It’s been five years since the Coronavirus pandemic began.

Dr. Caitlin Eccles-Radtke and Dr. John Hick with Hennepin Healthcare were on the frontlines from the very beginning. Their memories from five years ago range from mask shortages to trying to secure overflow hospital space around the metro.

“Covid taught me a lot of lessons about resilience, but it also taught me about vulnerability,” said Hick.

“I think we are all still processing what we went through,” added Eccles-Radtke.

There were lessons learned and some practices that were implemented during the pandemic are still used today.

“From an infection prevention standpoint, it really nailed down how important masks are,” said Hick, adding: “This was a learning experience, and we are going to go into the next pandemic with a better understanding of what works and what doesn’t.”

“There’s a lot of mistrust in healthcare and I hope the message is that we care about you, and we want to keep doing our best for our patients,” added Eccles-Radtke.