TGH doctor: 'There is hope' as the world looks ahead at a post-pandemic future

One year later, Dr. Lakshmi says lessons today will be applied tomorrow

Laura Moody reports

TAMPA, Fla. - No part of medical school prepared Dr. Seetha Lakshmi for the media wave that began one year ago, as she became the face of the medical community fighting the coronavirus outbreak.

"That first time," she said, thinking back to March 2020. "It felt like something big is going to happen and it's just the beginning of that journey."

And that's exactly how she sees it: a journey. Dr. Lakshmi says this pandemic is shifting the course of humanity.

"Things have changed. All of us have changed, in all aspects -- on the family front, on the work front," she explained. "When we study these things like Spanish flu and influenza, it changes the genetics of the human beings who get left behind. It affects art. It affects culture."

Dr. Lakshmi looks back at beginning of pandemic

Dr. Seetha Lakshmi, an epidemiologist from Tampa General Hospital and USF, had no idea she would be thrust onto the world stage last year. She recalls feeling grief, overwhelmed, and now, hopeful.

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So, when will be able to get back to our lives? That's the million-dollar question even Dr. Lakshmi wants the answer to.

"There are so many moving parts," she said. "We are in a much better place than when we started. If we can get to 60% to 70% [vaccinated], it will make a change in the quality of life."

We're not even close to that. Dr. Anthony Fauci estimates we are somewhere around 8% to 9%. And if variants, like the UK variant, become more contagious, it jeopardizes any hope of success.

Doctors around the world are tuning in to what's going on at Tampa General Hospital-- where a converted wing became the global hub for COVID research and training. Lakshmi is the medical director of the Global Emerging Diseases Institute, which they lovingly call GEDI.

"May the force be with you," she said with a laugh. "In some ways, I felt like I was fulfilling my destiny when we started, it was all so scary and new. But then you make your friends -- your colleagues, your team -- and the courage they have, it just inspires you."

UK virus variant becomes dominant strain in Florida

As new variants of the coronavirus pop up around the world, one of the first to be identified, out of the United Kingdom, has become prevalent in Florida.

And the GEDI is putting Tampa on the map.

"The people, the program, the leadership, everything came together. Our outcomes are top 20 in the country," she said.

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But there is still a long way to go. Trust in the vaccine is the biggest hurdle. Without that, the journey will be long. But the world is starting to open its doors again -- and there is hope.

"It's nice to see numbers are coming down. We are planning for a post-pandemic future. And in many ways, the lessons learned pass on to the future and leave something that is meaningful behind that will be safer for the future," she explained, "We look back at these times when we grow older and remember them as a time that brought us together, moved the communities forward and the vision we created at GEDI is the essence of that-- that we thrived and survived in a crisis."