Corona Daily 263: A Horror Movie that Never Ends

INT DAY: EMERGENCY ROOM IN A SOUTH DAKOTA HOSPITAL (NOVEMBER 2020)

A patient Mr G with an oxygen mask on. He is trying to yell through the mask. Jodi, the emergency room nurse, is checking the various parameters on the screen. Wearing a PPE, only her eyes are visible:

MR G: Nurse, when will the hospital tell me what’s wrong with me? By the way, why don’t you take that stuff off… it’s like those Muslim women you know…. So difficult to talk with you.  

JODI: You’ve been told. You had breathing difficulties, you tested positive, that’s how you landed here. You’re lucky, the hospital has no free beds any more.

Mr G: I’ve had the flu before. Nobody ever took me to a hospital for flu. A friend was saying they give oxygen to pneumonia patients.

JODI: (Takes the patient card and shows to him): It’s Covid. You should rest.

Mr G: Come on. You know and I know there is no such thing. Don’t know who started it, maybe Bill Gates. Maybe China’s plan to topple our president. Every year flu happens, people get sick, some die. Did anyone ever ask us to wear masks? Stop working? Don’t keep saying Covid, Covid… I’m sick of hearing it.

JODI: Well, you know, I’ve been working in this awful dress every day, for 16 hours a day, haven’t taken an off for the last six months. I go home, put all clothes in the laundry, take a shower. Then horrible dreams if I can sleep. Back to hospital. I have no time to have proper meals. And you think this is all some kind of a hoax?

Mr G: Nurse, may I ask who you voted for? I hope not for that horrible man – Biden. He’ll ruin America, absolutely. We were doing so well, the greatest economy in the world, and then this conspiracy. Who did you vote for? Are you a Democrat? If you believe in this scam, it’s possible you are. Maybe you voted the fraudulent way, sent your vote by mail.

JODI: Listen, you are on 100% Vapotherm. Please don’t talk if it’s troubling you. I can see your oxygen level on the monitor. You need to rest. Already nearly a quarter of a million Americans have died of this virus. It’s real, very real.

Mr G: Our president is wrong. Governor Noem is wrong. And you are right. Wow! Governor Noem, a marvelous lady, she has made sure we in South Dakota remain free. No madness about washing hands with soap, and six feet distance and all that nonsense. If not for the Democrats, and that disastrous Fauci we could have continued with our lives… normally. This is no big deal. I think I have lung cancer and you are trying to hide it from me.

*****

INT: THE SAME HOSPITAL ROOM. LATER IN THE EVENING.

JODI: I’m afraid your oxygen level is very low. We’ll need to intubate you. Would you like to call your family? On Facetime? Talk to your kids? Wife? Friend? Brother? I can help you connect.

Mr G: (hardly audible) No, I’m fine. This is just some little flu.

The Nurse intubates Mr G.

Mr G: (Only he can understand what he says). This can’t be happening. It’s not real.

Saying this, Mr G dies.

*****

This is not a fictional screenplay. Jodi Doering, a South Dakota nurse, first tweeted and then narrated on CNN her experience. Mr G is not an exception, his is a representative case. She has seen hundreds of such cases. Jodi calls this experience “a horror movie that never ends”. South Dakota is one of the worst Covid sufferers. Its governor Kristi Noem, a Trump favorite, attributes the worsening picture to increased testing.

As to why increased testing should result in hospitals becoming full, and a record number of deaths, nobody bothers to explain.

*****

Ravi