A COVID-19 Timeline

A More Thoroughly Comprehensive COVID-19 Timeline

Editor’s Note: The timeline will be updated as information becomes available, and events occur.

BACKGROUND: In the 1970’s, amidst a national famine in which millions died, the Chinese Communist government allowed and encouraged private farming in 1978, and 10 years later legalized the private industrialization of wildlife farming, in which wildlife animals were farmed, and sold in so-called “wet markets,” where live animals were slaughtered, butchered and sold alongside other foods.

This recent outbreak of coronavirus of SARS-CoV (Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome), a coronavirus known as COVID-19, appears to have originated in a particular live-animal wet market in the Hubei province city of Wuhan, China, which population is estimated between 8.9 to 11 million – and by some estimates, the 6th most populous city in China. Of the first 41 people infected with the virus, 27 had gone to the Huanan live market in Wuhan.

Vox produced a brief video of the scenario surrounding the emergence of the novel coronavirus on March 6. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPpoJGYlW54)

This illustration reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by the COVID-19 coronavirus. Note the spikes that adorn the outer surface of the virus, which impart the look of a corona surrounding the virion, when viewed electron microscopically. Image credit: CDC.

One particularly fascinating aspect of the market where farm-raised wildlife is sold, is that the exceeding majority of Chinese nationals do not eat wildlife, and rather, it is the well-to-do and wealthy – who are an extremely small minority of the 1.389 billion-plus Chinese population – which consume such fare.

“Animal husbandry” is the term given to describe the agricultural practice of tending to, caring for, raising, breeding, and rearing animals, particularly and especially livestock, meaning domesticated animals typically raised for human use, either as use for production of dairy, meat, fiber, clothing, etc. Typically again, those animals are hogs, cattle, goat, sheep, poultry and fowl, including animals used for labor such as donkeys, mules, horses, oxen, etc. While there are examples of farm-raised wildlife in Western nations such as with alligators, mink, etc., such animals are infrequently or rarely used for human consumption, but in China, that practice is allowed, and even encouraged.

While China has made great strides in acknowledging that animal health is important for the animals intrinsically, and in relationship to humans’ interaction with them as well, there remain many more significant advancements to be made, because the health of animals and humans are inextricably intertwined. Specifically, laws, regulations, and governmental agencies, standards and practices in veterinarian medicine, and in animal husbandry and health should be more jointly unified, widespread, and enforced.

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2017
January

10 – Dr. Anthony Fauci, MD, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, delivered keynote address at a Harvard Global Health Institute conference in conjunction with peer-reviewed healthcare journal Health Affairs, held at Georgetown University entitled “Pandemic Preparedness for the Next Administration” which “focused on priorities for the next U.S. presidential administration and potential agenda items for pandemic preparedness.”
(https://globalhealth.harvard.edu/news/pandemic-preparedness-priorities-next-administration)
(https://gumc.georgetown.edu/gumc-stories/global-health-experts-advise-advance-planning-for-inevitable-pandemic/#)

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2018
April

White House National Security Advisor John Bolton pressured White House Homeland Security Advisor, Tom Bossert, to resign along with his team. Neither the NSC nor DHS epidemic teams were replaced.
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/white-house-homeland-security-adviser-resigns-amid-continued-turnover-in-trump-administration/2018/04/10/15db518a-3ccb-11e8-a7d1-e4efec6389f0_story.html)

May

POTUS ordered the National Security Council’s entire Global Health Security unit shut down, and called for Senior Director for Global Health Security and Biothreats Rear Admiral Timothy Ziemer to be reassigned, and dissolved his team inside the agency.
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/05/10/top-white-house-official-in-charge-of-pandemic-response-exits-abruptly/)

7 – POTUS called for cutting $252 million of unused funds remaining from the 2014-2015 Ebola epidemic in West Africa that killed more than 11,000 people, far exceeding the combined total cases reported in about 20 previous outbreaks since the 1970s.
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/05/10/top-white-house-official-in-charge-of-pandemic-response-exits-abruptly/)

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2019
November

In a secret intelligence report by the military’s National Center for Medical Intelligence (NCMI), based upon analysis of wire and computer intercepts, and satellite images, concerns that an out-of-control disease sweeping through China’s Wuhan region could pose a serious threat to U.S. Armed Forces in Asia, that “Analysts concluded it could be a cataclysmic event,” and “it was then briefed multiple times to” Defense Intelligence Agency, Pentagon’s Joint Staff and the National Security Council of the White House. “The timeline of the intel side of this may be further back than we’re discussing. But this was definitely being briefed beginning at the end of November as something the military needed to take a posture on.”

After the NCMI report’s release, other intelligence community bulletins circulated through confidential channels throughout the government around Thanksgiving. Former Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Mick Mulroy who was also a senior CIA official, said that, “It would be a significant alarm that would have been set off by this. And it would have been something that would be followed up by literally every intelligence-collection agency. Medical intelligence takes into account all source information – imagery intelligence, human intelligence, signals intelligence. Then there’s analysis by people who know those specific areas. So for something like this to have come out, it has been reviewed by experts in the field. They’re taking together what those pieces of information mean and then looking at the potential for an international health crisis.” An official also stated of the preliminary reports that “The timeline of the intel side of this may be further back than we’re discussing. But this was definitely being briefed beginning at the end of November as something the military needed to take a posture on.”
(https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/intelligence-report-warned-coronavirus-crisis-early-november-sources/story?id=70031273)

December

10 – Wei Guixian, a 57yo seafood merchant at Huanan Market, fell ill in what is believed to be the first case (“patient zero”) of COVID-19. Days later, she was hospitalized.
(https://fis.com/fis/worldnews/worldnews.asp?monthyear=&day=31&id=107041&l=e&special=0&ndb=0)
(https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8138303/One-known-coronavirus-victims-RECOVERED.html)

27 – Three adult patients presented with severe pneumonia and were admitted to a hospital in Wuhan on December 27, 2019. Patient 1 was a 49-year-old woman, Patient 2 was a 61-year-old man, and Patient 3 was a 32-year-old man. Clinical profiles were available for Patients 1 and 2. Patient 1 reported having no underlying chronic medical conditions but reported fever (temperature, 37°C to 38°C) and cough with chest discomfort on December 23, 2019. Four days after the onset of illness, her cough and chest discomfort worsened, but the fever was reduced; a diagnosis of pneumonia was based on computed tomographic (CT) scan. Her occupation was retailer in the seafood wholesale market. Patient 2 initially reported fever and cough on December 20, 2019; respiratory distress developed 7 days after the onset of illness and worsened over the next 2 days, at which time mechanical ventilation was started. He had been a frequent visitor to the seafood wholesale market. Patients 1 and 3 recovered and were discharged from the hospital on January 16, 2020. Patient 2 died on January 9, 2020. No biopsy specimens were obtained.
(https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMoa2001017)

30 – After other food vendors at the market in Wuhan become sick with a mysterious pneumonia-like illness, Dr. Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist at Wuhan Central Hospital, participates in a meeting on WeChat, a popular Chinese social media network, with seven other doctors. The topic of conversation is a growing number of cases in which patients undergo a rapid deterioration linked to respiratory failure. Wenliang warns that the illness resembles SARS, which went on to kill more than 800 people in 17 countries.

31 – The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) dispatched a rapid response team to accompany Hubei provincial and Wuhan city health authorities and to conduct an epidemiologic and etiologic investigation.
(https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMoa2001017)

31 – The Chinese government publicly confirms that dozens of patients in Wuhan are being treated for a pneumonia-like condition

31 – Associated Press reported that “Chinese experts are investigating an outbreak of respiratory illness in the central city of Wuhan that some have likened to the 2002-2003 SARS epidemic. The city’s health commission said in a statement Tuesday that 27 people had fallen ill with a strain of viral pneumonia, seven of whom were in serious condition. It said most had visited a seafood market in the sprawling city, apparently pointing to a common origin of the outbreak.”
(https://apnews.com/00c78d1974410d96fe031f67edbd86ec)

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2020
January

1 – Wuhan, China government officials closed the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China where the then-unnamed COVID-19 novel coronavirus most likely originated. Vendors at the market sold seafood, meat, and live animals, including chickens, donkeys, sheep, pigs, foxes, badgers, bamboo rats, hedgehogs, and snakes. Wuhan city governmental authorities also banned the trade of live animals at all wet markets there soon after, and the Chinese national government announced a temporary national ban on the buying, selling, and transportation of wild animals in markets, restaurants, and online marketplaces across the country.

1 – Wuhan police announce they have “taken legal measures” against Wenliang and the other doctors to silence them from spreading “rumors” about the virus.

3 – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director had discussions with Chinese colleague-cohorts about virus; Health and Human Services alerted of report

3 – Presidential Daily Briefs contained significant details from Intelligence reports from Office of the Director of National Intelligence and CIA about COVID-19 virus

4 – When Wuhan, China health authorities had reported that COVID-19 cases had increased 63% from 27 to 44, Stat medical/health news website reported that “the outbreak might be caused by a new virus, and perhaps even a new coronavirus — the family of viruses that produced both SARS and MERS — watchers are hoping that Chinese authorities will provide additional information soon.” They added that “coronaviruses have shown themselves to be adept at jumping from animal hosts to people, sometimes establishing themselves as human pathogens. There are four human coronaviruses that are common causes of cold-like illness. Those viruses were formerly animal viruses — experts can tell by comparing their genetic sequences to animal coronaviruses. When the four started infecting humans is not clear in most cases. Some coronaviruses have jumped from animals to people on multiple occasions — the MERS virus in the Arabian Peninsula is an example — but haven’t acquired the ability to spread easily from person to person.”
(https://www.statnews.com/2020/01/04/mystery-pneumonia-outbreak-china/)
(http://wjw.wuhan.gov.cn/front/web/showDetail/2020010309017)

5 – Chinese Health officials rule out the possibility that the virus is a recurrence of SARS.

7 – Chinese officials say they identified the COVID-19 virus behind the growing number of infections.

7 – CDC established a COVID-19 Incident Management System
(https://www.cdc.gov/budget/documents/covid-19/CDC-247-Response-to-COVID-19-fact-sheet.pdf)

8 – CDC issues emergency health advisory “Outbreak of Pneumonia of Unknown Etiology (PUE) in Wuhan, China” stating that “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is closely monitoring a reported cluster of pneumonia of unknown etiology (PUE) with possible epidemiologic links to a large wholesale fish and live animal market in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. An outbreak investigation by local officials is ongoing in China; the World Health Organization (WHO) is the lead international public health agency. Currently, there are no known U.S. cases nor have cases been reported in countries other than China. CDC has established an Incident Management Structure to optimize domestic and international coordination if additional public health actions are required.”
(https://emergency.cdc.gov/han/han00424.asp)

10 – Chinese scientists post the sequenced genome of the virus online in Chinese Medical Journal.
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/sars-cov-2-seqs/)

11 – China announces first death due to COVID-19. The 61-year-old man had been a regular customer at Huanan Market. The World Health Organization reported 41 cumulative COVID-19 cases in China.

