The following is a timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States during 2020.
Background
By late November 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 had broken out in Wuhan, China.
As reported in Clinical Infectious Diseases on November 30, 2020, 7,389 blood samples collected between December 13, 2019, and January 17, 2020, by the American Red Cross from normal donors in nine states (California, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin) included 84 (1.1 percent) that were positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. According to the article, "These findings suggest that SARS-CoV-2 may have been introduced into the United States prior to January 19, 2020."
On December 31, 2019, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) became aware of cases in China and began developing reports for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on January1.
Timeline
January 1–20, 2020 On January 3, CDC director Robert Redfield was notified by a counterpart in China that a "mysterious respiratory illness was spreading in Wuhan [China]"; he notified HHS Secretary Alex Azar, who shared the report with the National Security Council (NSC). According to The Washington Post, warnings about the virus were included in the President's Daily Brief in early January, an indicator of the emphasis placed on the virus by the intelligence community.
On January 3, Redfield emailed and spoke to George Gao, director of the Chinese CDC, and the following day, January 4, emailed an offer of technical assistance.
On January 5, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a "pneumonia of unknown cause" in Wuhan. The WHO advised against travel or trade restrictions at the time.
On January 6, the CDC issued a travel notice for the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, China, and CDC Director Redfield offered in a letter to Chinese officials to send a team of CDC scientists to assist China. China did not accept the offer for several weeks, which delayed the U.S. access to the virus, important for developing diagnostic tests and a vaccine. China did release genetic data on the new coronavirus on January9.
During the week of January 6, officials of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) convened an intra-agency task force including Redfield (CDC), Azar (HHS), and Anthony S. Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
On January 7, the CDC established a coronavirus incident management system to better share and respond to information about the virus.
On January 8, the CDC issued its first public alert about the coronavirus.
On January 9, the WHO issued a statement naming the disease as a new coronavirus in Wuhan.
On January 10, the WHO issued a comprehensive package of guidance to countries on how to test for potential cases. By this date, the WHO warned of the risk of human-to-human transmission.
On January 11, the CDC updated the January 6 Level 1 travel health notice for Wuhan, China.
On January 14, the WHO held a press briefing stating that the father had died; their information suggested a possibility of limited, but not sustained, human-to-human transmission. The WHO recommended countries to take precautions due to the human-to-human transmission during earlier SARS and MERS outbreaks. The WHO also tweeted that "preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV)". The head of China's National Health Commission, Ma Xiaowei, confidentially provided a "grim" situation assessment to key Chinese health officials. The related memo said "human-to-human transmission is possible." An investigation by AP News indicated that the reporting of a case in Thailand prompted the meeting, as well as the risk of spread with heightened travel during the Chinese New Year and various political considerations. However, the Chinese public is not warned until January 20.
Beginning January 17, the CDC dispatched public health experts to screen incoming airport passengers at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, adding monitors at Chicago and Atlanta in late January.Santhanam, Laura. (January 24, 2020). "CDC confirms 2nd U.S. case of novel coronavirus in Chicago". PBS website Retrieved April 2, 2020.
On January 18, HHS Secretary Azar discussed the coronavirus outbreak with President Donald Trump, who, Azar said, criticized him as alarmist.
January 20–28
On January 20, Chinese authorities announced the confirmation that human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus had already occurred.
The first recorded U.S. case of the new virus was also reported on January 20, in a 35-year-old American citizen traveling from Wuhan, China, to his home in Washington state."First Case of 2019 Novel Coronavirus in the United States", The New England Journal of Medicine, March 5, 2020
By January 20, the CDC developed its own coronavirus test as per protocol and used it to evaluate the first U.S. case. The CDC test was soon found to be defective, with the third probe giving inconclusive results. The CDC directed state health department labs to send all samples to the CDC lab in Atlanta for evaluation, significantly increasing testing turn-around times.
On January 20, Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping and State Council premier Li Keqiang issued the first public warning about the coronavirus to Chinese citizens.
On January 20, Fauci announces the National Institutes of Health was already working on the development of a vaccine for the coronavirus.
On January 20, state and local health departments in the United States, in collaboration with teams deployed from the CDC, began identifying and monitoring all persons considered to have had close contact with confirmed COVID-19 patients.
On January 21 the CDC activated its emergency operations center to enhance support for the coronavirus response.
