Dr. Jaspal Singh signed more death certificates during the pandemic than the rest of his career combined. Scientific collaboration and innovation changed things.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — With this month marking five years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many are looking back and thinking about the experience and the lessons learned.Â
Among those on the frontlines was Dr. Jaspal Singh, a pulmonologist in Charlotte with Atrium Health. When Singh decided to study the respiratory system all those years ago, he said he had no idea his expertise would be so critical in one of the most challenging and devastating points in global history.
“The pandemic provided clarity for a lot of us that we’re here to serve,” Singh said. “We are here to help others because the suffering that we saw was immense, at a scale that we hadn’t witnessed in our society.”Â
Like with so many others, the pandemic held a lot of personal sorrow for him.
“I had lost family,” Singh said. “I had lost friends. So, it was devastating, and it was hard to watch all of the suffering.”
“I signed more death certificates in that time during those two years than my entire critical care career combined,” Singh said.
There was other disappointment, he said, when not he saw not everyone was using the tools and medical advancements the science community worked hard to achieve, including vaccines.Â
“Many parts of the world don’t have access to these things,” Singh said. “So, it’s hard to watch people who have access to these things— that I look at as a privilege—turn down a privilege. So, I’m hopeful that we can further the scientific community, strengthen that trust, and get the public to trust what is happening.”
However, the pandemic also gave him a front-row seat to many triumphs.Â
“When you started to see people survive,” Singh said, “you start to see people walk out of the hospital–that was phenomenal.”
Singh was also among the first at Atrium Health, and thus, in the Charlotte community, to get vaccinated against COVID-19, a moment he referred to “a very important point” in his life.
“I was thrilled to be vaccinated,” Singh said. “I was on cloud nine, because I felt really honored and really privileged that our system went and got the vaccine as early as possible and distributed it as widely as possible to everybody who wanted it.”
He also said the extra quarantine time with family brought into focus the importance of togetherness.
“When we had the scientific community, political machinery, health care officials, everyone… working together, it was so amazing what we can do,” Singh said.
Contact Vanessa Ruffes at vruffes@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.Â