13 – A case of the coronavirus is reported in Thailand, the first outside of China.

14 – World Health Organization issues “disease outbreak news” about a case in Thailand, which was the first confirmed case of a novel coronavirus disease outside of China. “On 13 January 2020, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), Thailand reported the first imported case of lab-confirmed novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) from Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. The case is a 61-year-old Chinese woman living in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. On 5 January 2020, she developed fever with chills, sore throat and headache. On 8 January 2020, she took a direct flight to Thailand from Wuhan City together with five family members in a tour group of 16 people. The traveler with febrile illness was detected on the same day by thermal surveillance at Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK), Thailand, and was hospitalized the same day. After temperature check and initial assessment, she was transferred to the hospital for further investigations and treatment.”
(https://www.who.int/csr/don/14-january-2020-novel-coronavirus-thailand-ex-china/en/)

15 – Japanese officials report their first case of COVID-19, a man who had visited Wuhan.

meeting 3rd week – Cable traffic increased, State Department began repatriating US Diplomats in Wuhan on chartered flights; White House colleague mentioned concern for viral transmissibility “In January, there was obviously a lot of chatter.”

17 – CDC announced that “Public Health Screening to Begin at 3 U.S. Airports for 2019 Novel Coronavirus (“2019-nCoV”)” “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will implement enhanced health screenings to detect ill travelers traveling to the United States on direct or connecting flights from Wuhan, China. This activity is in response to an outbreak in China caused by a novel (new) coronavirus (2019 nCoV), with exported cases to Thailand and Japan. Starting January 17, 2020, travelers from Wuhan to the United States will undergo entry screening for symptoms associated with 2019-nCoV at three U.S. airports that receive most of the travelers from Wuhan, China: San Francisco (SFO), New York (JFK), and Los Angeles (LAX) airports. Martin Cetron, M.D., Director of CDC’s Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, said, “To further protect the health of the American public during the emergence of this novel coronavirus, CDC is beginning entry screening at three ports of entry. Investigations into this novel coronavirus are ongoing and we are monitoring and responding to this evolving situation.” Based on current information, the risk from 2019-nCoV to the American public is currently deemed to be low. Nevertheless, CDC is taking proactive preparedness precautions.”
(https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/p0117-coronavirus-screening.html)

18 – HHS Secretary Alex Azar finally reached POTUS by phone to speak about virus, POTUS interrupted him to ask when flavored vaping products would return to market

19 – China allows Wuhan to hold a Chinese Lunar New Year banquet, which is attended by tens of thousands of families in Wuhan.

20 – The WHO reported 1 new, and 4 cumulative deaths, with 77 new, and 198 cumulative COVID-19 cases in China.

20 – The WHO reported 1 total case of COVID-19 in South Korea.

20 – First U.S. case of COVID-19 reported, a 35-year-old man in Snohomish County, Washington, who had traveled with his family to Wuhan

21 – The WHO reported an additional 93 confirmed cases, 291 cumulative confirmed cases of COVID-19, and 6 cumulative deaths in China.

21 – The CDC reported the first case of novel coronavirus in the United States. “First Travel-related Case of 2019 Novel Coronavirus Detected in United States: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today confirmed the first case of 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in the United States in the state of Washington. The patient recently returned from Wuhan, China, where an outbreak of pneumonia caused by this novel coronavirus has been ongoing since December 2019. While originally thought to be spreading from animal-to-person, there are growing indications that limited person-to-person spread is happening. It’s unclear how easily this virus is spreading between people. The patient from Washington with confirmed 2019-nCoV infection returned to the United States from Wuhan on January 15, 2020. The patient sought care at a medical facility in the state of Washington, where the patient was treated for the illness. Based on the patient’s travel history and symptoms, healthcare professionals suspected this new coronavirus. A clinical specimen was collected and sent to CDC overnight, where laboratory testing yesterday confirmed the diagnosis via CDC’s Real time Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (rRT-PCR) test.”
(https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/p0121-novel-coronavirus-travel-case.html)

22 – With 17 reported deaths and 550 infections in China due to the virus, the government officially locks down Wuhan. The mayor admitted that by this time, over 5 million people (nearly half the population) had already left the region.

22 – Wuhan city governmental authorities banned the trade of live animals at wet markets.
(https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-chinese-wet-market-photos-2020-1?op=1)

22 – Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Tom Friedan, MD, wrote an OpEd published in online medical/health news magazine Stat which warned that “The new virus is likely to continue spreading and be recognized more, and in more countries, in the coming days and weeks. We need to learn — and fast — about how it spreads and how often it causes severe illness so we can try to prevent its spread.”
(https://www.statnews.com/2020/01/22/former-cdc-director-tom-frieden-3-key-questions-novel-coronavirus-in-wuhan/)

22 – While attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, POTUS was asked by CNBC Squawk Box host Joe Kernan if he was worried about a pandemic.

JOE KERNEN: It was a couple of years ago. Before we get started– with- we’re going talk about the economy and a lot of other things–the CDC– has identified a case of coronavirus– in Washington state. The Wuhan strain of this. If you remember SARS, that affected GDP. Travel-related effects. Do you– have you been briefed by the CDC? And–

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I have, and–

JOE KERNEN: –are there worries about a pandemic at this point?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: No. Not at all. And– we’re– we have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s—going to be just fine.

JOE KERNEN: Okay. And President Xi– there’s just some– talk in China that maybe the transparency isn’t everything that it’s going to be. Do you trust that we’re going to know everything we need to know from China?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I do. I do. I have a great relationship with President Xi. We just signed probably the biggest deal ever made. It certainly has the potential to be the biggest deal ever made. And– it was a very interesting period of time.

(https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/22/davos-2020-cnbcs-full-interview-with-president-trump.html)

23 – The WHO reported 1 COVID-19 case in the United States.

24 – POTUS Tweet: “China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!”
(https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1220818115354923009)

24 – Senator Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), member of the Senate Health Committee, attended closed-door, joint meeting with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on coronavirus, Tweeted about it; later, with husband Jeff Sprecher, CEO of New York Stock Exchange, through mid-February, executed 29 stock transactions, only 2 of which were purchases, valued between $1.2 and $3.1 million of stock afterward, also purchased Citrix stock, makers of GoToMeeting software
(https://www.help.senate.gov/chair/newsroom/press/senate-health-committee-announces-briefing-to-update-senators-on-coronavirus)
(https://twitter.com/SenatorLoeffler/status/1220910430115241984)
(https://efdsearch.senate.gov/search/home/)
(https://www.thedailybeast.com/sen-kelly-loeffler-dumped-millions-in-stock-after-coronavirus-briefing)

25 – The WHO reported 3 total COVID-19 cases in France.

26 – The WHO reported 15 new, and 56 cumulative deaths, with 688 new, and 1985 cumulative COVID-19 cases in China.

27 – The WHO reported 1 total COVID-19 case in Canada.

27 – White House aides huddled with Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney in his office to encourage more attention by senior officials; present was Joe Grogan, Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council who “argued that the administration needed to take the virus seriously, or it could cost the president his reelection, and that dealing with the virus was likely to dominate life in the United States for many months”; meetings convened more frequently, but POTUS was dismissive and believed that the virus has not spread widely throughout USA.

28 – The Indiana State Department of Health and the Centers of Disease and Control issued a statement Tuesday evening, January 28 that they have identified a person who could potentially be infected with the novel coronavirus. “Final diagnosis awaits the results of laboratory tests to be performed by the CDC. Out of an abundance of caution, the individual has been placed in isolation and is currently under active medical supervision.” Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said, “At this point Americans should not worry for their own safety.” The United States Department of State told the Associated Press that chartered planes had been sent to Wuhan, China to pick up Americans in that city and were en route to the United States, and would first stop in Anchorage, AK. Earlier, they had evacuated diplomats from the U.S. Consulate in Wuhan, along with a few other Americans. At that time, there were over 4500 confirmed COVID-19 cases in China, with over 100 deaths, and 5 confirmed cases in the USA, all whom had traveled to Wuhan, China. Incubation of the virus was known to be between 2-14 days before signs of sickness could show, if at all.
(https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/cdc-individual-potentially-infected-with-coronavirus-in-porter-county/2209149/)

29 – United States Department of State began repatriation flights from China to the United States.
(https://www.state.gov/coronavirus/repatriation/)
(https://www.foxnews.com/health/plane-with-u-s-evacuees-from-china-diverted-from-california-to-air-force-base-curt-hagman-says)
(https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-government-charters-plane-to-fly-out-diplomats-from-wuhan-2020-01-29)
(https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/10643948-181/jet-evacuates-americans-from-coronavirus)

29 – The WHO reported 4 total cases of COVID-19 in Germany.

29 – British Airways halted all flights to China, and American Airlines suspended Los Angeles flights to and from Shanghai and Beijing.
(https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/national-international/airlines-suspend-china-flights-cut-service-on-virus-fears/2209320/)

29 – Peter Navarro, Assistant to the President, Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, and the National Defense Production Act Policy Coordinator, wrote memo entitled “Impose Travel Ban on China?” which was circulated to to the National Security Council and then to several administration officials, set forth choice of “Aggressive Containment versus No Containment,” and stated in part that, “The lack of immune protection or an existing cure or vaccine would leave Americans defenseless in the case of a full-blown coronavirus outbreak on U.S. soil. This lack of protection elevates the risk of the coronavirus evolving into a full-blown pandemic, imperiling the lives of millions of Americans.” It further warned that the “risk of a worst-case pandemic scenario should not be overlooked,” and added that “Regardless of whether the coronavirus proves to be a pandemic-level outbreak, there are certain costs associated with engaging in policies to contain and mitigate the spread of the disease. The most readily available option to contain the spread of the outbreak is to issue a travel ban to and from the source of the outbreak, namely, mainland China.” He also added that, “This historical precedent alone should be sufficient to prove the need to take aggressive action to contain the outbreak.”

29 – POTUS Tweeted: “Just received a briefing on the Coronavirus in China from all of our GREAT agencies, who are also working closely with China. We will continue to monitor the ongoing developments. We have the best experts anywhere in the world, and they are on top of it 24/7!”
(https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1222672488934584324)

29 – POTUS established White House Coronavirus Task Force.

30 – CDC reports the first person-to-person transmission of COVID-19 in the United States from a woman who had traveled to Wuhan, China, and returned to the USA on 13 January, whose spouse became the 6th known positive case of COVID-19 in the United States, and 1st case in Chicago, and the 2nd case in IL. Dr. Ngozi O. Ezike, MD, Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health made the announcement.
(https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/chicago-coronavirus-patient-infected-spouse-in-1st-human-to-human-case-in-us-cdc/2210301/)

30 – The WHO reported 2 total COVID-19 cases in Italy.

30 – In Warren, MI at Dana Corporation, POTUS discusses the United States-Mexico-Canada-Agreement (USMCA), and says: “We think we have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment — five. And those people are all recuperating successfully. But we’re working very closely with China and other countries, and we think it’s going to have a very good ending for it. So that I can assure you.”
(https://factba.se/transcript/donald-trump-speech-usmca-dana-incorporated-warren-michigan-january-30-2020)

31 – The WHO reported 9720 cumulative COVID-19 cases, 213 cumulative deaths, and 1984 new COVID-19 cases in China.

