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A cluster of patients in China’s Hubei Province, in the city of Wuhan, begin to experience the symptoms of an atypical pneumonia-like illness that does not respond well to standard treatments.

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Worldwide, 282 laboratory-confirmed cases of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus have been reported in four countries: China (278 cases), Thailand (2 cases), Japan (1 case) and the Republic of Korea (1 case).

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Wuhan, China— a city of 11 million people— is placed under lockdown due to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus outbreak.

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Due to the high case load and numbers of asymptomatic individuals testing positive for COVID-19, all passengers and crew of the Diamond Princess cruise ship are quarantined off the coast of Japan, placed under travel restrictions, and are prevented from returning to the U.S. for at least 14 days after they have left the Diamond Princess.

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States begin to implement shutdowns in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The New York City public school system— the largest school system in the U.S., with 1.1 million students— shuts down, while Ohio calls for restaurants and bars to close.

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With 159,937 confirmed cases, New York State now has more reported cases of COVID-19 than Spain (153,000), Italy (143,000), or China (82,000). Amid critical hospital bed and ventilator shortages, aerial images emerge of workers in hazmat suits burying coffins in mass graves at Hart Island off the Bronx, an area used for over 150 years by New York City officials as a mass burial site for those with no next-of-kin or who cannot afford funerals.

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The unemployment rate in the U.S. is 14.7%— the highest since the Great Depression. With 20.5 million people out of work, the hospitality, leisure, and healthcare industries take the greatest hits overall, affecting essential workers, people with lower incomes, and racial and ethnic minority workers disproportionally.

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The World Bank states that the COVID-19 pandemic will plunge the global economy into the worst recession since World War II.

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HHS announces a plan to make COVID-19 vaccines free in the U.S.

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The first case of the COVID-19 B.1.1.7 / “Alpha” variant is detected in the U.S. by the Colorado Department of Health.

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The first case of the COVID-19 B 1.351 / “Beta” variant, first identified by scientists in South Africa, is detected in South Carolina.

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CDC updates its guidance on social distancing in K-12 schools: most elementary students can safely socially distance from at least 3 feet instead of 6 feet inside the classroom with universal masking, but middle and high school students should still maintain at least 6 feet apart in communities where the transmission level is high.

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All non-citizens who are traveling to the U.S. will now be required to be fully vaccinated and provide proof of their vaccination status to fly to the U.S. All travelers will continue to be required to show a negative pre-departure COVID-19 test taken no more than three days before they board their flights.

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The first case of the Omicron variant in the U.S. is detected by the California and San Francisco Departments of Public Health.

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The U.S. has recorded a total of 84,145,569 COVID-19 infections and 1,003,571 (more than 1 million) deaths from COVID-19.

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On December 20th, 2022, Chinas zero-policy laws were lifted. From this time to now, covid cases are increasing rapidly. The average 7-day average is 8,353.