LOUISVILLE, Ky. — On March 8, 2020, the first case of Coronavirus was announced in Louisville, Kentucky.
Two years later, Mayor Greg Fischer reflected on how the city has handled the pandemic and what the community has accomplished since.
“The pandemic caused fear, concern and it was frightening, but it also created amazing cooperation and compassion amongst us like we’ve never seen before," said Fischer. "Lots of innovation, lots of breakthroughs, resilience, and I think a new heightened appreciation and commitment to public health.”
As of March 8, 2022, Louisville is out of the COVID-19 "red zone" for positive cases. With 1,128 confirmed new cases last week and an incidence rate of 21, the city has now entered the yellow or "medium" zone.
"When they named it COVID-19 I don't think they anticipated we would be having COVID-22 but here we are", said Dr. Sarah Beth Hartlage with the Louisville Department of Public Health.
In the last two years, the city of Louisville has started several initiatives to keep the community informed and educated about COVID-19. These are just a few:
- Educational materials in dozens of languages
- Virtual briefings
- Town Halls with health experts
- Data Dashboard with up to date numbers and COVID guidance
When vaccines first arrived in Louisville in late 2020, city health experts got to work distributing them while overcoming the challenge of health equity.
Mayor Fischer announced during his COVID presser Tuesday that Louisville had no disproportionalities in positivity rates or deaths in communities of color compared to other big cities across the country.
He said this was made possible by the Louisville Vaccine task force that was created with local health experts, scientists, business leaders, and other community members to make sure everyone was involved and their voices were heard.
There are now over 100 locations in the city to go get a vaccine, largely thanks to LouVax and their mobile missions, which provided over 126,000 doses to the community with the help of over 3,000 volunteers.
"The LouVax operation will go down as one of our city's greatest success stories when this is looked back on years from now," said Mayor Fischer.
The Kentucky Nurses Association also played a huge role in Louisville's COVID success, providing assistance from all across the state. According to CEO Delanor Manson, nurses came out of retirement, drove from different parts of the state, sometimes overnight, just to come to Louisville to help out.
"We had people who worked a 12-hour shift and they came out to LouVax and worked another four hours because they knew the community needed them," said Manson.
KNA coordinated with nursing schools to provide clinical experience to nursing students at LouVax sites, giving them an opportunity to get real-world experience in the field.
Overall, KNA provided over 17,000 tests and vaccinations across mobile sites, not including their work with LouVax.
"We came to the table and we've stayed at the table," Manson said.
Mayor Fischer thanked the community and all healthcare professionals during his Tuesday COVID-19 presser for their hard work and dedication over the past two years. Without their help, he said the city would not have been as successful as it was in fighting the virus.
"Let's pay tribute today to all the people locally and around the world who have made this progress possible and let's protect this progress with vigilance," he said.
Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.