Looking back on the COVID-19 anniversary

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA)-- The El Paso community is looking back on the somber fifth anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On March 11th, 2020, the World Health Organization designated the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic. Just two days later, on March 13th, 2020, the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in El Paso.

The days that followed led to stay-at-home emergency orders and social distancing as hospitalizations and the number of deaths continued to skyrocket. In total, within El Paso County, 364,142 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, and 3,742 died.

ABC-7’s Rosemary Montañez sits down with medical professionals who were on the frontlines during the pandemic. Rosemary explores stories from inside hospital room from nurses and doctors who treated COVID patients.

Rosemary also sits down with former El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser who, was personally impacted by COVID-19. Leeser lost both his mother and brother to the virus in 2020. He explains how the city pushed through during the worst of the outbreak.

Watch Rosemary’s special report “Covid in the Borderland: 5 Years Later” Thursday during ABC-7’s 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts.