

Experts point to the dangers of large gatherings and use terms like “clusters” and “super-spreader events.” June: Efforts to reopen the economy leads to new cases, and the curve is not flattening. Meanwhile, scientists across the globe are in a race to understand the disease, find treatments and solutions, and develop vaccines. After months in lockdown, states slowly begin a “ phased reopening,” based on criteria outlined by the Trump Administration, in coordination with state, county, and local officials. May: Experts focus on “flattening the curve,” meaning that if you use a graph to map the number of COVID-19 cases over time, you would ideally start to see a flattened line representing a reduction of cases. People start wearing masks and practicing “social distancing.” Businesses shut down (leading to massive job losses), schools close, sporting events cancel, and college students go home. In Italy, there is a moment of solidarity when people in quarantine sing from their balconies, starting a trend that sweeps across Europe.Īpril: As cases continue to surge, countries keep their borders sealed.

As cases grow, hospitals become overwhelmed, and there is a nationwide shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE). California also becomes the first state to order all residents to stay home with the exceptions of going to an essential job or shopping for essential needs. In the U.S., the Grand Princess cruise ship is held at sea off the coast of California after 21 of the 3,500 people aboard test positive for the virus. March: The WHO characterizes COVID-19 as a pandemic. Countries are restricting travel to contain the virus. The Trump Administration declares a public health emergency.įebruary: Cases of COVID-19 begin to multiply around the world. The patient is a resident of Washington state who had traveled to Wuhan.

sees its first case of the disease, later named COVID-19. Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe, the U.S. Two days later, China puts Wuhan under strict lockdown. January: A scientist in China confirms that a mysterious new pneumonia-like illness identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, can be transmitted from human to human. Here is a month-by-month look at our pandemic year. Burgeoning caseloads overwhelmed hospitals, while health care workers became heroes, putting in long, harrowing hours, often (in those early days) without sufficient supplies, to care for patients with COVID-19. Many of us mourned loved ones in the last year, and the grief, along with isolation to prevent infections, took a toll on our mental health. More than 100 million people around the world have been infected by COVID-19 and more than 2.5 million people have died of the disease. It has been an emotional time marked by startling daily counts of new cases and deaths that multiplied rapidly. A year later, we look back on one of the most challenging periods in recent memory. The announcement followed a rising sense of alarm in the preceding months over a new, potentially lethal virus that was swiftly spreading around the world. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2, a pandemic.
