 COVID-19 is surging around the country, but in states like South Dakota, the numbers are genuinely startling. So the CDC recommends that if your positivity rate is above 5%, that means you shouldn't be reopening your state's economy. Anything above 5% means that's too high. Once you get below 5% in terms of positivity rate, you can start to reopen the economy gradually, if you want to do it safely. However, the positivity rate in South Dakota is 58%, 58% nearly 60%, meaning the majority of people who take a COVID-19 test, test positive. And this is a small state. So it is very, very serious in this state, but their state's Republican governor has deliberately not taken any action. It's pretending as if COVID-19 isn't a thing because she's a Republican and she thinks that this makes her a better politician because she is giving people in her state liberty and because she's not doing anything, you know, the people in her state are happy. This is according to her. It's just, it's honestly puzzling that this is happening. Like you'd think that a global pandemic would not be a partisan issue. But in 2020 America, of course, it's a partisan issue. And it's one of the most divisive issues of our time, right? So there was a thread on Twitter by a nurse who is in South Dakota, who's working on the front lines with COVID-19 cases and patients. And what she said here, it honestly was, was shocking. So she tweeted this out, 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% vapor therm. 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. And I can't stop thinking about it. These people really think this isn't going to happen to them. And then they stop yelling at you when they get intubated. It's like a fucking horror movie that never ends. There's no credits that role. You just go back and do it all over again, which is what I will do for the next three nights. But tonight it's me and Cliff and Oreo ice cream. And how ironic I have on my home hoodie. The South Dakota I love seems far away right now. Now when I read this, this shocked me. And what she said stood with me like it was on my mind for days after I read it because this is just shocking. Like you would think that the denial ends once you're personally affected with something like COVID-19, but they still deny it even when they get it. And they literally are dying from it. I mean, what do you even say? There's no words that capture how sad this is. And this is sad. Like these are human beings that probably, you know, didn't believe this was a thing. They didn't take any precautions. They ended up getting it and they still, they still, you know, denied it as they're in the hospital dying from it. I mean, I don't even know what to say about that. Like this is horrifying. Now this thread went viral and she went on to CNN and she explained a little bit more about her experience. And it's, this is unreal to me. Like I wouldn't expect this to be a thing that happens, even with how delusional Trump supporters are and how cult-like they are. Like, again, you think that there is a point where, you know, you, you stop believing in all of these weird things when you can see it, when it affects you on a personal, concrete level. But according to her, that's not the case with all of them. Nurse Storing, thank you so much for being here. When I read some of your tweets, my jaw dropped. You said that even now that the hospital is being overrun with COVID patients, they come in, they're horribly ill, they're gasping for breath. And yet they don't believe they have COVID. Yeah, I think the hardest thing to watch is that people are still looking for something else and they want a magic answer and they don't want to believe that COVID is real. And the reason I tweeted what I did is it wasn't one particular patient. It's just a culmination of so many people. And their last dying words are, this can't be happening. It's not real. And when they should be spending time facetiming their families, they're filled with anger and hatred. And it just made me really sad the other night. And I just can't believe that those are going to be their last thoughts and words. Anger and hatred towards you. You know, 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 OK. We can take that. That's what you're there for. It's just in the bigger picture when you try to reason with people of, can I call your family, your kids, your wife, your friend, your brother? And they say, no, because I'm going to be fine. And you're watching their oxygen levels, you know, maxed out on what we call Vapotherm at 100 percent. And their oxygen level might be 75. That's not really that compatible with life. And we know where that's going to head. And it just makes you sad and mad and frustrated. And then you know that you're just going to come back and do it all over again. And so, yeah, that's kind of where that stemmed from. How could it not make your own head explode? They're gasping for breath. Their oxygen levels are dropping. What do they think is wrong with them? You know, I think people look for anything. People want it to be influenza. They want it to be pneumonia. They want it to be. I mean, we've even had people say, well, I think maybe it might be lung cancer. I mean, something so far fetched. And the reality is, since day one, when covid started in this area in March, you've kind of been able to say if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it's a duck. Like, I hate to tell you that you have covid, but that's what you have. You know, even after positive results come back, some people just don't believe it. Now, that's not everybody. We have a lot of patients who are very, very grateful for their care and very thankful for what you do. But unfortunately, that's not what I'm remembering right now. And as my nursing career, that's not what I want to be remembered. Be remembering poor. I want to remember the saves and the happy situations. And what I was remembering and chilling on the couch the other night with my dog was not that. Of course not. I mean, of course not. And it's just so mind blowing to think that they would rather have lung cancer than rather a diagnosis of lung cancer than of coronavirus. And so, I mean, you've said that it just, I mean, if I quote you from Morning Television, it's an effing horror movie that you live every day. And so what toll is this taking on you? Yeah, hindsight, I didn't realize that this was going to go viral. I probably could have left the f-bomb out of there. But the reality is that's how you