A key doctor shares lessons learned from the first year of COVID in his new book

Good morning, readers:

Over the last several months, many friends and colleagues who attended out-of-town conferences have sent me texts or made social media posts about how they tested positive for COVID-19 after they returned home.

They were so eager to be around people they had not seen in years. While these conferences had strict coronavirus protocols — masking and proof of vaccination, for example — the virus found a way to rain on their parades.

However, the difference from 2020, when the novel coronavirus officially emerged in the U.S., was that these folks were not very sick and did not require hospitalization. Vaccinations and new therapies changed the course of a still highly infectious disease.

But the aftermath from the early days still looms large. More than a million Americans have died — among them, more than 27,000 Tennesseans. Countless others live with the debilitating effects of long COVID, which is still being understood.

In the Volunteer State, only 52% of citizens are considered fully vaccinated, and only 23% have received a booster shot. The virus mutates, and immunity wanes over time. Too many of our fellow neighbors seem more interested in COVID being over.

That is a difficult lesson Dr. Alex Jahangir had to swallow when he served as head of the Metro Nashville COVID-19 Task Force, a role that thrust him in the limelight with its accolades and scathing criticism.

Jahangir's book, "Hot Spot: A Doctor's Diary from the Pandemic," officially comes out today, and the chapters are an extension of his daily "op notes" chronicling his hopes, frustrations and observations.

In a guest opinion column for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee, he talked about how the bullying he saw during the worst of the shutdowns and quarantine reminded him of his youth as an Iranian immigrant boy in Nashville, Tennessee, who faced scrutiny because of his name, his accent and his heritage.

I also interviewed Jahangir on the Tennessee Voices video podcast to probe more deeply into his mindset. As an orthopedic surgeon, he is used to knowing what to do in crisis. But the uncertainty, inconsistent government response, misinformation and angry resistance around COVID policy hampered the city and state's efforts to deal with a serious public health crisis.

The book is a fantastic and harrowing read, and while many people do not want to relive the early days of COVID, there is so much learn about what when wrong and what went right.

Scroll to read the column. You will find my video interview with Jahangir there, too.

What else is in the newsletter?

• The best-read opinion column of the week is by Trinity Methodist Pastor Sam Clarke, who explains why his congregation disaffiliated from the United Methodist Church.

• Community college professor Elizabeth Fitch attributes the rising costs of higher education and impact on affordability to "administrative bloat" — or near million-dollar salaries for college presidents and other administrators.

• Columnist Cameron Smith writes about the moral hazard of cheap money and how this phenomenon, over many years, contributed to the inflation we are seeing today. He wonders if we are willing undergo short-term pain to reduce inflation drastically, such as what happened in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

• Vanderbilt University student Ilana Drake talks about how pro-choice young adults see the near-total abortion ban in Tennessee.

Thank you for reading. Share your feedback and send me your letters and guest column pitches and submissions.

David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee. He is an editorial board member of The Tennessean. He hosts the Tennessee Voices videocast and curates the Tennessee Voices and Latino Tennessee Voices newsletters.. Call him at (615) 259-8063, email him at dplazas@tennessean.com or tweet to him at @davidplazas.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: A leading doctor shares lessons learned from the first year of COVID