concerned about Covid. She said not to worry, and that is was fine. She only knew 20 people who had Covid and only 1 who had died. (!) She lives in a town of maybe 10,000 people.
I was shocked with her view of everything. She is the sweetest, most caring person, but she is obviously ignoring guidelines. I want to badly to go down there, but I can’t in good conscience do it.
I am sorry for what you’re going through.
Is your second mother a generally reasonable person? If so, maybe you can directly address your concerns about safe practices. I don’t think some small town residents are really thinking about cases per population. Case numbers by county can be deceiving unless you check a source like AP that shows the spread per 100,000.
I’m near one of the hospitals the reporter visited, and my suspicion is that in-person church services are part of the issue. We also have people who just don’t take precautions.
Jen, I am so very sorry for what you are going through. I pray you get what you need so that you can get back on track with your life.
Jen – Regarding programs, I attend Al-Anon via Zoom. I know that Alcoholics Anonymous (as well as a few for emotional support/depression/codependency) also has zoom meetings or conference calls available as well. It’s not the same as in-person meetings, but at least it’s something. They are US-based but can be accessed globally.
I’m sorry Jen. can you quarantine before seeing her and have her do the same? Please come back and let us know how you are, will you?
Facebook/Social Media really isn’t the problem; it’s a tool. The algorithm isn’t going to show you anything you weren’t already looking for. The algorithm isn’t going to show you anything your friends aren’t already looking for. If you are anti-vax, you are going to click on anti-vax links and then Facebook is going to show you more. I mainly watch animal videos on Facebook and that’s what comes up in my feed. I don’t click on any anti-vax stuff, so it doesn’t come up in my feed, the vast majority of my friends are not on the anti-vax kick so anti-vax articles, groups etc do not come up in my feed.
Facebook is only giving you what you already want. You can shut down Facebook but the people who want to believe in conspiracy theories and think people worrying about COVID are sheep will just migrate to Parler or MeWe…or a new platform.
You can shut down Facebook, but these people also watch Fox News, One America News, Newsmax and they listen to Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck and Michael Savage all day. The only way to shut down this disinformation is shut down all communication and that’s probably not going to happen, although ironically most of the anti-vax, pro-herd immunity, anti-maskers wouldnt’ mind one bit if Trump’s government shut down all communication EXCEPT the Fox News, OAN, Newsmax etc.
I can’t wrap my head around that level of cognitive dissonance. I just do not get being THAT married to a belief, to the point that you can deny the existence of a disease as it kills you. I get that for some, it’s a case of being heavily brainwashed, but I’m thinking about the people who aren’t necessarily Trump supporters or conspiracy theorists, they just don’t want anyone telling them what to do. Who wants to stick it to The Man that badly??
I’m a nurse in the FL panhandle and God help me, its has gotten so hard to go to work every day and try to help people who are frankly terrible that I’m getting out of patient care. I cant do it anymore, yall- I just dont have the stomach for it.
I am a medical social worker in a small community hospital of about 150 beds in Appalachia. The ignorance surrounding this illness is staggering. My job consists of helping with social and family issues, as well as assisting with discharge planning. The number of individuals that recover from COVID and require inpatient rehab is absolutely shocking. Healthy people that end up on a ventilator and once they “recover” are completely reconditioned, unable to do basic personal care like walking to the bathroom. No one in my area wears a mask. If you do, you are often ridiculed. People do not believe the virus is real or think it will go away after the election. Hospital staff are pushed to a breaking point and it feels like there is no end in sight.
My government fine $1000 (usd 250) to people who are not wearing mask. That took care of people who is stupid enough thinking covid is a hoax.
Only cuz ur president is a loser whose not even immune! An bc you are to dum to know it’s not even real anyway all you look at is FAKENEWS.
(I PROMISE that’s supposed to be a joke, only…. it’s not actually very funny. Because that’s literally 2 out of every 3 people where I live.