31 – The WHO reported 3 new, and 14 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Japan.

31 – Foreign Policy magazine reported that “In 2018, the Trump administration fired the government’s entire pandemic response chain of command, including the White House management infrastructure. In the spring of 2018, the White House pushed Congress to cut funding for Obama-era disease security programs, proposing to eliminate $252 million in previously committed resources for rebuilding health systems in Ebola-ravaged Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. Under fire from both sides of the aisle, President Donald Trump dropped the proposal to eliminate Ebola funds a month later. But other White House efforts included reducing $15 billion in national health spending and cutting the global disease-fighting operational budgets of the CDC, NSC, DHS, and HHS. And the government’s $30 million Complex Crises Fund was eliminated. In May 2018, Trump ordered the NSC’s entire global health security unit shut down, calling for reassignment of Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer and dissolution of his team inside the agency. The month before, then-White House National Security Advisor John Bolton pressured Ziemer’s DHS counterpart, Tom Bossert, to resign along with his team. Neither the NSC nor DHS epidemic teams have been replaced. The global health section of the CDC was so drastically cut in 2018 that much of its staff was laid off and the number of countries it was working in was reduced from 49 to merely 10. Meanwhile, throughout 2018, the U.S. Agency for International Development and its director, Mark Green, came repeatedly under fire from both the White House and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. And though Congress has so far managed to block Trump administration plans to cut the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps by 40 percent, the disease-fighting cadres have steadily eroded as retiring officers go unreplaced. In 2017 and 2018, the philanthropist billionaire Bill Gates met repeatedly with Bolton and his predecessor, H.R. McMaster, warning that ongoing cuts to the global health disease infrastructure would render the United States vulnerable to, as he put it, the “significant probability of a large and lethal modern-day pandemic occurring in our lifetimes.” And an independent, bipartisan panel formed by the Center for Strategic and International Studies concluded that lack of preparedness was so acute in the Trump administration that the “United States must either pay now and gain protection and security or wait for the next epidemic and pay a much greater price in human and economic costs.”
(https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/31/coronavirus-china-trump-united-states-public-health-emergency-response/)

31 – POTUS issues “Proclamation on Suspension of Entry as Immigrants and Nonimmigrants of Persons who Pose a Risk of Transmitting 2019 Novel Coronavirus” (https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-suspension-entry-immigrants-nonimmigrants-persons-pose-risk-transmitting-2019-novel-coronavirus/)

February

1 – The WHO reported 1 total COVID-19 case in Spain.

1 – The WHO reported 2 total COVID-19 cases in the United Kingdom.

2 – POTUS (to Sean Hannity): “Well, we pretty much shut it down coming in from China. … We can’t have thousands of people coming in who may have this problem, the coronavirus. So we’re gonna see what happens, but we did shut it down, yes.”
(https://factba.se/transcript/donald-trump-interview-sean-hannity-part-1-february-2-2020)

2 – The WHO reported 1 new, and 8 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the United States.

early – Joe Grogan, Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, worried that there weren’t enough tests to determine the rate of infection; Matthew Pottinger, Deputy National Security Adviser to POTUS, began calling for a more forceful response; POTUS resisted, and continued telling Americans dismissive assertions

4 – Dr. Scott Gottleib, MD former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, and Dr. Luciana Borio, MD, former Director for Medical and Biodefense Preparedness at the National Security Council, Acting Chief Scientist of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Assistant Commissioner for Counterterrorism Policy of the FDA, and Director of FDA’s Office of Counterterrorism and Emerging Threats, co-authored an OpEd in the WSJ entitled “Stop a U.S. Coronavirus Outbreak Before It Starts” urging broader surveillance testing in order to find infected patients and isolate them, and request that the FDA allow private labs to develop COVID-19 diagnostic tests.
(https://www.wsj.com/articles/stop-a-u-s-coronavirus-outbreak-before-it-starts-11580859525)

6 – Li Wenliang, the whistleblower opthamologist physician who worked at a Wuhan hospital, and warned about a SARS-like disease outbreak in December, died in a Wuhan hospital.

6 – Following autopsy results in mid-to-late April, the Santa Clara County California Medical Examiner’s office reported on April 21 that the first known COVID-19 related death occurred in United States, previously thought to have occurred in Kirkland, Washington on February 29. The NYT reported that, “The virus has an incubation period of 14 days and people who die of it are often sick for at least three weeks, so the individual who died on Feb. 6 could have been infected — and transmitting the infection to others — in early January, experts said.”
(https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/us/coronavirus-updates.html)
(https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-04-21/autopsies-reveal-first-confirmed-u-s-coronavirus-deaths-occurred-in-bay-area-in-early-february)

7 – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announces a U.S. pledge of $100 million, and “17.8 tons of donated medical supplies to the Chinese people, including masks, gowns, gauze, respirators, and other vital materials” to help China and other nations fight the coronavirus, which is also mentioned in an HHS press briefing with members of the Coronavirus Task Force.
(https://china.usembassy-china.org.cn/the-united-states-announces-assistance-to-the-novel-coronavirus/)

7 – Chinese government changed its classification guidelines, only counting those patients with symptoms as confirmed cases.

7 – CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) wrote “Nine of the first 11 U.S. 2019-nCoV patients were exposed in Wuhan, China. CDC expects more U.S. cases.” Cases range in age from 20’s to 60’s, and were residents of AZ-1, CA-6, IL-2, MA-1, and WA-1, with 8 males.
(https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6905e1.htm)

7 – POTUS Tweet: “Just had a long and very good conversation by phone with President Xi of China. He is strong, sharp and powerfully focused on leading the counterattack on the Coronavirus. He feels they are doing very well, even building hospitals in a matter of only days. Nothing is easy, but…Nothing is easy, but [Chinese President Xi Jinping] … will be successful, especially as the weather starts to warm & the virus hopefully becomes weaker, and then gone.”
(https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1225728756456808448)

7 – Senator Richard M. Burr co-authored OpEd with Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) detailing tools U.S. government had to fight COVID-19
(https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/coronavirus-prevention-steps-the-u-s-government-is-taking-to-protect-you-sen-alexander-and-sen-burr)

– Robert Kadlec, Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, Department of Health and Human Services, intelligence officials, and CIA, gave classified debriefing to the Senate Intelligence Committee, and House Intelligence Committee about the coronavirus, its global health implications, and that the virus posed a “serious” threat

10 – POTUS interviewed by Trish Regan of Fox Business in Manchester, NH: “I think the virus is going to be — it’s going to be fine.”
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IWRP9fzY74)

11 – Chinese researchers led by Dr. Wang Jianwei led researchers at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Institute of Pathogen Biology, China, publish COVID-19 genetic sequence in Chinese Medical Journal
(https://journals.lww.com/cmj/Abstract/publishahead/Identification_of_a_novel_coronavirus_causing.99423.aspx)

11 – The WHO reported an additional 108 deaths, 1017 cumulative deaths, 2472 new cases, and 42,708 cumulative cases of COVID-19 in China.

13 – Senator Richard M. Burr (R-NC), Chairman, Senate Intelligence Committee, in 33 separate transactions, sold stocks valued between $628,033 and $1.72 million
(http://pfds.opensecrets.org.s3.amazonaws.com/Burr_PTR_0202020-rotated%20%281%29.pdf)
(https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/488545-burr-sold-off-significant-amount-of-stock-a-week-before-market-crash-started)
(https://www.propublica.org/article/senator-dumped-up-to-1-7-million-of-stock-after-reassuring-public-about-coronavirus-preparedness

13 – The Asian American Journalists Association reiterated World Health Organization’s 2015 guidance that “it is important that whoever first reports on a newly identified human disease uses an appropriate name that is scientifically sound and socially acceptable. The best practices apply to new infections, syndromes, and diseases that have never been recognized or reported before in humans, that have potential public health impact, and for which there is no disease name in common usage. The best practices state that a disease name should consist of generic descriptive terms, based on the symptoms that the disease causes (e.g. respiratory disease, neurologic syndrome, watery diarrhoea) and more specific descriptive terms when robust information is available on how the disease manifests, who it affects, its severity or seasonality (e.g. progressive, juvenile, severe, winter). If the pathogen that causes the disease is known, it should be part of the disease name (e.g. coronavirus, influenza virus, salmonella). The final name of any new human disease is assigned by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), which is managed by WHO. ICD is used by doctors, nurses, researchers, health information managers and coders, policymakers, insurers and patient organizations around the world to classify diseases and other health problems and record them in a standardized way on health records and death certificates. This enables the storage and retrieval of diagnostic information for clinical, epidemiological and quality purposes.”
(https://www.aaja.org/guidance_on_coronavirus_coverage)
(https://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/notes/2015/naming-new-diseases/en/)

14 – The WHO reported a total of 9 COVID-19 cases in the United Kingdom.

14 – The WHO reported 16 total COVID-19 cases in Germany.

14 – POTUS: “We have a very small number of people in the country, right now, with it. It’s like around 12. Many of them are getting better. Some are fully recovered already. So we’re in very good shape.”

14 – CDC MMWR reported that the CDC’s Emergency Operations Center was activated 21 January, and that as of 31 January 256 people were recommended for testing for 2019-nCoV, 115 (55%) of which were male, 138 (66%) were aged 18-49, median age was 29, 90% had cough or shortness of breath, 68% had fever <100.4ºF, and 70% had traveled from China.
(https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6906e1.htm)

15 – The WHO reported 11 total COVID-19 cases in France.

17 – Second known COVID-19 related death occurred in Santa Clara County California. Following autopsy results in mid-to-late April, the Santa Clara County California Medical Examiner’s office reported on April 21 that the second known COVID-19 related death occurred in United States, the first COVID-19 related death was previously thought to have occurred in Kirkland, Washington on February 29. The NYT reported that, “The virus has an incubation period of 14 days and people who die of it are often sick for at least three weeks, so the individual who died on Feb. 6 could have been infected — and transmitting the infection to others — in early January, experts said.”
(https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/us/coronavirus-updates.html)
(https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-04-21/autopsies-reveal-first-confirmed-u-s-coronavirus-deaths-occurred-in-bay-area-in-early-february)

18 – The CDC issues an order requiring airlines to provide information about any passenger coming from China within 14 days of their entry into the U.S.
(https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/02/24/2020-03636/collection-of-certain-data-regarding-passengers-and-crew-arriving-from-foreign-countries-by-airlines)

18 – The WHO reported 1 cumulative death, with 6 new, and 65 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Japan.

19 – POTUS: “I think it’s going to work out fine. I think when we get into April, in the warmer weather, that has a very negative effect on that and that type of a virus. So let’s see what happens, but I think it’s going to work out fine.”

19 – POTUS to Fox 10 Phoenix interviewer about the Chinese response: “I’m confident that they’re trying very hard. They’re working it — they built, they built a hospital in seven days, and now they’re building another one. I think it’s going to work out fine.”

