It was five years ago today that the first two cases of COVID-19 were identified in Michigan, and healthcare providers across the state are reflecting on how things have changed and what we have learned since.
Once COVID hit Michigan, things progressed quickly. Governor Gretchen Whitmer first discouraged non-essential travel five years Tuesday, the governor ordered schools to close five years ago Wednesday, and the lockdown took effect March 23, 2020.
Dr. Robert Nolan, chief medical officer and emergency department physician at Corewell Health in Southwest Michigan, tells us it was a while before rapid COVID tests were even available locally. The care for COVID someone would have received at the hospital in St. Joseph back then was a lot different than it is now.
“You would have been encountered by someone in full-on PPE, which is that kind of space suit that looks like that we have,” Nolan said. “You would have been put in a negative pressure isolation room. I don’t know if many people remember this, but we had actually set up tents outside of the emergency department out of concern of being overwhelmed.”
Now, Nolan says they can quickly test anyone for COVID, the flu, and RSV all at the same time. And he says the virus today isn’t the same as it was back then.
“By and large, we’re not seeing the same sort of illnesses that we saw in otherwise healthy folks when COVID really hit us early on in that first six months to a year. We would actually have relatively healthy people really getting struck with respiratory problems and becoming hypoxic, low oxygen levels and things like that.”
Nolan believes both medical staff and the general population have changed since COVID.
“Prior to COVID, I think people were more cavalierish when they were sick, getting out in public and maybe going to the grocery store or other public places,” Nolan said. “I think people have a lot more respect now that if you’re not feeling well, to kind of isolate yourself and not expose people to whatever crud you happen to have going on.”
Nolan says the effects of COVID still linger for hospital staff as it was a stressful time for them and many became burned out. Staffing shortages continue to be a problem for many hospitals.
As for whether the lockdowns were worth it, Nolan says we responded to COVID the best we could with the information we had at the time. He calls the pandemic an incredible opportunity for health systems and the public to learn, and hopefully, better respond to the next pandemic.
Berrien County announced its first two COVID cases on March 21, 2020. Van Buren County followed four days later.