MADISON, Wis. — Feb. 5 marked three years since the first COVID-19 case was identified in Dane County.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, 16,138 people lost their lives because of the coronavirus, but the virus affected every Wisconsinite in some way.
Many businesses, like restaurants and bars, had to close their doors forever due to financial problems.
Fitchburg resident Joe Maldonado said being separated from his loved ones was one of the hardest things to deal with during the pandemic.
“I mean it was not great not being able to see people, it was not great having to be virtual all the time and obviously the amount of deaths and effects it has had on our schools and all that it is terrible,” said Maldonado.
For many reasons, the pandemic affected many Wisconsinites’ mental health.
Maldonado said one positive thing that he has noticed is more people are willing to talk about the struggles they are dealing with.
“I think the biggest thing is it opened up a conversation about mental health and a lot of the things are folks are going through in society and just for me, for friends and for family we have been a lot more open to have those conversations,” said Maldonado.
Thad Schumacher is the owner of Fitchburg Family Pharmacy and he said the pandemic changed the way community pharmacies operate for the better.
“During the pandemic we were able to communicate and work together with fellow pharmacists on what’s the best way to do this practice or what is the best way to impact the community with the resources that you have,” said Schumacher. “That post pandemic is going to continue to happen as we continue to move into new roles.”
Schumacher also said telehealth and an appointment-based model were adaptations he and his team made that now remain as part of his business model.
“As we move out of the pandemic, there is going to be more emphasis on how the pharmacist can be providing services outside of filling prescriptions in a bottle,” said Schumacher.