20 – The WHO reported 2 cumulative deaths, and 2 cumulative cases of COVID-19 in Iran.

20 – The WHO reported 1 total death, with 53 new, and 104 cumulative COVID-19 cases in South Korea.

21 – The WHO reported 118 new, and 2239 cumulative deaths, 892 new, and 75,567 cumulative COVID-19 cases in China.

22 – The WHO reported 20 new, and 35 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the United States.

23 – Peter Navarro wrote a second “MEMORANDUM TO PRESIDENT THROUGH NSA, COS, COVID-19 TASK FORCE RE: REQUST FOR SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION,” which warned of an “increasing probability of a full-blown COVID-19 pandemic that could infect as many as 100 million Americans, with a loss of life of as many as 1.2 million souls,” and further stated in part that, “This is NOT a time for penny-pinching or horse trading on the Hill. Any member of the Task Force who wants to be cautious about appropriating funds for a crisis that could inflict trillions of dollars in economic damage and take millions of lives has come to the wrong administration,” requested “immediate supplemental appropriation of at least $3 billion,” and noted that “We can expect to need at least a billion face masks, 200,000 Tyvek suits, and 11,000 ventilator circuits, and 25,000 PAPRs (powered air-purifying respirators).”

23 – Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a teleconference with 170,000 officials and declares that his government has acted swiftly to stop the spread of the virus.

23 – The WHO reported 1 new, and 2 cumulative deaths, with 67 new, and 76 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Italy.

24 – The administration requested $1.25B emergency coronavirus funding from Congress, and to transfer $553M from an Ebola preparedness account to help deal with the emerging crisis.
(https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/white-house-seeks-2-5b-coronavirus-pelosi-says-s-not-n1142276)

24 – The WHO reported 4 new, and 13 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the United Kingdom.

24 – POTUS Tweet: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”
(https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1232058127740174339)

25 – News reports of Chinese scientists posting genetic sequence circulated. Dr. Wang Jianwei led researchers at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Institute of Pathogen Biology, China, and used next generation sequencing (NGS) to definitively identify the pathogen causing illness in Wuhan, and focused on five patients admitted to Jin Yin-tan Hospital in Wuhan, most of whom were workers in the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan.” Their team “found that its genome sequence is 79 percent similar to the SARS-CoV, about 51.8 percent similar to the MERS-CoV, and about 87.6-87.7 percent similar to other SARS-like CoVs from Chinese horseshoe bats (called ZC45 and ZXC21). These findings clearly suggest that the virus originated from bats.”
(https://www.asianscientist.com/2020/02/topnews/china-coronavirus-covid-19-study/)
(http://www.mgc.ac.cn/IPB_en/index.html)

25 – POTUS (at news conference in New Delhi, India): “You may ask about the coronavirus, which is very well under control in our country. We have very few people with it, and the people that have it are … getting better. They’re all getting better. … As far as what we’re doing with the new virus, I think that we’re doing a great job.”
(https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2020-02-25/trump-says-coronavirus-is-very-well-under-control-in-u-s-video)

25 – POTUS Tweet: “CDC and my Administration are doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus, including the very early closing of our borders to certain areas of the world. It was opposed by the Dems, “too soon”, but turned out to be the correct decision. No matter how well we do, however, the…. ….Democrats talking point is that we are doing badly. If the virus disappeared tomorrow, they would say we did a really poor, and even incompetent, job. Not fair, but it is what it is. So far, by the way, we have not had one death. Let’s keep it that way!”
(https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1232492821501771776)

25 – The CDC hosted Dr. Nancy Messonnier, M.D., Director, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases in a CDC Media Telebriefing: Update on COVID-19
(https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/a0225-cdc-telebriefing-covid-19.html)
(https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/t0225-cdc-telebriefing-covid-19.html)

25 – The WHO reported 18 new, and 53 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the United States.

26 – The WHO reported 2 total COVID-19 cases in Spain.

26 – POTUS: “Because of all we’ve done, the risk to the American people remains very low. … When you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero. That’s a pretty good job we’ve done.”

26 – In a press conference POTUS was asked about his budget cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organization.

Reporter: “Your budgets have consistently called for enormous cuts to the CDC, the NIH, and the WHO. You’ve talked a lot today about how these professionals are excellent, have been critical and necessary. Does this experience at all give you pause about those consistent cuts?”

Trump: “No, because we — we can get money and we can increase staff. We know all the people. We know all the good people. It’s a question I asked the doctors before. Some of the people we cut, they haven’t been used for many, many years. And if — if we ever need them, we can get them very quickly. And rather than spending the money — and I’m a business person — I don’t like having thousands of people around when you don’t need them. When we need them, we can get them back very quickly. For instance, we’re bringing some people in tomorrow that are already in this, you know, great government that we have, and very specifically for this. We can build up very, very quickly. And we’ve already done that. I mean, we really have built up. We have a great staff.”

(https://factba.se/transcript/donald-trump-press-conference-white-house-coronavirus-february-26-2020)
(https://www.fedscope.opm.gov/)

26 – Q: This is spreading — or is going to spread, maybe, within communities. That’s the expectation.
A (POTUS): It may. It may.
Q: Does that worry you?
A (POTUS): No. … No, because we’re ready for it. It is what it is. We’re ready for it. We’re really prepared. … We hope it doesn’t spread. There’s a chance that it won’t spread too, and there’s a chance that it will, and then it’s a question of at what level.

26 – POTUS names VP Mike Pence as White House Coronavirus Task Force Chair, and named Deborah Birx, MD, as Response Coordinator.

27 – The WHO reported 1 new, and 11 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Canada.

27 – News emerged of U.S. Intelligence agencies global monitoring of coronavirus, and were daily debriefing Senate & House Intelligence Committees
(https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-usa-intelligence/u-s-spy-agencies-monitor-coronavirus-spread-concerns-about-india-sources-idUSKCN20L37R)
(https://factba.se/transcript/donald-trump-press-conference-white-house-coronavirus-february-26-2020)

27 – NC Senator Richard Burr attended luncheon organized by the Tar Heel Circle nonpartisan business group at the Capitol Hill Club social club, told attendees“There’s one thing that I can tell you about this: It is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything that we have seen in recent history. It is probably more akin to the 1918 pandemic. Every company should be cognizant of the fact that you may have to alter your travel. You may have to look at your employees and judge whether the trip they’re making to Europe is essential or whether it can be done on video conference. Why risk it?” He received over $100K election campaign contributions from Tar Heel Circle members in 2015 & 2016, whose membership dues range from $500 to $10,000 and promises that members “enjoy interaction with top leaders and staff from Congress, the administration, and the private sector.” Butt helped write the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA), which forms the framework for the federal response.
(https://www.npr.org/2020/03/19/818192535/burr-recording-sparks-questions-about-private-comments-on-covid-19)

27 – POTUS Tweet: “Congratulations and thank you to our great Vice President & all of the many professionals doing such a fine job at CDC & all other agencies on the Coronavirus situation. Only a very small number in U.S., & China numbers look to be going down. All countries working well together!”
(https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1233220106324451328)

28 – The WHO reported 1 total COVID-19 case in the Netherlands.

28 – POTUS: “I think it’s really going well. We did something very fortunate: we closed up to certain areas of the world very, very early — far earlier than we were supposed to. I took a lot of heat for doing it. It turned out to be the right move, and we only have 15 people and they are getting better, and hopefully they’re all better. There’s one who is quite sick, but maybe he’s gonna be fine. … We’re prepared for the worst, but we think we’re going to be very fortunate.”

28 – POTUS (at African American History Month reception in White House Cabinet Room): “It’s going to disappear. One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear. …from our shores, you know, it could get worse before it gets better. Could maybe go away. We’ll see what happens. Nobody really knows.”
(https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/27/politics/trump-coronavirus-disappear/index.html)

29 – Officials fom CDC, Washington State Department of Health, and Seattle & King County Public Health confirm the first U.S. death from COVID-19 at EvergreenHealth Medical Center in Kirkland, Washington, near Seattle; a male in his 70’s with underlying health conditions.
(https://www.forbes.com/sites/victoriaforster/2020/02/29/us-reports-first-death-from-covid-19/#55023b9a6c6c)
(https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/1st-coronavirus-death-u-s-officials-say-n1145931)
(https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2020/02/29/Health-officials-confirm-first-US-coronavirus-death/9721582986064/)

29 – The WHO reported 2 cumulative deaths, 19 new, and 57 cumulative cases of COVID-19 in France.

29 – The WHO reported 1 new, and 5 cumulative deaths, with 20 new, and 230 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Japan.

29 – The WHO reported 3 total COVID-19 cases in Canada.

29 – The WHO reported 2 total COVID-19 cases in Mexico.

29 – POTUS: “We’re the number one travel destination anywhere in the world, yet we have far fewer cases of the disease than even countries with much less travel or a much smaller population.”

29 – The WHO reported 3 new, and 62 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the United States.

March

1 – New York Governor Mario Cuomo confirmed the state’s first case of COVID-19, a woman in her late 30’s, who contracted the disease while in Iran.

1 – Officials from Alameda County and Solano County, California, report 2 presumptive cases of COVID-19, both who worked at NorthBay VacaValley Hospital in Vacaville, while Santa Clara County reported 3; a woman with chronic health issues who was hospitalized, and a husband and wife who traveled to Egypt, and were both hospitalized.

1 – The WHO reported 1 new, and 18 cumulative deaths, with 586 new, and 3736 cumulative COVID-19 cases in South Korea.

1 – United States Postal Service announced that an employee from a Seattle mail distribution center was among the six people in King County, Washington, who tested positive for COVID-19. The employee had recently returned from from overseas travel, and the infection was not mail related.

1 – Delta Airlines suspended flights to Milan, Italy, and announced a prospective return of service May 1. Delta’s flights to Rome were unaffected.

1 – Pope Francis interrupted his talk to cough several times as he spoke from his window on St. Peter’s Square and announced he would decline participating in a week-long spiritual retreat, saying that, “Unfortunately, a cold forces me not to participate this year. I will follow the meditations from here. I spiritually join the curia and all the people who are doing spiritual exercises at home.” A Vatican spokesman said the Pope was suffering from a “mild ailment,” but declined to state if he had been tested for COVID-19.

1 – Taiwanese officials announced a new confirmed case of COVID-19, bringing the total cases in that nation to 40; a woman in her 70’s who had boarded the Diamond Princess cruise ship 30 January and tested positive on February 15, but tested Negative 10 days later, and returned to Taiwan February 26, whereupon she immediatly went into quarantine.

3 – The WHO reported 29 new, and 158 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Germany.

3 – The WHO reported 2 total deaths, with 2 new, and 64 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the United States.

4 – The WHO reported 28 new, and 80 cumulative deaths, with 466 new, and 2502 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Italy.

