A negative COVID-19 test result is printed out after a sample was tested at High Lakes Urgent Care in Bend on March 9, 2022.

The identity of the first person to test positive for COVID-19 in Central Oregon will likely never be revealed, but the turning point that case created two years ago will always be etched into the history of the region.

Thousands of people would be diagnosed in Central Oregon with the “novel coronavirus,” the term used before the world became familiar with the word pandemic. More than 411 people would die in Central Oregon from the pandemic declared on this day as well by the World Health Organization.

And the fear of the coronavirus, justified or not, lurked everywhere: at roped off neighborhood playgrounds, on the groceries that came home, in the air you breathed when you went for a walk.

The second anniversary of COVID-19 in the region will pass Friday and with it, the masks that reminded everyone that the pandemic was everywhere. At 11:59 p.m. Friday the state’s indoor mask mandate will be lifted.

Whether or not the community will breathe easier remains to be seen.

“We have been through so many surprises,” said Chunhuei Chi, Oregon State University director of the Center for Global health. “The virus won’t disappear. It will be with us for a long time. We hope that the current omicron variant will remain the dominant strain for a long time so we can get a handle on that.

“The mask mandate lifting is the first step in the transition to a post-pandemic world.”

In all, COVID-19 has claimed the lives of more than 6 million people worldwide and 6,800 in Oregon.

Early on, Chi predicted that residents should brace for a long haul. But even he did not predict the state of COVID-19 two years later.

“I anticipated a year, not two,” Chi said. “I expect now that by this summer we’ll be in full blown transition from a pandemic to post pandemic.”

In the beginning, when the medical world did not have a concentrated effort to prevent the virus from spreading, medical personnel at St. Charles Bend battled the fast-spreading virus and the anxiety that came with feeling powerless to stop it.

“We’re still in deep trouble,” said Dr. Doug Merrill, St. Charles Health System chief medical officer. “Caregivers have had high anxiety since March of 2020. It’s been difficult for health care workers all along the way.’’

Mask mandates still are required in medical facilities and on public transportation. Still, some see the lifting as a signal that perhaps life can return to pre-pandemic ways.

“For some this will feel like we’re done with having to practice some level of protection against the pandemic,” said Rachel Gerken, Mosaic Medical director of Behavioral Health. “I feel like we’re going down a road that it is more like normal.’’

Only four of the state’s 36 counties are in the high risk category, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The bulk of the state is in medium risk, which is determined by looking at hospital beds being used, hospital admissions, and the total number of new COVID-19 cases in an area, according to the CDC.

Dr. Nathan Ansbaugh, who works at the St. Charles Bend Emergency Department, said his emotions are jumbled.

“Early on, none of us hesitated to take risks or make sacrifices because we were watching our neighbors and our community do the same,” said Ansbaugh, who also holds degrees in public health and epidemiology. “People were home, out of work, out of school, away from family, from friends, losing money, losing their jobs, all with the notion that the sacrifices were worth keeping our community safe.”

But the pandemic wore him down, wore everyone down.

“As weeks, however, became months and those months, now years, it seems at times that this sense of unity is a distant memory,” he said.

St. Charles reported that 333 people have died within its walls of COVID-19. The staff who cared for those patients bears the loss from each of those deaths, Ansbaugh said.

“The mortality numbers that people see are not just numbers to us,” he said. “They are memories of Herculean, yet failed, efforts to keep someone alive, of providing the horrible news to families that we did our best but could not save their loved one.”

The community should not assume the pandemic is over, said Erik Breon, Deschutes County Health Services spokesman. Those who are immune-compromised and elderly might consider keeping their masks on indoors, he said.

“People should assess their own health and take precautions,” Breon said. “We should remember that another variant or surge may develop. People need to make good personal choices to protect their families and neighbors.”

Removing mask mandates for indoors is a symbolic step in moving through the health crisis, Gerken said.

“It will be lovely to see people’s faces again,” Gerken said. “I’m ready to take the mask off and engage in world again. “