Four years since the COVID-19 pandemic – KOAT New Mexico

Masks, constant hand washing, and isolation are the main messages to stay safe against COVID-19 in 2020, and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declared a state of emergency four years agoThe life of healthcare workers instantly changed.It meant even more precautions, dorms at UNM converted into places for healthcare workers to stay. So they didn't have to go home to their families if they were worried. We created a lot of ways to have clothing when you got here that you could leave when you left or do showers, Kate Becker, the CEO at the University of New Mexico Hospital, said.As the virus became a global pandemic, hospitals were over capacity by at least 150%.We had people literally everywhere. We turned clinics into patient spaces. We turned conference rooms into patient rooms. We had patients everywhere, Becker said.After COVID-19 drive-thru testing vaccines and return for normalcy. Hospitals like UNM are dealing with more illnesses due to delayed care for things like cancer screenings. The need for higher levels of care persists even though the COVID part has slowed, Becker said.It has even changed the way some hospitals are built. We didn't have enough rooms to keep patients isolated where the air pressure was such that the virus was not going back and forth, Becker said. She added, We had not collectively experienced a pandemic in 100-plus years and we didn't know the number of people we needed to accommodate.

Masks, constant hand washing, and isolation are the main messages to stay safe against COVID-19 in 2020, and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declared a state of emergency four years ago

The life of healthcare workers instantly changed.

It meant even more precautions, dorms at UNM converted into places for healthcare workers to stay.

So they didn't have to go home to their families if they were worried. We created a lot of ways to have clothing when you got here that you could leave when you left or do showers, Kate Becker, the CEO at the University of New Mexico Hospital, said.

As the virus became a global pandemic, hospitals were over capacity by at least 150%.

We had people literally everywhere. We turned clinics into patient spaces. We turned conference rooms into patient rooms. We had patients everywhere, Becker said.

After COVID-19 drive-thru testing vaccines and return for normalcy.

Hospitals like UNM are dealing with more illnesses due to delayed care for things like cancer screenings.

The need for higher levels of care persists even though the COVID part has slowed, Becker said.

It has even changed the way some hospitals are built.

We didn't have enough rooms to keep patients isolated where the air pressure was such that the virus was not going back and forth, Becker said.

She added, We had not collectively experienced a pandemic in 100-plus years and we didn't know the number of people we needed to accommodate.

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Four years since the COVID-19 pandemic - KOAT New Mexico