4 – In a meeting with airline CEOs at the White House, POTUS said, “Some people will have this at a very light level and won’t even go to a doctor or hospital, and they’ll get better. There are many people like that.” -and- “And a lot of people are staying in our country, and they’re shopping and using our hotels in this country. So, from that standpoint, I think, probably, there’s a positive impact.”
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-vice-president-pence-coronavirus-briefing-airline-ceos/)

4 – In a telephone interview with Sean Hannity, POTUS said, “You never hear about those people. So, you can’t put them down in the category of the overall population in terms of this corona flu and — or virus. So you just can’t do that. So, if we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work — some of them go to work, but they get better.”
(https://factba.se/transcript/donald-trump-interview-sean-hannity-fox-telephone-march-4-2020)

5 – The WHO reported 38 new, and 89 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the United Kingdom.

5 – POTUS Tweet: “With approximately 100,000 CoronaVirus cases worldwide, and 3,280 deaths, the United States, because of quick action on closing our borders, has, as of now, only 129 cases (40 Americans brought in) and 11 deaths. We are working very hard to keep these numbers as low as possible!”
(https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1235604572850343937)

6 – The WHO reported 15 new, and 45 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Canada.

6 – Research published by a team of international scientists from the U.S., Italy and China, led by Northeastern University in Boston, showed models that spread of the novel coronavius COVID-19 was likely to be unaffected unless accompanied by significant reductions in community transmission. Even if travel to and from China was reduced by up to 90%, unless those community-based restrictions were “paired with public health interventions and behavioral changes that achieve a considerable reduction in the disease transmissibility,” the disease was still very likely to be spread. “Modeling results also indicate that sustained 90% travel restrictions to and from Mainland China only modestly affect the epidemic trajectory unless combined with a 50% or higher reduction of transmission in the community.”
(https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/03/05/science.aba9757)

6 – At a press conference, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo first referred to novel coronavirus COVID-19 as ‘the Wuhan virus’ saying “On Monday, our USAID announced $37 million in financing allocated for countries affected or at high risk of the Wuhan virus’s spread.”
(https://www.state.gov/secretary-pompeos-remarks-to-the-press/)

6 – At the signing of the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020 in the Diplomatic Room, in response to the question “Do you think the financial markets are overreacting?” POTUS said in part: “This came unexpectedly a number of months ago. I heard about it in China. It came out of China, and I heard about it. And made a good move: We closed it down; we stopped it. Otherwise — the head of CDC said last night that you would have thousands of more problems if we didn’t shut it down very early. That was a very early shutdown, which is something we got right. Okay?” -and- In response to the question “How do you keep people from panicking from (inaudible)?” POTUS said in part: “I don’t think they’re panicking. I don’t think people are panicking. I said last night — we did an interview on Fox last night, a town hall. I think it was very good. And I said, “Calm. You have to be calm.” It’ll go away. We do have a situation where we have this massive ship with 5,000 people and we have to make a decision. You know, that’s a big decision because we have very low numbers compared to major countries throughout the world. Our numbers are lower than just about anybody.”
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-signing-coronavirus-preparedness-response-supplemental-appropriations-act-2020/)

6 – POTUS traveled to the CDC in Atlanta and answered questions after touring the facility. One question he was asked was about cancellation of highly-attended gatherings: “All of these organizations that are canceling conventions and trips and study abroad programs and all these — all the organizations and businesses that are canceling conventions and meeting and travel, even within the United States, are they overreacting or are they taking the right precautions?” He replied: “I think it’s fine if they want to do it. I don’t think it’s an overreaction, but I wouldn’t be generally inclined to do it. I really wouldn’t be. Now, it depends in what country you’re talking about. If you’re talking about — if they’re going through another country or are you talking about within the United States?”
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-tour-centers-disease-control-prevention-atlanta-ga/)

7 – The WHO reported 2 new, and 5 cumulative deaths, with 117 new, and 374 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Spain.

7 – In an interview with CBNC about China’s successful response to the outbreak, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, “I’m happy you complimented the Chinese Communist Party today, but remember this is the Wuhan coronavirus that’s caused this. I’m happy about the efforts that they have taken, but no less authority than the Chinese Communist Party said it came from Wuhan. So don’t take Mike Pompeo’s word for it. We have pretty high confidence that we know where this began, and we have high confidence too that there was information that could have been made available more quickly.”
(https://www.state.gov/secretary-michael-r-pompeo-with-joe-kernan-becky-quick-and-andrew-ross-sorkin-of-cnbc-squawk-box/)

8 – The WHO reported 11 cumulative deaths, with 213 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the United States.

8 – POTUS re-Tweeted story about Surgeon General Jerome Adams playing down Trump’s coronavirus risk.
(https://twitter.com/thedailybeast/status/1236708039668924417)

8 – POTUS flew to Trump International, West Palm Beach, Florida and played golf with members of the Washington Nationals baseball team at his private club there.
(https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/486541-trump-golfs-with-washington-nationals-players-in-florida)
(https://www.trumpgolfcount.com/displayoutings)
(https://golfweek.usatoday.com/2020/03/09/trump-hosts-washington-nationals-players-for-golf/)

9 – POTUS Tweet: “The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything within its semi-considerable power (it used to be greater!) to inflame the CoronaVirus situation, far beyond what the facts would warrant. Surgeon General, “The risk is low to the average American.””
(https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1236975196642390022)

9 – POTUS Tweet: “So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!”
(https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1237027356314869761)

9 – Former Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossert authored OpEd published in Washington Post which advocated social distancing, and school closures. “In the meantime, we must focus on reducing the height of the outbreak curve. This requires coordination and implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions. School closures, isolation of the sick, home quarantines of those who have come into contact with the sick, social distancing, telework and large-gathering cancellations must be implemented before the spread of the disease in any community reaches 1 percent. After that, science tells us, these interventions become far less effective.”
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/09/its-now-or-never-us-if-it-hopes-keep-coronavirus-burning-out-control/)

10 – CDC Media Telebriefing identified that “Starting at age 60, there is an increasing risk of disease and the risk increases with age. The highest risk of serious illness and death is in people older than 80 years.”
(https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/t0309-covid-19-update.html)

10 – The WHO reported 3 cumulative deaths, with 56 new, and 321 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the Netherlands.

10 – POTUS:

10 – POTUS met with Republican Senators, and afterward addressed the press. His opening remarks in part were “As you know, it’s about 600 cases, it’s about 26 deaths, within our country. And had we not acted quickly, that number would have been substantially more.” He then took questions, and was asked, “Mr. President, how long should Americans be prepared for the economy to suffer?” His response was: “Well, this was unexpected. This was something that came out of China, and it hit us and many other countries. You look at the numbers; I see the numbers with just by watching you folks. I see it — it’s over 100 different countries. And it hit the world. And we’re prepared, and we’re doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away. We want to protect our shipping industry, our cruise industry, cruise ships. We want to protect our airline industry — very important. But everybody has to be vigilant and has to be careful. But be calm. It’s really working out. And a lot of good things are going to happen. The consumer is ready, and the consumer is so powerful in our country with what we’ve done with tax cuts and regulation cuts and all of those things. The consumer has never been in a better position than they are right now. So a lot of good things are going to happen. Thank you very much, everybody.”
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-meeting-republican-senators-2/)

11 – The WHO reported 22 new, and 3162 cumulative deaths, 31 new, and 80,955 cumulative confirmed cases of COVID-19 in China.

11 – The WHO reported 6 new, and 60 cumulative deaths, with 242 new, and 7755 cumulative COVID-19 cases in South Korea.

11 – POTUS: “I think we’re going to get through it very well.”

11 – POTUS addresses the nation from the Oval Office stating “we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days,” and that for “The vast majority of Americans: The risk is very, very low. Young and healthy people can expect to recover fully and quickly if they should get the virus.” He also stated that he would be “be instructing the Treasury Department to defer tax payments, without interest or penalties, for certain individuals and businesses negatively impacted.”
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-address-nation/)

12 – Testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on “Coronavirus Readiness and Response,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, MD, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, stated in part that, “The system does not, is not really geared to what we need right now, to what you are asking for. That is a failing. Let’s admit it.”
(https://oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/fauci-testifies-coronavirus-testing-system-not-really-geared-to-what-we-need)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8JEamI4sXo)
(https://oversight.house.gov/legislation/hearings/coronavirus-preparedness-and-response)

12 – The WHO reported 4 new, and 11 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Mexico.

12 – Hua Chunying, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Director General, Department of Information, MFA PRC, Tweeted that “Science is the best weapon against #COVID19. Protecting people’s lives depends on science-based measures. Face up to truth & facts. No more politically-motivated attacks & senseless blame game! Please heed CDC experts’ advice and the world’s voice.” and re-Tweeted a Tweeted story by The Hill headlined that “Trump’s National Security Advisor says China “covered up” coronavirus”
(https://twitter.com/SpokespersonCHN/status/1237977533343125504)
(https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/487011-trumps-national-security-adviser-says-china-covered-up-coronavirus?amp=&from=groupmessage)

12 – In a series of Tweets in English, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian accused the U.S. military of introducing the virus into China, and wrote in part that “CDC Director Robert Redfield admitted some Americans who seemingly died from influenza were tested positive for novel #coronavirus in the posthumous diagnosis, during the House Oversight Committee Wednesday. #COVID19 CDC was caught on the spot. When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!”
(https://twitter.com/zlj517/status/1238110160884625409)

12 – POTUS: “It’s going to go away. … The United States, because of what I did and what the administration did with China, we have 32 deaths at this point … when you look at the kind of numbers that you’re seeing coming out of other countries, it’s pretty amazing when you think of it.”

13 – The WHO reported 7 new, and 36 cumulative deaths, with 277 new, and 1264 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the United States.

13 – In a press conference, POTUS was asked “What responsibility do you take” for the “disband[ing]” of the White House pandemic office, and he replied that he “didn’t know anything about it.” He continued by saying, “And when you say ‘me,’ I didn’t do it. I could ask perhaps — my administration — but I could perhaps ask Tony about that because I don’t know anything about it. I mean, you say — you say we did that. I don’t know anything about it.” POTUS’ mention of “Tony” was in reference to Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, MD, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The reporter made clear she was talking about “the reorganization that happened at the National Security Council,” and POTUS added: “It’s the — it’s the administration. Perhaps they do that. You know, people let people go.”
(https://factba.se/transcript/donald-trump-press-conference-emergency-coronavirus-march-13-2020)

13 – The Department of Defense instated a Domestic Travel Ban for all DoD employees “service members, DoD civilians, and their families assigned to DoD installations, facilities and surrounding areas within the United States and its territories. This restriction will halt all domestic travel, including Permanent Change of Station, and Temporary Duty. This restriction will also pause civilian hiring at DoD installations and components for persons who do not reside within the hiring entity’s local commuting area.”
(https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Releases/Release/Article/2112213/statement-by-the-department-of-defense-on-domestic-travel-restrictions/source/GovDelivery/)

13 – POTUS declared National Emergency Concerning the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreak
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-declaring-national-emergency-concerning-novel-coronavirus-disease-covid-19-outbreak/)

13 – At a Coronavirus Task Force press conference, POTUS said the Food and Drug Administration “will bring, additionally, 1.4 million tests on board next week and 5 million within a month. I doubt we’ll need anywhere near that.”
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-vice-president-pence-members-coronavirus-task-force-press-conference-3/)

13 – International Journal of Infectious Diseases published research by Professor Hiroshi Nishiura, MD, PhD, DTM&H, of the Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Japan, and Editor-in-Chief of “Theoretical Biology and Medical Modeling” of BioMed Central, that “Estimation of the asymptomatic ratio of novel coronavirus infections (COVID-19)” which stated in part that “The number of novel coronavirus (Covid-19) cases worldwide continues to grow, and the gap between reports from China and statistical estimates of incidence based on cases diagnosed outside China indicates that a substantial number of cases are underdiagnosed.” Dr. Nishiura calculated that the percentage of Japanese patients evacuated from Wuhan who tested positive but were asymtomatic was 30.8%, similar to the classified Chinese data.
(https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339931981_Estimation_of_the_asymptomatic_ratio_of_novel_coronavirus_infections_COVID-19)
(https://www.ijidonline.com/article/S1201-9712(20)30139-9/fulltext) (http://plaza.umin.ac.jp/~infepi/hnishiura.htm)

14 – The WHO reported 252 new, and 1268 cumulative deaths, with 2547 new, and 17,660 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Italy.