A man who had returned from Wuhan was hospitalized for the virus in Washington state on January 21, 2020. He was released after two weeks of treatment. A few days later, another case was reported in Chicago, by a woman who had also just returned from Wuhan."Chicago woman infects husband with coronavirus, US issues travel warning" , WGN9 TV, Chicago, IL. January 30, 2020 A third case was confirmed a day later in Orange County, California."Orange County coronavirus patient released, in good condition, health officials say" , Orange County Register, February 4, 2020
On a January 21 press telebriefing, CDC and Washington State health officials announced the first U.S. case, describing how he had returned to Seattle via an indirect flight from Wuhan two days before the January 17 start of enhanced airport entry screening. After arrival, responding to ongoing passenger education, he recognized he should seek care and was appropriately evaluated locally with overnight confirmation by CDC with the just finalized test (utilizing the genetic data released days earlier from China), with resulting isolation and contact tracing. The press was also advised that the enhanced screening then underway—initially at the 3 locations determined to be receiving the vast majority of direct and connecting flights from Wuhan—had so far processed over 1,200 passengers with negative findings, but that in conjunction with HSA and DOT the CDC was about to operationalize full coverage by a complex funneling of Wuhan passengers from all over the globe into designated airports by reissuing tickets and rerouting through connecting and direct flights. The CDC posture was stated as “being proactive at all levels,” and that they “continue to believe the risk of this novel coronavirus to the American public at large remains low at this time.”
On January 22, Trump received his first public question from a reporter regarding whether he was concerned about the coronavirus. Trump responded: "No, not at all. And we have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China... It's going to be just fine." Besides this response during a business-press interview while at Davos, the President told other reporters “we do have a plan and we think it is going to be handled very well. We’ve already handled it very well. The CDC is terrific. Very professional.” The NIH’s Dr. Fauci, interviewed a few days later on an AMA podcast about this case and the immediately subsequent handful of other travel-related cases, advised that “we handled it properly,” and that fortunately so far there were no secondary cases, but cautioned that the next few weeks would be critical as to whether it would become a sustained global outbreak or just "disappear the way SARS did.”
On the same day of the President’s remarks while at Davos, the Emergency Committee of the WHO, meeting in Geneva, could not agree if the events in China warranted a declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), but considered the situation urgent and to reconvene in a matter of days to examine the matter further. An advisory by the Committee to China included provision that exit screening be conducted at international airports and ports in the affected provinces.
On January 23, Chinese authorities lockdown Wuhan, a city of 11 million, which heightened the urgency for the U.S. response team. The Washington Post reported that Secretary Azar (HHS) instructed his team to establish a surveillance mechanism shortly thereafter, but the money and diagnostic tests "would elude U.S. officials for months". The entire Hubei province, which contains Wuhan, was locked-down January 30.
On January 23, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a statement on the coronavirus, indicating that: "Human-to-human transmission is occurring and a preliminary R0 estimate of 1.4–2.5 was presented. Amplification has occurred in one health care facility. Of confirmed cases, 25% are reported to be severe. The source is still unknown (most likely an animal reservoir) and the extent of human-to-human transmission is still not clear." At the time, the fatality rate was 4% (17 of 557). The WHO recommended that: "[A]ll countries should be prepared for containment, including active surveillance, early detection, isolation and case management, contact tracing and prevention of onward spread of 2019-nCoV infection, and to share full data with [the] WHO."
On January 23 the CDC sought an emergency use authorization (EUA) from the FDA enabling states to use its newly developed coronavirus test.
On January 24, the U.S. Senate was briefed on the coronavirus by key health officials. U.S. Senators Richard M. Burr, Kelly Loeffler, Dianne Feinstein, and James Inhofe allegedly sold stock thereafter, prior to significant declines in the stock market. In Senator Loeffler's case, the sales began the same day as the briefing. All denied any wrongdoing, citing various reasons. Senator Burr faced calls for his resignation.
On January 24, President Trump praised China for its coronavirus efforts in a tweet. Four days later WHO director Tedros met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing and praised the efforts of the Chinese government in fighting COVID-19.
Two more cases were confirmed on January 26, similarly by two people who had returned from Wuhan."Public Health Officials Confirm First Case Of Novel Coronavirus In LA County" , KCAL TV, January 26, 2020 All cases to this point were allowed to self-isolate at home for two weeks, whereafter they were assumed to be no longer infected or contagious.
On January 27, the WHO assessed the risk of the coronavirus to be "high at the global level".