From the first case to more than 400,000 deaths in a year: the fatal first anniversary of covid-19 in the US | CNN

2021-01-21T21:26:08.930Z

On January 21, 2020, the United States confirmed the first case of the new coronavirus, which had appeared in 2019 in Wuhan, China, and which on January 7 was identified as a new virus. The patient, who was not identified, had just returned from Wuhan and received care at a hospital outside of Seattle. That would be the beginning of the devastating advance of the disease in the United States, and in the world, as on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. | United States | CNN

On January 21, 2020, the United States confirmed the first case of the new coronavirus, which had appeared in 2019 in Wuhan, China, and which on January 7 was identified as a new virus.

The patient, who was not identified, had just returned from Wuhan and received care at a hospital outside of Seattle.

That would be the beginning of the devastating advance of the disease in the United States, and in the world, as on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.

MIRA: Chronology of the coronavirus: of the first case reported to the development of vaccines in 12 months

A year later, the world registers more than 97 million cases and more than 2 million deaths from the disease.

The United States leads, by far, the number of infected and deceased: in the country, so far, there are more than 24 million cases and more than 400,000 deaths.

And it will continue to get worse.

According to the predictions of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, for its acronym in English) there would be more than 100,000 additional deaths from covid-19 in the coming weeks in the United States.

It was a year marked by national and global mourning and by criticism of the handling of the pandemic by the administration of former President Donald Trump, who personally downplayed the severity of the virus on several occasions and even said that it would "magically disappear."

But there was also hope: from the day before the first case of COVID-19 was detected in the US and until today, experts around the world have worked tirelessly to develop, test, authorize and distribute the vaccine.

And it worked: in the United States there are already two licensed vaccines, Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna, that are already being distributed, although the vaccination process faces delays and the country failed in its goal of 20 million vaccinated by the end of 2020. According to According to the CDC, some 13.6 million people have been vaccinated in the United States as of January 20.

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On December 31, 2019, the world learned for the first time of a mysterious virus, which then spread rapidly across the planet and was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization months later.

The coronavirus, which the WHO called SARS-CoV-2, originated in China and is a cousin of the SARS virus.

(Credit: Kyodo News / Getty Images

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The mysterious virus was first detected in the US on January 21, 2020, after cases were reported in China, Thailand, Japan and South Korea.

(Credit: Stringer / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

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Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady speaks to reporters on January 24, 2020, about a patient in that city who had been diagnosed with coronavirus.

The patient was the second in the United States to be diagnosed with covid-19.

(Credit: Scott Olson / Getty Images)

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On January 29, 2020, the White House announced the creation of a new task force that would help monitor and contain the spread of the virus.

It was said that Americans would be guaranteed accurate and up-to-date health and travel information.

In the photo, then-US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar speaks at a press conference on the US public health response (Credit: Shawn Thew / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock)

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On January 30, 2020, the United States confirmed the first person-to-person spread of the new coronavirus in the country.

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By the end of January 2020, the government of then President Donald Trump announced that it would deny entry to foreigners who had traveled to China in the 14 days prior to arrival in the U.S. A charter flight from Wuhan arrives at an Anchorage airport , Alaska, on January 28.

The US government chartered the plane to take home Americans and diplomats from its consulate in Wuhan.

(Credit: Lance King / Getty Images)

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On February 6, 2020, the first death from coronavirus was registered in the United States, in Santa Clara County, California.

The link to the disease was confirmed on April 21.

Meanwhile, the Anthem of the Seas cruise ship docked at the New Jersey cruise port on February 7.

Passengers needed to be screened for coronavirus as a precaution, an official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told CNN.

(Credit: Kevin Hagen / AP)

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On February 21, 2020, the CDC changes the criteria for counting confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States and begins tracking two distinct groups: those repatriated by the U.S. State Department and those identified by the health network. US public In this photo, buses carrying American passengers arrive at Haneda airport in Tokyo.

Passengers were leaving the Diamond Princess cruise ship in quarantine to be repatriated to the United States.

(Credit: Kazuhiro Nogi / AFP / Getty Images)

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Health workers transport a patient to the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington, on March 1, 2020. The care center was linked to confirmed cases of coronavirus.

(Credit: David Ryder / Reuters)

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On March 2, 2020, then-US President Donald Trump - accompanied by Vice President Mike Pence, left, and Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar - speaks during a meeting with pharmaceutical executives and the White House task force on coronavirus.

During the meeting, Trump was hyperactive, focused on lobbying industry leaders in the room for a schedule for a coronavirus vaccine and treatment.

But experts at the table, from the administration and the pharmaceutical industry, repeatedly emphasized that a vaccine cannot be brought to market before it is declared safe for the public.

(Credit: Drew Angerer / Getty Images)

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WHO declares the new coronavirus outbreak to be a pandemic.

WHO says the outbreak is the first pandemic to be caused by a coronavirus.

By then, the use of masks was popular with some people, like this group of people in Times Square in New York, where by this time the city was beginning to suffer from the coronavirus crisis.

(Eduardo Munoz / VIEWpress / Getty Images)

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The world was also seeing the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.

Saudi Arabia emptied Islam's holiest site, to sterilize it out of fear of the coronavirus, an unprecedented move after the kingdom suspended the Umrah pilgrimage for the entire year.

(Credit: Abdel Ghani Bashir / AFP / Getty Images)

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In mid-March 2020, schools in the United States began to close due to concerns about coronavirus infections.

Initially it was a temporary closure, but later millions of students across the country would start studying from home.