14 – POTUS: “We’re using the full power of the federal government to defeat the virus, and that’s what we’ve been doing.” Also retweeted supporter Candace Owens, who cited “good news” on the coronavirus, including that “Italy is hit hard, experts say, because they have the oldest population in Europe (average age of those that have died is 81).”

14 – Dr. Sean P. Conley, DO, Physician to the President, Commander, U.S. Navy, issued a memo stating that POTUS’ COVID-19 test was negative. “One week after having dinner with the Brazilian delegation in Mar-a-Lago, the President remains symptom-free.”
(https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-says-he-has-been-tested-coronavirus-expects-results-within-n1158991)

15 – German newspaper Die Welt am Sonntag reported that POTUS offered “large sums of money” to the German biopharmaceutical firm CureVac for a COVID-19 vaccine exclusively for the United States.
(https://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/plus206563595/Trump-will-deutsche-Impfstoff-Firma-CureVac-Traumatische-Erfahrung.html)
(https://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article206555143/Corona-USA-will-Zugriff-auf-deutsche-Impfstoff-Firma.html?wtrid=onsite.onsitesearch)
(https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-confirms-that-donald-trump-tried-to-buy-firm-working-on-coronavirus-vaccine/)
(https://www.curevac.com/news/curevac-ceo-daniel-menichella-ber%C3%A4t-mit-us-pr%C3%A4sident-donald-trump-und-mitgliedern-der-corona-task-force-entwicklungsm%C3%B6glichkeiten-eines-coronavirus-impfstoffes)
(https://www.motherjones.com/coronavirus-updates/2020/03/trump-vaccine-germany-curevac-yikes/)
(https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-tried-convince-german-scientists-make-coronavirus-vaccine-only-united-states-1492416)
(https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/16/depraved-trump-reportedly-offered-german-firm-large-sum-exclusive-rights-coronavirus)
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/germany-coronavirus-curevac-vaccine-trump-rights/2020/03/15/8d684c68-6702-11ea-b199-3a9799c54512_story.html)
(https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/germany-tries-stop-trump-luring-away-firm-working-coronavirus-vaccine-n1159426)
(https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-germany-usa-idUSKBN2120IV)
(https://www.businessinsider.com/curevac-coronavirus-vaccine-trump-germany-denial-2020-3)
(https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-administration-tried-to-pay-germans-scientists-for-coronavirus-cure-2020-3)
(https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/03/trump-coronavirus-vaccine-germany-united-states-only.html)
(https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/15/world/europe/cornonavirus-vaccine-us-germany.html)

15 – The WHO reported 11 new, and 21 cumulative deaths, with 342 new, and 1144 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the United Kingdom.

15 – The WHO reported 12 new, and 91 cumulative deaths, 829 new, and 4469 cumulative cases of COVID-19 in France.

15 – The WHO reported 2 new, and 8 cumulative deaths, 733 new, and 3795 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Germany.

15 – POTUS: “This is a very contagious virus. It’s incredible. But it’s something that we have tremendous control over.”

15 – U.S. State Department issued a Level 3 Travel Advisory to “reconsider travel”

15 – The Peace Corps Director Jody K. Olsen announced volunteer activities were ceased, and evacuations would begin.
(https://www.peacecorps.gov/news/library/peace-corps-announces-suspension-volunteer-activities-evacuations-due-covid-19/)

16 – The WHO reported 1 total death, with 60 new, and 304 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Canada.

16 – POTUS: “If you’re talking about the virus, no, that’s not under control for any place in the world. … I was talking about what we’re doing is under control, but I’m not talking about the virus.”

16 – CDC issued advisory for Americans to avoid all nonessential travel to Chile, Pakistan, Thailand and Turkey
(https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices)

16 – The WHO reported 5 total COVID-19 cases in Turkey, 75 in Chile, 52 in Pakistan, and 114 in Thailand.

17 – The WHO reported 21 new, and 309 cumulative deaths, with 1438, and 9191 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Spain.

17 – China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announces that it is expelling American journalists working for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post after the Trump administration limited the number of Chinese journalists who can work in the U.S.

17 – At a WHCTF press briefing POTUS said, “I’ve always known this is a — this is a real — this is a pandemic. I’ve felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic. And we’re going to win, and I think we’re going to win faster than people think, I hope.” VP Pence said at that same briefing that “And specifically, as we work on the issue of supplies — meetings yesterday with Department of Defense officials about excess supplies; the President and I will be meeting today to speak about the supply chain for hospitals — we would make one specific request, and that is: We would urge construction companies to donate their inventory of N95 masks to your local hospital and forego additional orders of those industrial masks.”

17 – In opening remarks to the press, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo again referred to the novel coronavirus as “the Wuhan virus.”
(https://www.state.gov/secretary-michael-r-pompeo-remarks-to-the-press-6/)

18 – The WHO reported 21 new, and 79 cumulative deaths, with 820 new, and 4356 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the United States.

18 – For the first time since the outbreak began, Wuhan province reported no new cases of COVID-19. The outbreak that began in Wuhan infected 81,154 people in China, killing 3,249 so far. Globally, the number of cases and deaths continues to rise, with 222,499 infected and more than 9,800 deaths.

18 – Chinese officials issued an apology to Wenliang’s family and walk back criticism of the whistleblower. “Li Wenliang was a Communist Party member, not a so-called antiestablishment figure,” a party official said on state media.
(https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-rescinds-penalty-for-late-doctor-who-warned-about-coronavirus-11584637545?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1)

19 – New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in his daily press briefing said, “Every state is shopping for ventilators. We’re shopping for ventilators. We literally have people in China shopping for ventilators, which is one of the largest manufacturers. So this is a major problem,” added that the Federal government “can actually play a very constructive role” under the DPA. “We’re going to need protective equipment in hospitals. We’re going to need ventilators. And that is something that a state can’t do, but the federal government can do.”

19 – House Oversight and Reform Committee sent a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar and to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield reiterating a previous request for documents about the White House’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
(https://www.newsweek.com/house-oversight-committee-warns-us-coronavirus-testing-still-remains-far-behind-other-countries-1493326)

19 – POTUS said in daily press briefing by WHCTF that, “Governors are supposed to be doing a lot of this work, and they are doing a lot of this work. The Federal government is not supposed to be out there buying vast amounts of items and then shipping. You know, we’re not a shipping clerk.” Signaled end of Federal Support for testing, and other supplies saying Federal agencies will “help out wherever we can,” but that the acquisition of urgent supplies “is really for the local governments, governors and people in the state, depending on the way they divide it up. And they’ll do that, and they’re doing a very good job of it.”
(https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/19/trump-governors-coronavirus-medical-supplies-137658)

19 – The WHO reported 2 new, and 31 cumulative deaths, with 41 new, and 914 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Japan.

19 – News of Senator Richard Burr’s stock sales emerged
(https://www.propublica.org/article/senator-dumped-up-to-1-7-million-of-stock-after-reassuring-public-about-coronavirus-preparedness)
(https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2020/03/burr-unloaded-stocks-before-coronavirus/)
(https://www.npr.org/2020/03/19/818192535/burr-recording-sparks-questions-about-private-comments-on-covid-19)
(https://www.propublica.org/article/senator-dumped-up-to-1-7-million-of-stock-after-reassuring-public-about-coronavirus-preparedness)
(https://efdsearch.senate.gov/search/home/)

19 – U.S. State Department issued a Level 4 “DO NOT TRAVEL” abroad advisory for “U.S. citizens to avoid all international travel due to the global impact of COVID-19.”
(https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/ea/travel-advisory-alert-global-level-4-health-advisory-issue.html)

19 – POTUS said, “Nobody knew there would be a pandemic or epidemic of this proportion.”

20 – The WHO reported 149 new, and 1284 cumulative deaths, with 1046 new, and 18,407 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Iran.

20 – The WHO reported 18 new, and 76 cumulative deaths, with 409 new, and 2460 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the Netherlands.

21 – The Department of Defense confirmed on the 22nd that the first COVID-19 related death occurred 21 March, who was a Crystal City, Virginia-based contractor who worked at the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.

21 – Chinese seafood merchant Wei Guixian, a 57-year old female, considered “Patient Zero” of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, had recovered and had been released from hospital.
(https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8138303/One-known-coronavirus-victims-RECOVERED.html)
(https://theunionjournal.com/first-known-coronavirus-victim-has-recovered/)

21 – The WHO reported 8 new, and 102 cumulative deaths, with 147 new, and 8799 cumulative COVID-19 cases in South Korea.

21 – CDC issued travel advisory against nonessential travel to Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan and Israel, recommends all travelers returning from these countries stay home for 14 days, monitor their health and practice social distancing

22 – Indiana reports 2 new, and 6 cumulative COVID-19 deaths, with 201 confirmed cases.

22 – After viewing classified government data, the South China Morning Post reported that “A third of coronavirus cases may be ‘silent carriers’, classified Chinese data suggests; More than 43,000 people in China had tested positive without immediate symptoms by the end of February and were quarantined; It is still unclear what role asymptomatic transmission is playing in the global pandemic. More than 43,000 people in China had tested positive for Covid-19 by the end of February but had no immediate symptoms, a condition typically known as asymptomatic… were placed in quarantine and monitored but were not included in the official tally of confirmed cases, which stood at about 80,000 at the time,” and further noted that “A patient usually develops symptoms in five days, though the incubation period can be as long as three weeks in some rare cases.” It noted as well that “World Health Organisation classifies all people who test positive as confirmed cases regardless of whether they experience any symptoms. South Korea also does this. The United States, Britain and Italy simply do not test people without symptoms, apart from medical workers who have prolonged exposure to the virus.” It further added that “The approach taken by China and South Korea of testing anyone who has had close contact with a patient – regardless of whether the person has symptoms – may explain why the two Asian countries seem to have checked the spread of the virus. Hong Kong is extending testing to airport arrivals in the city, even if travellers have no symptoms. Meanwhile in most European countries and the US, where only those with symptoms are tested, the number of infections continues to rapidly rise.”
(https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3076323/third-coronavirus-cases-may-be-silent-carriers-classified)

23 – POTUS: “America will again and soon be open for business. … Parts of our country are very lightly affected.”

