KENT COUNTY, Mich. — It was exactly one year ago, March 10, 2020, that the first case of the coronavirus was found in Michigan.
Just two days later, the first case was confirmed in Kent County, something Dr. Adam London, the Health Officer at the Kent County Health Department, knew was inevitable.
Wednesday morning, 13 ON YOUR SIDE took a look back at those first hectic days, considering how West Michigan is positioned to combat the virus now and the lessons that can help the region moving forward.
"We have identified the first presumptive positive case of the coronavirus in Michigan," that announcement from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer during a news conference on March 10, 2020 would change the lives of every Michigander for the next year.
Two days later the virus was confirmed in Kent County.
"We watched what was happening in other countries in China, in Iran, in Italy, what was happening in cruise ships off the coast of the U.S. we had no pretense that we were going to avoid it here," said Dr. London.
He says the department felt energized to do everything in their power to minimize it's impact in Kent County, but there was also a healthy amount of fear.
"We looked at the data in other parts of the world and if those numbers were to hold, here in Kent County would have been 6 to 10 thousand Kent County residents losing their lives to this virus. That was something that was scary and we weren't going to accept either," he said.
"The fact that we are a year past that date now and we've seen 650 deaths to date, one tenth of what we were worried about really speaks volumes about the people of Kent County, the people of West Michigan and their ability to pull together to make it difficult for this virus to spread. It also speaks to the quality of our health care systems and our hospitals that made sure patients who did get sick had positive outcomes," said London.
Today our case mortality rate in Kent County is half of the state average.
With three effective vaccines now being administered, Dr. London is feeling confident about where we stand. "We are in the late stages of this pandemic and there is great optimism that we are going to turn the corner very soon. It would be tragic if we had a set back this late in the game. While we are rolling out this mass vaccination campaign we are really hoping people will adhere to mask wearing guidelines, avoid social gatherings, use hand washing hygiene, all the things that have kept our numbers relatively low. We can't afford to have a set back at this stage. We need to get the vaccine out in the community and then we can look forward to the future without all of these restrictions," said Dr. London.
While hopeful, he recognizes just how devastating this year has been. "I'm most concerned about the 650 families who have lost a loved one, they have been touched in a irreversible way. I think about the thousands of others who have been ill and are still dealing with the long term effects of Covid-19, there are people who have lost their businesses, or missed important family events."
Dr. London says if there is a silver lining, it's what we've learned.
"I think the practical skills, what we've all learned in making it difficult for the virus to spread, by learning the things like the wearing of facial coverings, the contactless transactions in business, those are good things for us to hold onto."
He also wants to see a change in the way public health is viewed. "One lesson is public health is a national safety and security issue and should be viewed that way and prepared for in that way going forward."
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