Multiple COVID-19 patients with critical infections have refused to accept that they have the virus, insisting it must be the flu or perhaps lung cancer, Jodi Doering, RN, an emergency room nurse at a South Dakota hospital, told CNN.
"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," Ms. Doering wrote in a Nov. 14 tweet. "And then they stop yelling at you when they get intubated."
As of Nov. 18, North Dakota and South Dakota top the list of states with the highest number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents, with 8,657 and 7,606 cases, respectively.
Some health experts link South Dakota's high virus rates to the higher prevalence of preexisting conditions, economic inequality, lags in healthcare and state leaders averting the implementation of rules like mask-wearing, according to USA Today.
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