11-03-2025
Doctor reflects on COVID-19's impact on society and health
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic five years ago shutting down daily life, causing death, crippling the economy and reshaping public health around around the world.
'I think, New York in terms of the impact it was having. So, we were very worried about it. But I don't think we were as worried about it, maybe, as we need to be. It turns out, in retrospect,' said Dr. Steve Threlkeld, Baptist Hospital Infectious Disease Specialist.
Threlkeld remembers one of the first cases confirmed in Shelby County involving a co-worker.
'And Marilyn, who's become something of a hero to all of us, subsequently worked at the hospital, actually,' Threlkeld said. 'And so, I got a phone call when I was out to dinner with my wife and daughter, who's visiting from college, and that the test was positive, and I told him at times, 'Well, things are about to change around here, unfortunately, and it's not going to be good.'
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He said that the worst thing was that they didn't know what to do about COVID-19 because as they learned more about it, they were just doing supportive care.
COVID didn't just make people sick, it also divided society.
'But the most depressing thing to me about it other than, of course, the actual people dying of the disease, and we had that going at up to 10 a day, even just in our hospital, and that's very difficult to sort of watch,' said Threlkeld. 'But we saw people divided around things like vaccines in ways that I just truly didn't even understand.'
He said the nurses had it the worst because they were in the rooms with people dying whose family and spouses could not be around them.
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'Tremendous emotional toll. And I very frequently say that my worst memories of it were nurses with their own cell phones, video conferencing with families, trying to say goodbye to their relatives,' said Threlked. 'And you don't endure that sort of thing to get the nurses without being changed by it.'
As the country deals with a measles outbreak and cases of the Bird Flu, Dr. Threlkeld hopes we've learned some lessons since dealing with COVID-19.
'So, it's very sad to see that sort of thing popping its head, and you just hope that we can come together and not be going down some sort of historical road here because I think that would be sort of a tragic kind of event,' Threlkeld said.
According to recent data from the WHO, in the last 28 days, ending about Feb. 16th, 2025, about 3,800 Americans were hospitalized due to COVID-19, meaning the virus still has a presence today.
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