INDIANAPOLIS — Thursday, March 11 marks one years since COVID-19 became a global pandemic.
Frontline workers have had an experience that, at times, would be hard to put into words.
Indiana University Health shared video diary entries from some of its doctors and a nurse reflecting on their experiences. You can see some of their responded in the video above.
On March 11, 2020, when the World Health Organization declared a pandemic, few could foresee the long road ahead or the many ways in which they would suffer – the deaths and agonies of millions, the ruined economies, the disrupted lives and near-universal loneliness and isolation.
On that first day, confirmed cases of COVID-19 stood at 125,000, and reported deaths stood at fewer than 5,000. Today, 117 million people are confirmed to have been infected, and according to Johns Hopkins, more than 2.6 million people have died.
On that day, Italy closed shops and restaurants after locking down in the face of 10,000 reported infections. The NBA suspended its season, and Tom Hanks, filming a movie in Australia, announced he was infected.
On that evening, President Donald Trump addressed the nation from the Oval Office, announcing restrictions on travel from Europe that set off a trans-Atlantic scramble. Airports flooded with unmasked crowds in the days that followed. Soon, they were empty.
And that, for much of the world, was just the beginning.
In the United States, the world’s most COVID-wracked country, 29 million have been infected, and 527,000 have died. Progress is now being made as the country administers three COVID-19 vaccines and, in Indiana, more than 1.2 million Hoosiers have received at least one dose.