24 – The WHO reported 32 new, and 126 cumulative deaths, and 4438 new, and 29,212 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Germany.

24 – German news magazine Der Spiegel reported that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a video teleconference of G7 member nations, “the State Department insists on the name “Wuhan virus.” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo represents the line of his president. Donald Trump speaks mostly of the “Chinese virus” at press conferences and on Twitter. The other G7 members reject a label that suggests the pandemic is a Chinese problem. They propose the term “Covid-19” also used by the World Health Organization (WHO). No agreement was reached in the negotiations of the political directors of the G7 foreign ministries.”
(https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/streit-um-wuhan-virus-a-6bb570bb-9f2b-4cd1-a895-fdeabf53f6b4)

24 – The WHO reported 2 new, and 4 cumulative deaths, with 119 new, and 370 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Mexico.

24 – POTUS: “You’re going to lose a number of people to the flu. But you’re going to lose more people by putting a country into a massive recession or depression.” On reopening the American economy by April 12: “It’s such an important day for other reasons, but I’ll make it an important day for this, too. … I would love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter.”

25 – The WHO reported 202 new, and 673 cumulative deaths, with 9750 new, and 51,914 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the United States.

25 – The WHO reported 87 new, and 422 cumulative COVID-19 cases, with 1427 new, and 8081 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the United Kingdom.

25 – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addressed a press conference about the G7 meeting, and in response to a question about the Der Spiegel news report, stated in part that, “We’ve wanted to work with the Chinese Communist Party throughout this crisis – this crisis that began in Wuhan, China. We tried – you’ll remember – from the opening days to get our scientists, our experts on the ground there so that we could begin to assist in the global response to what began there in China, but we weren’t able to do that. The Chinese Communist Party wouldn’t permit that to happen. You’ll recall, too, at the beginning of this, when it was clear that this was an issue, China knew about it, they were the first country to know about the risk to the world from this virus, and they repeatedly delayed sharing that information with the globe. So yes, we desperately want to work with every country around the world. This is a global pandemic; this is something the United States wants to work with every country, including China, to figure out how to resolve to keep as many people alive, as many people as healthy, and then to restore our economies that have been decimated by the Wuhan virus. So we are – we are prepared to work with them, we’re prepared to assist them. We want good things for the Chinese people as well. This activity resulted in the deaths of lots of people in China as well. It’s not just been something that is extraterritorial to China. But it’s really important that we make sure we get this right. There was a lot of discussion today amongst the G7 about the intentional disinformation campaign that China has been and continues to be engaged in. You see it. You see it in the social media. You see it in remarks from senior people inside the Chinese Communist Party talking about whether this was a U.S. – U.S. brought to China. I mean, this is crazy talk. And every member of the G7 today saw that – this disinformation campaign. China now making small sales of product around the world and claiming that they are now the white hat in what has taken place here. This isn’t a time for blame; this is a time to solve this global problem. We are focused on that today. It’s where the G7 members spent all of their time. But every one of the nations that was at that meeting this morning was deeply aware of the disinformation campaign that the Chinese Communist Party is engaged in to try and deflect from what has really taken place here.”
(https://www.state.gov/secretary-michael-r-pompeo-at-a-press-availability-3/)

25 – POTUS: “There are large sections of our country — probably can go back to work much sooner than other sections. … It’s hard not to be happy with the job we’re doing, that I can tell you.”

25 – In an interview with TED on Tuesday, Bill Gates contradicted statements made by POTUS, and said that in order to get a full grip upon the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States“It’s very irresponsible for somebody to suggest we can have the best of both worlds. What we need is an extreme shutdown so that in six to 10 weeks, if things go well, then you can start opening back up. There really is no middle ground, and it’s very tough to say to people: ‘Hey, keep going to restaurants, go buy new houses, ignore that pile of bodies over in the corner. We want you to keep spending because there’s maybe a politician who thinks GDP growth is all that counts.’ It’s very hard to tell people when there’s an epidemic spreading… that they should go about things, knowing that their activity is spreading this disease.”
(https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bill-gates-on-coronavirus-161803530.html)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe8fIjxicoo&t=1131s)

26 – The WHO reported 10 new, and 35 cumulative deaths, with 1670 new, and 3409 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Canada.

26 – The WHO reported 211 new, and 884 cumulative deaths, with 11,656 new, and 63,570 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the United States.

26 – POTUS: “They have to go back to work; our country has to go back. Our country is based on that, and I think it’s going to happen pretty quickly.” -and- “I have a feeling that a lot of numbers that are being said in some areas are just bigger than they’re going to be. I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators.”

26 – CDC MMWR published statistical data on “COVID-19 in a Long-Term Care Facility — King County, Washington, February 27–March 9, 2020” which analyzed 4 visitors, 129 staff, and of 81 residents found 65.4% female, average age 81, 56.8% hospitalized, 69.1% had hypertension (largest portion), followed by 56.8% with cardiac disease, 43.2% renal disease, 37.0% diabetes, 33.3% obesity, 32.1% pulmonary disease, 13.6% cancer, 9.9% immunocompromised, and 6.2% liver disease.

27 – The WHO reported 655 new, and 4089 cumulative deaths, with 8578 new, and 56,188 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Spain.

28 – The WHO reported 971 new, and 9136 cumulative deaths, with 5959 new, and 86,498 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Italy.

29 – POTUS: “So you’re talking about [worst-case scenarios of] 2.2 million deaths, 2.2 million people from this. And so if we could hold that down, as we’re saying, to 100,000 — it’s a horrible number, maybe even less — but to 100,000. So we have between 100 and 200,000, and we altogether have done a very good job.”

30 – POTUS: “New York is really in trouble, but I think it’s going to end up being fine. We’re loading it up, we’re stocking it up. … And then by a little short of June, maybe June 1, we think the — you know, it’s a terrible thing to say, but — we think the deaths will be at a very low number. It’ll be brought down to a very low number from right now, from where it’s getting to reach its peak.”

31 – In an interview with New York Times, Professor Dr. Gerardo Chowell, PhD, Professor, Chair of the Department of Population Health Sciences and epidemiologist at Georgia State University School of Public Health said, “The substantial asymptomatic proportion for Covid-19 is quite alarming. I think increasing evidence suggests the virus is spread not just through droplets but through aerosols. It would make a lot of sense to encourage at the very least face mask use in enclosed spaces including supermarkets.”
(https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/31/health/coronavirus-asymptomatic-transmission.html)
(https://publichealth.gsu.edu/profile/gerardo-chowell/)

31 – The WHO reported 4 new, and 3310 cumulative deaths, with 97 new, and 82,544 cumulative COVID-19 cases in China.

31 – The WHO reported 128 new, and 583 cumulative deaths, with 4615 new, and 61,913 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Germany.

31 – The WHO reported 2 new, and 56 cumulative deaths, with 87 new, and 1953 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Japan.

31 – The WHO reported 93 new, and 864 cumulative deaths, with 884 new, and 11,750 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the Netherlands.

31 – The WHO reported 4 new, and 162 cumulative deaths, with 125 new, and 9786 cumulative COVID-19 cases in South Korea.

31 – The WHO reported 286 new, and 2398 cumulative deaths, with 17,987 new, and 140,640 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the United States.

31 – The WHO reported 4 new, and 20 cumulative deaths, with 145 new, and 993 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Mexico.

31 – Research published by the U.S. National Academies of Science stated that “Our results show that these measures likely slowed the rate of exportation from mainland China to other countries, but are insufficient to contain the global spread of COVID-19.” Impact of international travel and border control measures on the global spread of the novel 2019 coronavirus outbreak
(https://www.pnas.org/content/117/13/7504)

 

April

1 – The WHO reported 497 new, and 3514 cumulative deaths, 7500 new, and 51,477 cumulative COVID-19 cases in France.

4 – The WHO reported 684 new, and 3605 cumulative deaths, with 4450 new, and 38,172 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the United Kingdom.

7 – News reports of Peter Navarros’s memos became public, along with images of the same.
(https://www.axios.com/exclusive-navarro-deaths-coronavirus-memos-january-da3f08fb-dce1-4f69-89b5-ea048f8382a9.html)

7 – During a White House Coronavirus Task Force (WHCTF) briefing, POTUS said he never saw Peter Navarro’s memos, saying that, “I heard he wrote some memos talking about pandemic,” Trump said during a White House coronavirus task force briefing, “I didn’t see them. I didn’t look for them, either. I asked him about it just a little while ago, because I read something about a memo. I said, ‘Did you do a memo?’ I didn’t look for, I didn’t see it, I didn’t ask for him to show it to me. Nobody said, It’s going to happen, but there is a possibility, there always has been a possibility, but people wouldn’t talk about it.” He claimed that he saw them “maybe a day ago, two days ago. The cases really didn’t build up for a while, but you have to understand, I’m a cheerleader for this country. I don’t want to create havoc and shock and everything else, but ultimately when I was saying that I’m also closing [travel from China] down. I’m not going to go out and start screaming, This could happen, this could happen. So, again as president, I think a president has to be a cheerleader for their country. I basically did what the memo said, which was a pretty good memo from the standpoint that he talked about, I guess, I didn’t see it yet.”

8 – Federal Support Ends For Coronavirus Testing Sites As Pandemic Peak Nears – HHS spokesperson told NPR that “Many of the Community-Based Testing Sites (CBTS) are not closing, but rather transitioning to state-managed sites on or about April 10. The transition will ensure each state has the flexibility and autonomy to manage and operate testing sites within the needs of their specific community and to prioritize resources where they are needed the most.”
(https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/08/829955099/federal-support-for-coronavirus-testing-sites-end-as-peak-nears)
(https://www.gq.com/story/fed-cuts-coronavirus-testing)

9 – Following a great public outcry after NPR reported that the Trump administration would cease supporting states to perform broad COVID-19 testing, in a not-so-stunning abrupt reversal, the Trump administration announced they would continue to provide support to states for COVID-19 testing. During a conference call with reporters, Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Admiral Brett P. Giroir, MD, said, “The federal government is not abandoning any of the community-based test sites. I want that to be loud and clear.” In the program, the federal government supplies expertise, testing materials, protective equipment and lab contracts to local authorities at 41 sites, and according to Giroir, the program has tested over 77,000 people, most whom are health care workers and first responders, and said that about 20% of those tested were infected with the coronavirus. “The Department of Health and Human Services is stepping back from a plan to end support on Friday for community-based coronavirus testing sites around the country.”
(https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/09/830805038/in-reversal-federal-support-for-coronavirus-testing-sites-continues)

9 – Bill Gates interviewed on CNBC and warned that COVID-19 testing is “still completely mis-prioritized,” adding that “The natural thing would be to do like South Korea did, and create a unified system — that we haven’t gotten any interest from the federal level. The thinking is to create a website that you go in and enter your situation and it would give you a priority number, and then hopefully all the people who control the capacity limit the priority level that they accept, so they’re giving these very quick results and to the right people.” He said that “until we have that, we’re in big trouble, because as a percentage of 330 million [Americans], we’re not going to be able to test many people … [and] we need to know that number because that deeply affects rebounds when opening up. And there is some data that suggests it’s not a gigantic number but very, very important to pin that down.” He added further that when “we get our act together countrywide and if the compliance is very high and that testing including some innovations like a self-swab that our foundation has driven and those get into place by early June, we’ll be looking at some type of opening up.”
(https://news.yahoo.com/bill-gates-coronavirus-testing-200344998.html)

9 – The WHO reported 246 new, and 2107 cumulative deaths, with 4974, and 108,202 cumulative COVID-19 deaths in Germany.