feel. And so it is like it's just a movie where the credits never roll. You just do it all over again. And it's hard and sad because every hospital, every nurse, every doctor in this state is seeing the same things. Now, the part of that that really, really hit me was when she basically explained how these folks are instructed to call their families to say goodbye. And they refuse to do so because they don't believe they have COVID-19. That to me, it's astonishing. As they're dying, they feel as if they are dying most likely and they still deny that they have COVID-19 and they don't call their loved ones don't even say goodbye because it's not possible that something like this could happen to them. I mean, you know, part of me thinks. You know, they they don't take it seriously and they kind of brought this upon themselves, but at the same time, these are human beings suffering right now. They're in agony and they still can't admit. That what's happening to them is real. I don't know if their denial is, you know, exclusively partisan. Maybe it's the case that this is like a coping mechanism for them. I'm not sure, but this is heartbreaking. I don't see these people as, you know, Trump supporters, Trump cultists. I see them as very, very sad human beings. Who. Their last bit of life. Is, you know, they're consumed with rage and they're taking it out on people who are trying to save their lives. This is this is heartbreaking. Now, I've heard shocking stories from people who I know that work in health care that work directly with COVID patients. And what I hear from them is alarming, right? Especially the folks who are asymptomatic, they test positive and they just they don't take any precautions. They don't want to wear masks. They put up a fight when it comes to them being required to wear masks. You know, that to me was shocking because you'd think that there'd be some level of concern for, you know, their peers, people who are there, who they're around. But I mean, denial, it's not just them using a talking point as a Republican politician, what they believe this to their course. And then to take it a step further, what, you know, the nurse from South Dakota, Jody Dowering is saying is that this isn't just like denial. This is this is a deep seeded belief that they have. They genuinely believe that they don't have COVID-19 as they die from it. And they believe in this so much or don't believe in it so much, rather that they won't even call their families to say goodbye. I don't know what to say about this. This is why it's so important that politicians. Don't be so careless with the rhetoric that they use. It's why when Trump denies the severity of COVID-19 publicly. Under the guise of not causing a panic, that's an issue. People, they take their cues from leaders. I wish that they, you know, had a greater capacity to think for themselves. But unfortunately, the reality of this situation is that they take their cues from leaders. If someone that they trust says something, they believe it. And nobody, you know, is going to prove that individual wrong. The only thing that will get them to change their minds is if the person who they trust that led them astray tries to do better and reverse course and, you know, undo the damage that they cause. If Trump said, look, this is a serious thing. We all need to wear masks. That's the only way I could see these folks actually turn it around and want to take it seriously. Leadership matters. Who is in control matters? Words and rhetoric matters. I mean, at the end of the day, this is just politics to Donald Trump. The things that he says about COVID-19, it hinges on political expediency always. But his political choice, how he chooses to talk about something, that affects people's lives in a real concrete way. Lives are at stake because of what Donald Trump says. People are dying because they believe that Donald Trump and Fox News and OAN, all these outlets who have downplayed it, you know, they trust these outlets. And even in, you know, in death, as they pass away, they still aren't going to divert from what they've been conditioned to believe. It's just, it's sad. You know, it's really sad because it shows you how so many people in this country are so far gone that literally nothing is going to change their minds. I mean, how do you deal with that going forward as a society? We have to reckon with this fact that we have individuals in this country who are in a cult and nothing is going to shake their faith in this cult. They believe in it at a really, really deep level on an emotional level and they're unwavering in their beliefs. And it's just so sad. And, you know, honestly, not just for them, but for the nurses who have to put up with this. They're putting their lives on the line, working with COVID-19 patients and what do they get in return? They get yelled at. I mean, this story all around is just, it's honestly heartbreaking and it's almost a little bit too much like to process all of this information. Like I'm so lucky that I'm not in the position of these nurses. I don't know that mentally and psychologically I would be strong enough to deal with this. I don't think many people are. I think that it takes a certain person to be able to deal with this. And, you know, it's tough. She's trying to like, you know, distract herself from it with ice cream and whatnot. But at the end of the day, we also have to consider the fact that nurses, first responders in this country, they're going to be having so much issues psychologically with PTSD, mental health. And another issue is we have a broken healthcare system. Are they going to be able to get the help that they need when this is all over and they're forced to deal with all of the pain and suffering that they saw and the abuse that they put up with? I mean, it's just, it's so much pain and suffering on a mass level in so many ways that it's difficult to fathom, but it's a reality. And I don't think that we should look away from it and try to pretend as if this isn't happening. I think that we have to come to grips with it and figure out how to fix it and find some way to get these folks who are this deep in denial to, I don't know, to change. Again, how do you get them to change if they literally are dying and that doesn't change their mind? I just don't know. Things like this, it's difficult to even comment on because what do you say to this? It's just sad. That's all that I feel. I feel sadness when I see and hear things like this. I'll leave that there. This was tough.