Covid One Year On: Birmingham health boss reflects on tackling pandemic
It's been 12 months since the first patient tested positive in the city
Last updated 5th Mar 2021
One year ago, the first patient tested positive for COVID-19 in Birmingham, as further cases were identified across the UK.
The first details to emerge were, the person was self isolating but we were later told it was the "first case of many to come".
At the time, a statement was released with Director of Public Health Justin Varney saying:
“This new case of coronavirus is nothing unexpected. We expected that at some point we would have our first case and we have worked with partners in the NHS and PHE and our services have planned for this, and are ready, for this situation.
“I’d like to reassure citizens that the risk to the general public remains low and Birmingham City Council is working with partners to do everything we can to stop the virus spreading and ensure the people of Birmingham are protected."
But, since then, more than 2,500 have died in Birmingham within 28 days of a positive test.
13,130 people have died across the West Midlands.
So, 12 months on, our Chief Reporter Megan Jones has been talking to Doctor Justin Varney about what the last year has been like:
When did you hear about the first case?
I got a call from the Regional Director at Public Health England to tell me we've got our first case.
I remember being called out of a meeting to take the call, I sat in a room, took notes and tried to get my head around what we needed to do.
What happened next?
Very quickly, over the space of the next two weeks, we went from having the first couple of cases to then being over a hundred cases.
By the end of March, I'd moved by entire public health department into emergency response mode.
I remember the first death I was called about.
It very quickly multiplied and very quickly I had to give up doing anything that wasn't covid.
How did you handle everything that was happening in the city?
I think there was a time where it was really overwhelming and there was a huge amount to do.
There were loads of things we didn't know.
In March, we didn't know about asymptomatic transmission, so we thought if you didn't have symptoms you couldn't spread it.
We had very limited testing and we knew very little about fatality.
We were very much going back to things we know help reduce the spread of respiratory infections.
We made the best decisions we could in a very changing world with a virus we haven't seen before.
On the other hand, I've got a job to do, to protect the city.
Sometimes it felt like, it wouldn't be possible to protect everyone but we would do our best to protect as many people as possible.
One year on, how have things changed?
We know a lot more about the virus, we have a lot more testing.
We can control the spread.
We have learned a lot about communities and working with communities.
There are far too many casualties and the ripples of that will last for a decade, the economic damage will last, probably, more than a decade.
We are in this period now, where there is hope and light, but there is also a lot of grief.
What we need to do is not only build back, but build back - better.
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