9 – The WHO reported 540 new, and 17,669 cumulative deaths, with 3836 new, and 139,422 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Italy.

9 – The WHO reported 4 new, and 85 cumulative deaths, with 511 new, and 4768 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Japan.

9 – The WHO reported 147 new, and 2248 cumulative deaths, with 969 new, and 20,549 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the Netherlands.

9 – The WHO reported 4 new, and 204 cumulative, with 39 new, and 10,423 cumulative COVID-19 cases in South Korea.

9 – The WHO reported 757 new, and 14,555 cumulative deaths, with 6180 new, and 146,690 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Spain.

9 – The WHO reported 684 new, and 3605 cumulative deaths, with 4450 new, and 38,172 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the United Kingdom.

9 – The WHO reported 56 new, and 401 cumulative deaths, with 1384 new, and 18,433 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Canada.

9 – The WHO reported 1895 new, and 12,740 cumulative deaths, with 31,709, and 395,030 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the United States.

9 – CDC reports 14,696 total deaths, and 427,460 total cases of COVID-19 since January 21 (including District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands), as of April 5.

9 – The WHO reported 16 new, and 141 cumulative deaths, with 346 new, and 2785 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Mexico.

9 – The WHO reported 2 new, and 3344 cumulative deaths, 92 new, and 83,249 cumulative COVID-19 cases in China.

9 – The United States Department of Labor reported unemployment had risen substantially, having doubled from the week prior. “The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 28 was 7,455,000, an increase of 4,396,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This marks the highest level of seasonally adjusted insured unemployment in the history of the seasonally adjusted series. The previous high was 6,635,000 in May of 2009.” NPR reported that “In the prior week, ending March 28, a revised 6.9 million people filed first-time claims. About 16.8 million have filed in the past three weeks, and analysts expect the numbers to keep rising. Jobless claims have skyrocketed in recent weeks, as countless restaurants, hotels, factories and offices have been forced to shut down to combat the spread of the coronavirus.”
(https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf)
(https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/09/830216099/6-6-million-more-file-for-unemployment-as-coronavirus-keeps-economy-shut)

10 – The WHO reported 117 new, and 4110 cumulative deaths, with 1634 new, and 66,220 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Iran.

10 – POTUS attacked, and negatively criticized Voice of America, a free press agency which “began broadcasting in 1942 to combat Nazi propaganda with accurate and unbiased news and information,” which “is part of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the government agency that oversees all non-military, U.S. international broadcasting” created in 1942 as a U.S. taxpayer-funded “international multimedia broadcaster with service in more than 40 languages,” which “provides news, information, and cultural programming through the Internet, mobile and social media, radio, and television.” “VOA is a public service media organization with a congressionally-mandated firewall which prohibits editorial interference or control by the U.S. government. This is the very foundation of VOA’s independent reporting. By protecting against external interference, the firewall protects the credibility of the agency’s journalists and broadcasters.” He was presumably angered by their story “Trump Downplayed Coronavirus Threat Throughout February” By Ken Bredemeier, Updated April 14, 2020 02:26 PM (https://www.voanews.com/science-health/coronavirus-outbreak/trump-downplayed-coronavirus-threat-throughout-february)
(https://www.npr.org/2020/04/10/831988148/white-house-attacks-voice-of-america-over-china-coronavirus-coverage)
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/amid-a-pandemic-voice-of-america-spends-your-money-to-promote-foreign-propaganda/)

12 – The United States has eclipsed the number of cases of any nation for confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 555,398 with 2,805,892 having been tested, and 22,023 deaths. In sequential order, the next 25 highest nations with confirmed positive cases are:
1.) 166,831 Spain
2.) 156,363 Italy
3.) 133,670 France
4.) 127,854 Germany
5.) 85,206 United Kingdom
6.) 83,134 China
7.) 71,686 Iran
8.) 56,956 Turkey
9.) 29,647 Belgium
10.) 25,746 Netherlands
11.) 25,415 Switzerland
12.) 24,299 Canada
13.) 22,192 Brazil
14.) 16,585 Portugal
15.) 15,770 Russia
16.) 13,945 Austria
17.) 11,145 Israel
18.) 10,512 Korea, South
19.) 10,483 Sweden
20.) 9,655 Ireland
21.) 9,205 India
22.) 7,519 Peru
23.) 7,466 Ecuador
24.) 7,213 Chile
25.) 6,748 Japan
(https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6)

14 – POTUS announces that he will be pulling money from support of the World Health Organization “Today I am instructing my administration to halt funding of the World Health Organization while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organization’s role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus.”
(https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/14/834588506/trump-says-he-will-halt-who-funding-pending-review)
(https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-52275989)
(https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/trump-halting-funding-coronavirus-response-200414222242638.html)

14 – The CDC, and WHO report that there are now 605,193 confirmed COVID-19 cases, and 25,757 COVID-19 related deaths in the United States. Globally, there are a total of 1,973,715 confirmed COVID-19 cases, and 125,910 COVID-19 deaths.
(https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6)
(https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html)

16 – The United States surpassed Italy in the number of COVID-19 deaths – 33,284 to 22,170; 34.48% of which (11,477) were in New York City. There are 2,158,033 Total Confirmed cases globally, with 671,151 U.S. cases, or 31.1% of all cases globally. The next closest is Spain, with 184,948, followed by Italy with 168,941.
Infection Rate: 0.2033% USA; 0.3804% Spain; 0.2739% Italy
Cases Per 100,000: 203 USA; 380 Spain; 273 Italy
Deaths Per 100,000: 10 USA; 46 Spain; 36
Death Rate: 4.9592% USA; 10.4434% Spain; 13.1229% Italy
(https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6)

20 – POTUS said, “You must remember that the governors wanted to have total control over the opening of their states, but now they want to have us, the federal government, do the testing. And again, testing is local. You can’t have it both ways. Testing is a local thing. And it’s very important. It’s great. But it’s a local thing. And we’re going to get — we’re going to get it done to a level in a very short period of time, because all of these — all the swabs are coming in, all of the necessary materials. A lot of them, as I said, are already there, but a lot of people don’t know that yet.”
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-vice-president-pence-members-coronavirus-task-force-press-briefing-28/)

22 – News emerged that the first COVID-19 death did not occur in at EvergreenHealth Medical Center in Kirkland, Washington as previously thought. The Santa Clara County California Medical Examiner reported on the 21st that autopsies revealed 2 coronavirus-infected deaths occurred in Santa Clara County on February 6 and February 17. The NYT reported that, “The virus has an incubation period of 14 days and people who die of it are often sick for at least three weeks, so the individual who died on Feb. 6 could have been infected — and transmitting the infection to others — in early January, experts said.”
(https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/us/coronavirus-updates.html)
(https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-04-21/autopsies-reveal-first-confirmed-u-s-coronavirus-deaths-occurred-in-bay-area-in-early-february)

23 – In the daily COVID-19 briefing, POTUS suggested that injecting disinfectants and light into the body would cure COVID-19. He said, “So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light — and I think you said that that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it. And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you’re going to test that too. It sounds interesting. Right. And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that. So, that, you’re going to have to use medical doctors with. But it sounds — it sounds interesting to me. So we’ll see. But the whole concept of the light, the way it kills it in one minute, that’s — that’s pretty powerful. Steve, please.”

In response, the Food and Drug Administration issued a Tweet which stated “Do not use disinfectant sprays or wipes on your skin because they may cause skin and eye irritation. They are intended for use on hard, non-porous surfaces.” As well, Reckitt Benckiser, the British company that makes Lysol® and Dettol®, issued a Tweet and press release which warned the public that “under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route)… as a treatment for coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2).”
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-vice-president-pence-members-coronavirus-task-force-press-briefing-31/)
(https://www.fda.gov/drugs/information-drug-class/qa-consumers-hand-sanitizers-and-covid-19)
(https://www.rb.com/media/news/2020/april/improper-use-of-disinfectants/)

28 – The global number of confirmed COVD-19 cases surpassed 3,000,000, while American cases surpassed 1,000,000.

May

3 – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appeared on the ABC news program “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” guest-hosted by Martha Raddatz and claimed that the novel coronavirus COVID-19 originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, saying “there’s enormous evidence that that’s where this began. We’ve said from the beginning that this was a virus that originated in Wuhan, China. We took a lot of grief for that from the outset, but I think the whole world can see now.

“Remember, China has a history of infecting the world, and they have a history of running substandard laboratories. These are not the first times that we’ve had a world exposed to viruses as a result of failures in a Chinese lab.

“And so, while the intelligence community continues to do its work, they should continue to do that and verify so that we are certain. I can tell you that there is a significant amount of evidence that this came from that laboratory in Wuhan.

“The best experts so far seem to think it was manmade. I have no reason to disbelieve that at this point.”

RADDATZ: Do you believe it was manmade or genetically modified?

POMPEO: Look, the best experts so far seem to think it was manmade. I have no reason to disbelieve that at this point.

RADDATZ: Your — your Office of the DNI says the consensus, the scientific consensus was not manmade or genetically modified.

POMPEO: That’s right. I — I — I agree with that. Yes. I’ve — I’ve seen their analysis. I’ve seen the summary that you saw that was released publicly. I have no reason to doubt that that is accurate at this point.

RADDATZ: OK, so just to be clear, you do not think it was manmade or genetically modified?

POMPEO: I’ve seen what the intelligence community has said. I have no reason to believe that they’ve got it wrong.

---

2021
December

17 — The Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Dashboard administered by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) reports that, as of the Last Update of dashboard data at (M/D/YYYY) 12/17/2021, 11:22 AM, since the global pandemic began, in the United States, there had been:
803,891 U.S. COVID-19 deaths
50,538,538 reported infection cases
There have been:
34,085 28-day deaths, and
2,980,454 infection cases in that same timeframe. And to date, there have been a total of:
487,740,336 doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered, and a
28-day rate of 40,438,969 vaccine administrations in the USA.

As of the update at 6:22 PM, the figures were:
Total Deaths: 805,793
Total Cases: 50,700,934
28-Day Deaths: 34,085
28-Day Cases: 2,980,454
Total Vaccine Doses Administered: 489,563,733
28-Day Vaccine Doses Administered: 40,438,969