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Five years later, COVID-19’s darkest days made us better

March 14, 2025

Dear Colleagues:

The phone call came five years ago on Friday night. It was March 13, 2020. I had been expecting and dreading that moment. Hartford HealthCare had received its first COVID-19 patient at Hartford Hospital — a woman in her early 80s. She would be the first of tens of thousands.

Things were changing rapidly and uncertainly. Just hours before, the U.S. government had issued a national emergency warning because of the rapid spread of COVID, which had just been declared a global pandemic. Here at HHC, we had already established our emergency operations center at the end of January and an incident command center a month later.

Five years down that long road, all of us can look back at HHC’s pandemic experience with a swirl of emotions.

Pride. Our systemwide response to the pandemic demonstrated unprecedented levels of agility, ingenuity, compassion and teamwork. Together, we can be proud of the progress we made in the face of so much that was unknown. We can be grateful for the talents of our colleagues, at every level and location of our organization, who made sacrifices, shared expertise and took every extra step to see us through.

Time and again in this defining moment, HHC led the way — the first in the state to offer drive-through screenings, large-scale testing and vaccine sites, 24/7 hotlines and the most timely and accurate information.

Recognition. The never-before-seen contagion that covered nearly the entire planet impacted every sphere of our society: Public health, education, the economy, the workplace. At HHC, our approach to this crisis was always rooted in forward thinking — a recognition that seeking a return to the status quo, “going back to normal,” would be a disservice to all who rely on us. What had been accepted as “normal” was, in fact, broken.

The pandemic cast health disparities into sharp focus and led us to launch our Neighborhood Health and our health equity initiatives. In chaos, we recognized the power of collaboration and seized the opportunity to build a health system that is “better than normal.” That is why now, every day, we strive to be “The Best at Getting Better.”

Caution. It is easy to lose perspective when considering the enormity of the pandemic. We have distributed more than 2.6 million COVID tests, cared for more than 1 million people (including more than 22,000 pandemic inpatients) and provided more than 606,000 vaccines. Each of these statistics represent an action, a person and a moment. The crisis prompted us to find new technologies and strategies to address respiratory illness. It is natural to want to forget this pandemic period. That would be a mistake.

Right now, we are experiencing our most severe flu season in 15 years and respiratory diseases will continue to affect our communities and stress our systems. Public health officials are watching the recent outbreak of measles in several states and monitoring the spread of the bird-borne H5N1 virus.

In the long 60 months since our first encounter with COVID, we have experienced and learned a great deal. At HHC, we have emerged from the pandemic with ambition and passion to make healthcare better every day. And we heed the lessons of the past five years to remain vigilant — cautious and prepared — for our communities and our colleagues.

Jeffrey A. Flaks

President and Chief Executive Officer

» See a timeline of the first year of the pandemic