5 years later: Local doctor reflects on COVID-19 pandemic [Video]

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) – This week marks five years since the first case of Covid-19 was reported on record in the Cape Fear region. An unidentified person in Brunswick County was presumed to have the virus on March 13, 2020. The diagnosis was official on March 14, 2020. The person who reportedly traveled internationally isolated at home and recovered.

Five days later, New Hanover County reported its first case of Covid-19. According to a news release from New Hanover County, the person went to a doctor with symptoms. They were tested and immediately went into isolation.

The first cases of the virus were reported about the same time the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a Covid-19 crisis. On March 11, 2020, WHO declared an outbreak of the virus as a global pandemic.

Local physicians, like Dr. Phil Brown, knew this unknown virus was about to spread rapidly across the Cape …