A South Dakota nurse is getting a lot of attention for a series of tweets she wrote about how some patients are still in denial about coronavirus, even as they take their last breaths. NPR wrote about the dire situation in South and North Dakota saying:

The Dakotas have the most new daily cases per capita of any other state this week — a record they’ve held or been close to for many weeks. They’re also among the worst in the country for two other grim metrics: per capita deaths and per capita hospitalizations.

With this in mind, Jodi Doering, an emergency room nurse wrote:

I have a night off from the hospital. As I’m on my couch with my dog 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. 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. 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 told CNN that as some patients are told that they may not survive, they still refuse to call loved ones, insisting they are going to be fine.

Yahoo writes:

Doering went on to mention how more people have died of COVID-19 in South Dakota — 644 — than even live in the town where she’s from. South Dakota has the highest COVID-19 mortality rate of almost anywhere in the world — only North Dakota and the entire countries of Belgium and the Czech Republic rank higher. Without a mask mandate and with low rates of mask wearing, the Dakotas have seen coronavirus cases spike over the past few months.