A plea from the ICU: COVID is real. Don’t let the lies and falsehoods kill you.

By the time I see COVID patients in the ICU, they can’t tell us if they regret not getting the vaccine. They are often intubated and can’t talk. But we do see the fear in their eyes.

Before being intubated, one patient asked us to be sure that her kids got vaccinated. That sort of deathbed conversion is rare. We hate that it takes that to get people to see the severity of this pandemic.

When patients can no longer speak, we talk to families. Families of the oldest patients are often more accepting of the likely outcome. But with younger people, it’s tough. We don’t want to accept that a 20-something — yes, we get them in the ICU these days — may be at the end of their life.

We’ve also delivered quite a few babies in the ICU, and those stories crack your heart.

Some families regret not taking the virus seriously. Others deny — even with a spouse, child or parent on life support — that COVID is real. The misinformation out there is strong. Falsehoods on the internet and social media are killing us. Literally.

People have come in with information they got from the internet and want to overrule a physician. We will certainly listen, but there are people who will tell us COVID isn’t real. They’ll say this even as a family member is dying.

I have family members in that same space. I’ve had to, for now, keep my distance. I don’t have time to argue that COVID is real.

COVID ravages the body. It’s a disease of the lungs that impacts other organs. It can cause kidney damage and damage your heart.

I became an EMT the summer before I started undergrad at N.C. State University. In college, I worked nights and weekends. By the time I graduated with a degree in biology and chemistry and a minor in genetics, I also had my paramedic’s license.

Medicine was always my calling. Even in middle school, I volunteered at nursing homes and hospitals. As a nurse I’ve treated hundreds of sick and dying patients. I became director of nursing at Presbyterian Medical Center in September 2019.

Six months in COVID hit, and my team and I were ready. But a year and a half later, it is hard to stay strong. I’m trying to be there for my team. Every day, I try to let them know “I’ve got your back.”

I consider myself an academic and a scientist. I studied infectious disease and researched medications. I’m familiar with the FDA’s approval process. And still, it’s hard for me to gauge what this disease is doing — how it lingers and transforms, the sheer volume of death.

It’s much, much worse in the ER and ICU for the unvaccinated. I’ve seen just three cases of breakthrough COVID in the ICU. Most — 95% to 97% — of our ICU patients are unvaccinated.

There are days I think about leaving my profession. But I stay.

My wife and I have a 5- and a 2-year-old, and they are my focus when I’m not at work. I continue working in the ICU because I want a better world for them. I want a world where our children don’t have to be fearful of being out in the community. The fact that my kindergarten-age son asks when the coronavirus will end hurts my heart.

Watching the coverage of the 20^th anniversary of 9/11 really got me. That was a time this country came together. We’re so divided right now. But if we could tackle this thing together, we could do things we never imagined. Think about it.

Jason Cooke is Novant Health’s director of critical care nursing at Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center in Charlotte.