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South Dakota nurse says many dying patients still insist Covid-19 'not real'

thehill.com

191–200 of 521 posts

Re: South Dakota nurse says many dying patients still insist Covid-19 'not real'

#191

My wife and I just moved from Orange County, CA to Detroit, MI this last August. We decided to drive the northern route. Heading through Vegas, Utah, Yellowstone and Montana. Then onward through the plains of North Dakota and Minnesota. Turning north we entered Wisconsin and finally the UP (Upper Peninsula) of Michigan. After a few days exploring we turned south to Detroit. In Vegas the concern for masks started to w…

A few weeks ago we drove from Hendersonville, NC (by Asheville) down through South Carolina and Georgia. We were the only folks in gas stations wearing masks, and received a few chuckles when people saw us wearing them. Your comment of feeling like an outsider alien really resonates.

[deleted]

Re: South Dakota nurse says many dying patients still insist Covid-19 'not real'

#192

My wife and I just moved from Orange County, CA to Detroit, MI this last August. We decided to drive the northern route. Heading through Vegas, Utah, Yellowstone and Montana. Then onward through the plains of North Dakota and Minnesota. Turning north we entered Wisconsin and finally the UP (Upper Peninsula) of Michigan. After a few days exploring we turned south to Detroit. In Vegas the concern for masks started to w…

Welcome to Michigan!

Re: South Dakota nurse says many dying patients still insist Covid-19 'not real'

#193
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But the reason this is lasting so long... Masks and social distancing and banning birthday parties are not about speeding up or ending the pandemic but slowing it down (to minimize deaths) until a vaccine is ready. This is what 'flattening the curve' is all about. It's also weird to see Canada among your success stories. Their 'worst of it' is right now. We're fighting with misinformation alright.

> Masks and social distancing and banning birthday parties are not about speeding up or ending the pandemic but slowing it down (to minimize deaths) until a vaccine is ready. This is what 'flattening the curve' is all about. Not quite. NZ took the route of hard lock down early, 30 days (2 infection cycles). They basically managed to get covid to burn itself out, so they're just dealing with imported cases, and contac…

In this situation, NZ has unique geographical advantages. Others that have tried similar measures without those advantages haven't found the same success. I think most European and North American nations recognized very early on that NZ-style elimination was not a viable choice for them.

I agree with everything you say about Canada, which is another reason why I wouldn't put it in the same category as NZ.

Re: South Dakota nurse says many dying patients still insist Covid-19 'not real'

#194

My wife and I just moved from Orange County, CA to Detroit, MI this last August. We decided to drive the northern route. Heading through Vegas, Utah, Yellowstone and Montana. Then onward through the plains of North Dakota and Minnesota. Turning north we entered Wisconsin and finally the UP (Upper Peninsula) of Michigan. After a few days exploring we turned south to Detroit. In Vegas the concern for masks started to w…

It's actually the state governments that's at fault here. Not the specifically the people. Let me tell you I was in back-country Oregon recently, some of the MOST republican places within Oregon, not going to name drop the county. Anyway, the Oregon state government is very much democratic (cause you know Portland). But because of that, even the republican counties are under a mask order. And the extremely red counti…

> Let me tell you I was in back-country Oregon recently, some of the MOST republican places within Oregon, not going to name drop the county.

Not sure the name drop matters given the other information you shared ;) I won't name drop it either but for future curious readers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Oregon

Re: South Dakota nurse says many dying patients still insist Covid-19 'not real'

#195
post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a harsh thing to say, but I understand where you're coming from. We....all of us, all human beings...need to be very patient and merciful with each other. My wife and I know good, honest and smart people who are fully convinced that Covid19 isn't that dangerous, that it's a hoax, etc. I'm not saying "smart" lightly. All humans...even the best of us...are at our core deeply irrational most of the time. Differe…

Why do you think they're good and smart, why do they think Covid19 is a hoax? Surely a good person would try to do the safe thing even if they had doubts.

I worked with a guy named Danny many years ago. He was one of the smartest programmers I'd ever met. Not only did he write great code, but he also always maintained an excellent connection to the his customers who would use the programs he wrote. This was in a hospital.

Personally, he was kind, generous, excellent family man. He never really talked too much about politics, didn't care too much for it. He also helped me order the parts for and showed me how to assemble my first intel based desktop computer, an amazing 486-DX2-66!

It's been years but I recently communicated with him, and we had a great e-mail exchange, caught up. He was surprised and pleased that since I left I'd not only gotten married but now have an adult son. Surprised because back >25 years ago when we hung out I was very much not a "family man" kind of person.

I asked him in passing how he'd been holding up with the pandemic, and suddenly, there it was.

Covid19 was a hoax perpetrated by China to help Joe Biden get elected.

