Thread urequests

import network
import time
import machine
import urequests
import gc
import _thread

ssid = "ssid"
password = "password"

gc.enable()

#Connect to WLAN
wlan = network.WLAN(network.STA_IF)

def connect():
    global wlan
    wlan.active(True)
    wlan.connect(ssid, password)
    while wlan.isconnected() == False:
        print('Waiting for connection...')
        time.sleep(1)
    print(wlan.ifconfig())

connect()

error = False
inCall = None
message = ""
serverURL = "http://192.168.1.4:8585"

def checkStatus():
    global inCall
    global message
    global error

    while True:
        try:
            error = False
            response = urequests.get(serverURL)

            if response.status_code != 200:
                message = (f"Error {response.status_code}", 0)
                error = True
                response.close()
                gc.collect()
                time.sleep(1)
                continue

            # data: {"incall": "True/False", "time": "0/1s/5s/10s"}
            data = response.json()
            inCall = data["inCall"]
            message = data["time"]

            response.close()
            gc.collect()
            time.sleep(1)
        except Exception as err:
            error = True
            print(f"Exception: {err}")

statusThread = _thread.start_new_thread(checkStatus, ())

while True:
    #response = urequests.get(serverURL)
    print(f"WiFi-status: {wlan.status()}")
    print(f"Error: {error}")
    #print(response.json()["inCall"])
    #print(response.json()["time"])
    print(f"inCall: {inCall}")
    print(f"message: {message}\n")
    #response.close()
    gc.collect()
    time.sleep(1)