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- A Nevada doctor posted a selfie on Twitter to a recently opened hospital care site, sympathizing with fellow frontline medical workers and urging them to “stay strong.”
- President Donald Trump shared Dr. Jacob Keeperman’s message on Tuesday, but in an attempt to misrepresent COVID-19 as a hoax.
- A spokesperson for Renown Regional Medical Center told Insider the photo was taken at a makeshift care site – located in a parking lot – on the day it opened and before patients arrived.
- “It’s really demoralizing for anyone who works so hard to have politicized and polarized so much,” Keeperman told The Associated Press.
- Trump also drew the ire of Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, who said in a statement that “the president’s constant misleading rhetoric on COVID-19 is dangerous and reckless.”
- Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.
After a difficult week of treating coronavirus patients at a hospital in Reno, Nevada, a doctor posted a selfie on Twitter to thank his fellow healthcare workers and to cheer them up.
What Dr Jacob Keeperman did not plan, however, is that President Donald Trump shared this photo to claim COVID-19 is a hoax.
“With 5 deaths in the past 32 hours, everyone is struggling to hold their heads up,” said Keeperman, of the Renown Regional Medical Center, tweeted November 29. “Stay strong”.
Dressed in personal protective equipment, Keeperman took the photo at the centre’s new makeshift care site, located in a parking lot. It was taken on the day the site opened on November 12, before any coronavirus patient arrived, a Renown spokesperson told Insider.
—Jacob Keeperman (@critcare_airems) November 29, 2020
The image was later reposted by Twitter user Networkinvegas with numerous misrepresentations, and was added to a frenzy of COVID-19 conspiracy theories and denial.
“Here is the fake photo of the Nevada parking lot hospital that our dumb governor tweeted, proving everything to be a scam,” the tweet says. “No patients, folded beds, packed equipment that has never been used! They spent millions on this scam and never saw a single patient in this fake hospital!”
Asset retweeted Tuesday’s post, garnering over 95,000 likes and reviews from Keeperman.
“It’s really demoralizing for anyone who works so hard to have politicized and polarized so much,” Keeperman told The Associated Press. “I hold patients’ hands when they take their last breath because their loved ones cannot be with them.
The alternative care site has so far served 219 coronavirus patients, the hospital told Insider.
Trump also added a baseless allegation to the tweet, writing: “False election results in Nevada too!” In reality there is no proof which supports the president’s claims that widespread electoral fraud occurred in the 2020 presidential race. On November 24, Nevada election officials certified President-elect Joe Biden as the state winner.
Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak has denounced Trump not only for spreading false information, but also for trying to “politicize” the virus.
“Its constant misleading rhetoric on COVID-19 is dangerous and reckless,” Sisolak said in a declaration Tuesday, adding that “the implication that the Renown alternative care site is a ‘bogus hospital’ is among the worst examples we’ve seen.”
“It is unacceptable for him to continue to spread lies and spread distrust at a time when all Americans should be united during this historic public health crisis,” Sisolak continued. “Enough is enough.”
The president has regularly downplayed the severity of the virus since the start of the pandemic. His administration has flouted public health advice from experts and scientists – on social distancing and wearing masks – and has had to face backlash for its handling of the pandemic. The United States surpassed 13.7 million infections and 272,000 deaths on Wednesday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Nevada is currently experiencing an increase in cases in several counties, according to the New York Times. The state has seen a 28% increase in confirmed infections in the past two weeks, with around 155,000 cases and more than 2,100 deaths.
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