It broke my heart. A smart, good, kind man that I knew had been brain damaged. Like some kind of fucking psychological cancer.

As the old saying goes, There but for the grace of God, go I.

You and I can't imagine falling prey to such a thing, but I can assure you that my old friend Danny had and has the same mental facilities as you and I.

He caught this particular cancer, and you and I didn't.

What's worse? He doesn't even know he has and is subject to this psychological malignancy.

I wonder if there are any psychological cancers you and I are subject to, right now, that we don't even know about or suspect?

Re: South Dakota nurse says many dying patients still insist Covid-19 'not real'

#196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work on the mobile contact tracing effort (FAANG), and I am exhausted thinking about it as well, and I don't even risk my life everyday. Part of me wants to say, "fuck these idiots that don't wear masks, just die," but know that they will just get others sick on the way, and use up scarce resources.

This is a harsh thing to say, but I understand where you're coming from. We....all of us, all human beings...need to be very patient and merciful with each other. My wife and I know good, honest and smart people who are fully convinced that Covid19 isn't that dangerous, that it's a hoax, etc. I'm not saying "smart" lightly. All humans...even the best of us...are at our core deeply irrational most of the time. Differe…

> My wife and I know good, honest and smart people who are fully convinced that Covid19 isn't that dangerous, that it's a hoax, etc.

I'm not saying "smart" lightly.

If they have a Ph.D in theoretical physics but think COVID is a hoax they're still dumb, sorry.

Re: South Dakota nurse says many dying patients still insist Covid-19 'not real'

#197
post #77

Politics seems to be a factor here, but I wonder how much of this has to do with popular culture. Over the last 20 years we've been bombarded with metric tons of Apocalypse porn, a lot of it focused on killer viruses. Most of those movies are unrealistic to put it mildly. Zombies. Deserted cities. Rotting corpses on sidewalks. Visible, palpable nauseating death. This pandemic is nothing like those movies. I know of n…

Ironically, the notion that the President called the virus a hoax is itself the hoax. He never said that, and you can't quote him saying that. He did call the media's reaction to the virus a hoax, which the media of course then took out of context and reinterpreted in the worst way possible. But in our post-truth world we now have mainstream media taking quotes out of context and reinterpreting them to create their p…

How do you square minimizing the threat of COVID with the news recently that some hospitals are running out of beds, getting mobile mourges, and running their staff to the point of exhaustion and breakdown?

Re: South Dakota nurse says many dying patients still insist Covid-19 'not real'

#198

My friend works in the covid ICU here in Michigan and told me yesterday that she's seeing a dramatic increase in patients who are getting angry at her and still believing that covid is not real. When she asks where they may have caught it, they sometimes say at a wedding with 100 people where no one was wearing masks. I can't imagine how emotionally taxing it was to be a healthcare worker attending to people with cov…

I don’t know how these healthcare workers do it. Why would I put my physical and mental health in danger to save people who are that selfish? I suspect many of them need the job. But those who do it out of a sense of duty are better people than I am I guess.

I have an aunt who was forced to come into work at her hospital before stay-at-home orders were in effect in Florida. Not complying meant professional consequences.

Re: South Dakota nurse says many dying patients still insist Covid-19 'not real'

#199
post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in the Netherlands Jaap van Dissel (who holds a similar position to your Robert Redfield) remains unconvinced of the effectiveness of non-medical masks and argues they may do more harm than good. But admitting to trusting his expertise and judgement will probably get you downvoted around here.

The effectiveness of non-medical masks is not all that great. Bandannas, near zero. N95, quite good.[1] Cloth masks are all over the place depending on material, weave, etc. CDC: "During a pandemic, cloth masks may be the only option available; however, they should be used as a last resort when medical masks and respirators are not available". Ordinary medical masks are easy to get now. N95 masks are still hard to ge…

The free market is right there, refusing to address shortages and price gouging you for essential supplies. A few people are getting rich and many people are being put at risk, but the free market is fine with this.

Meanwhile, in South Korea, the government adopted a non-free-market solution and has been making KN95 masks available to its population through a combination of rationing and subsidies. Everyone has access to two masks a week, and the overwhelming majority of people wear them.

South Korea has one of the lowest rates of infection in the world and is one of the few economies expected to grow in 2020.

Re: South Dakota nurse says many dying patients still insist Covid-19 'not real'

#200
This is what happens when politics becomes religion, then pollutes things where religion should have no place, namely science. I just recovered from Covid, and I can tell you although some symptoms indeed are similar to a normal flu, and although I wasn't heavily hit by the virus, there are others that I never experienced in my life, like squishing a fresh basil leave right under my nose and smell absolutely nothing, or eating potatoes that tasted like cardboard. Only somebody whose critical thinking has been completely annihilated could think there wasn't something serious going on.
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