Well, It's Been Over A year Since Jon, K1TP, had the Idea to start a Covid Net for the Ham Radio community to check on your Ham Radio Buddies. It has been running since and has changed a little bit since the beginning. Started out with Jon K1TP, Bill W1WMM, and then Ruth WW1N, and then turned over to Kevin K1KL - and here we are today.
The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) dominated 2020. This is a look back at how the pandemic evolved and progressed through the year, which closed with the arrival of vaccines, but also continued challenges.
As the year ended, the United States surpassed 20 million infections from SARS-CoV-2, and more than 346,000 deaths. Globally, cases rose to 83,832,334 and 1,824,590 deaths.
Cases in some parts of the country began surging again in the weeks after Thanksgiving; the same effect may be seen in January as health officials are gravely concerned about the extent of travel for the Christmas and winter holidays. The Transportation Security Administration said it screened the most passengers (1.3 million) on the Sunday before Christmas, the most since March 15.
While vaccines began to roll out in the last month of the year, distribution challenges became evident and the United States fell short of its goal of providing an initial dose to 20 million people by December 31.
This is an updated look at how the pandemic progressed throughout 2020.
January 9 — WHO Announces Mysterious Coronavirus-Related Pneumonia in Wuhan, China
At this point, the World Health Organization (WHO) still has doubts about the roots of what would become the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that the spate of pneumonia-like cases in Wuhan could have stemmed from a new coronavirus. There are 59 cases so far, and travel precautions are already at the forefront of experts’ concerns.
January 20 — CDC Says 3 US Airports Will Begin Screening for Coronavirus
Three additional cases of what is now the 2019 novel coronavirus are reported in Thailand and Japan, causing the CDC to begin screenings at JFK International, San Francisco International, and Los Angeles International airports. These airports are picked because flights between Wuhan and the United States bring most passengers through them.
January 21 — CDC Confirms First US Coronavirus Case
A Washington state resident becomes the first person in the United States with a confirmed case of the 2019 novel coronavirus, having returned from Wuhan on January 15, thanks to overnight polymerase chain reaction testing. The CDC soon after deploys a team to help with the investigation, including potential use of contact tracing.
January 21 — Chinese Scientist Confirms COVID-19 Human Transmission
At this point, the 2019 novel coronavirus has killed 4 and infected more than 200 in China, before Zhong Nanshan, MD, finally confirms it can be transmitted from person to person. However, the WHO is still unsure of the necessity of declaring a public health emergency.
January 23 — Wuhan Now Under Quarantine
In just 2 days, 13 more people died and an additional 300 were sickened. China makes the unprecedented move not only to close off Wuhan and its population of 11 million, but to also place a restricted access protocol on Huanggang, 30 miles to the east, where residents can’t leave without special permission. This means up to 18 million people are under strict lockdown.
January 31 — WHO Issues Global Health Emergency
With a worldwide death toll of more than 200 and an exponential jump to more than 9800 cases, the WHO finally declares a public health emergency, for just the sixth time. Human-to-human transmission is quickly spreading and can now be found in the United States, Germany, Japan, Vietnam, and Taiwan.
February 2 — Global Air Travel Is Restricted
By 5 pm on Sunday, those en route to the United States have to have left China or they can face a 2-week home-based quarantine if they had been in Hubei province. Mainland visitors, however, will need to undergo health screenings upon their return, and foreign nationals can even be denied admittance. Other countries beginning to impose similar air-travel restrictions at this point include Australia, Germany, Italy, and New Zealand.
February 3 — US Declares Public Health Emergency
The Trump administration declares a public health emergency due to the coronavirus outbreak. The announcement comes 3 days after WHO declared a Global Health Emergency as more than 9800 cases of the virus and more than 200 deaths had been confirmed worldwide.
February 10 — China’s COVID-19 Deaths Exceed Those of SARS Crisis
The COVID-19 death toll surpasses that of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak from 17 years ago, totaling 908 reported deaths in China in the last month compared with 774 deaths in the SARS crisis.
February 25 — CDC Says COVID-19 Is Heading Toward Pandemic Status
Explaining what would signify a pandemic, Nancy Messonnier, MD, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, says that thus far COVID-19 meets 2 of the 3 required factors: illness resulting in death and sustained person-to-person spread. Worldwide spread is the third criteria not yet met at the time.
March 6 — 21 Passengers on California Cruise Ship Test Positive
Twenty-one people of just 46 tested aboard a cruise ship carrying more than 3500 people off the California coast test positive for COVID-19, with 19 being crew members. The ship is held at sea instead of being allowed to dock in San Francisco while testing is conducted. Since the event, 60 passengers have sued the cruise line and parent company, Carnival Corp, for gross negligence in how passenger safety was handled.
March 11 — WHO Declares COVID-19 a Pandemic
In declaring COVID-19 a pandemic, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of WHO, said at a briefing in Geneva the agency is “deeply concerned by the alarming levels of spread and severity” of the outbreak. He also expressed concern about “the alarming levels of inaction.”
March 13 — Trump Declares COVID-19 a National Emergency
President Donald Trump declares the novel coronavirus a national emergency, which unlocks billions of dollars in federal funding to fight the disease’s spread.
March 13 — Travel Ban on Non-US Citizens Traveling From Europe Goes Into Effect
The Trump administration issues a travel ban on non-Americans who visited 26 European countries within 14 days of coming to the United States. People traveling from the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland are exempt.
