One year in, local doctors reflect on the COVID-19 crisis

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There is a noticeable difference among health-care providers today — hope.

That wasn’t the case a year ago. COVID-19 had begun to spread in North Carolina. Doctors and patients alike were fearful of this novel coronavirus. No one knew much about it. It was spreading faster than officials could get a handle on it.

COVID-19 was first reported in Wake County in early March of last year. Soon after, Mecklenburg County’s first case was confirmed on March 12, 2020. Roughly 99,000 Mecklenburg residents have tested positive since then, with nearly 900 deaths reported. There have been about 880,000 cases in North Carolina, according to Department of Health and Human Services data.

Health-care workers are now facing a vastly different landscape — there are more cases but less fear; three vaccines have been authorized in the U.S. for emergency use; and scientists have a better understanding of how the virus works.

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Providers are racing to vaccinate patients as quickly as possible before the virus mutates into a more resistant strain. Some additional strains have already surfaced worldwide. Charlotte’s two largest health-care systems, Atrium Health and Novant Health, are operating mass vaccination sites. Mecklenburg County has taken a similar approach. Independent groups and pharmacies are also coming online to administer vaccines.

Local doctors shared with the Charlotte Business Journal their first-hand experiences fighting COVID-19, reflecting on this past year. They also discussed their outlooks for 2021 and where they see improvement.

Read their stories here.

Cox Media Group