(Credit: Grant Hindsley / The New York Times / Redux)

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Classes for children and adolescents began to be virtual due to confinement orders throughout the country to prevent infections.

(Credit: Caitlin Ochs / Reuters)

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A Costco customer next to two shopping carts in Richmond, California, on March 13, 2020 (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

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Public events were canceled due to public health concerns in the US (Credit: John Minchillo / AP)

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As cases of coronavirus increased in the US, authorities had to start building hospitals in public places to care for patients with covid-19, as well as this field hospital in Central Park, New York.

(Credit: Lokman Vural Elibol / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images)

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The emergency due to infections and deaths from covid-19 was getting worse.

In this photo you can see the burial of several bodies of people killed by coronavirus.

New York City officials said Hart Island, which for decades has been used as the final resting place for corpses that were never claimed, will also be used for those who died from COVID-19.

(Credit: Lucas Jackson / Reuters)

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Omar Rodríguez organizes caskets at the Gerard Neufeld Funeral Home in New York on April 22.

The borough of Queens was overwhelmed by the pandemic.

(Credit: Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

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A health worker stands on a street in Denver, on April 19, 2020, to counter the hundreds of people who demanded that the confinement orders be lifted, which sought to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

(Credit: Alyson McClaran / Reuters)

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Then-United States Vice President Mike Pence visits Dennis Nelson, a coronavirus survivor who was going to donate blood, during a tour of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, on April 28, 2020. Pence decided not to use a mask during the visit despite the policy on its use on the hospital premises, which had been in effect since April 13, 2020. Pence told reporters that he was not wearing a mask because he was often tested for the coronavirus.

(Credit: Jim Mone / AP)

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Michigan State Police prevented protesters from entering the Michigan House of Representatives on April 30, 2020. Protesters were unhappy with the state lockdown order.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer extended the order until May 15, 2020, although restrictions were relaxed so that some businesses could open.

(Credit: Jeff Kowalsky / AFP / Getty Images)

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During a protest in Washington on May 7, 2020, members of National Nurses United stand between empty shoes that they say represent the nurses who died from COVID-19.

(Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

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People practice physical distancing at Domino Park in New York on May 17, 2020 (Credit: Johannes Eisele / AFP / Getty Images)

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Olivia Grant, right, hugs her grandmother, Mary Grace Sileo, through plastic that was hung up so she could hug her.

In Wantagh, New York, May 24, 2020 (Credit: Al Bello / Getty Images)

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Joe Biden campaigns with small audiences in Darby, Pennsylvania, on June 17, 2020. (Credit: Matt Slocum / AP)

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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, wears a Washington Nationals mask on June 30, 2020, when he arrives to testify at a Senate Committee hearing on the coronavirus pandemic.

Fauci issued a stern warning to lawmakers, telling them that he would not be surprised if the United States saw new cases of coronavirus increasing at a level of 100,000 per day.

(Credit: Al Drago / Pool / Getty Images)

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On July 3, 2020, then-President Donald Trump speaks to a crowd of supporters, many of them without masks, at Mount Rushmore National Monument in Keystone, South Dakota.

No physical distancing was observed in the celebration for Independence Day, where Trump claimed that 99% of coronavirus cases in the United States were "totally harmless."

(Credit: Loeb / AFP / Getty Images)

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Then-US President Donald Trump wears a face mask when visiting Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, on July 11, 2020. This was the first time since the pandemic began that journalists covering the The White House were able to see Trump with his face half covered (Credit: Alex Edelman / AFP / Getty Images)

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The outdoor seating area in Miami Beach, Florida, remained closed in July 2020. The city ordered a curfew in most of its entertainment district.

(Credit: Joe Raedle / Getty Images)

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Nurse Gabriel Leyva, second from left, treats a coronavirus patient in Edinburg, Texas, on July 20, 2020. Texas was fighting, like other states, against the uncontrolled increase in coronavirus cases.

(Credit: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

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In 2020, the stadiums were also empty.

This photo shows cardboard cutouts of fans at Globe Life Field during a Major League Baseball game in Arlington, Texas.

The league resumed for a shortened 60-game season, but fans were unable to attend stadiums.

(Credit: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)

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At the end of July 2020, clinical trials of vaccines against the coronavirus began.

In this photo is nurse Kathe Olmstead, giving an injection to volunteer Melissa Harting, in Binghamton, New York.

The trial was the first to reach phase 3 in the United States.

(Credit: Hans Pennink / AP)

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Then-United States President Donald Trump arrives at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, on October 2, 2020. Trump announced on Twitter that day that he and his wife, Melania Trump, had tested positive for covid. -19.

Trump spent the weekend in the hospital where he received various treatments.

(Credit: Jacquelyn Martin / AP)

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After being treated for covid-19, then-President Trump returned to the White House on October 5, 2020, and removed his mask in front of the cameras.

(Credit: Win McNamee / Getty Images)

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In October 2020, a display of empty chairs near the White House depicted the lives of Americans who have been lost to COVID-19.

(Credit: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP / Getty Images)

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Demetrie Barnett of the Nevada National Guard tests North Las Vegas City Councilwoman Pamela Goynes-Brown for COVID-19 during a visit to a free testing site, Nov. 12, 2020. (Credit: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)

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Dr. Deborah Birx, the then coordinator of the White House task force on coronavirus, speaks during a press conference on November 19, 2020. Birx was the first staff member of the group to speak at a briefing while wearing a mask.

(Credit: Susan Walsh / AP)

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The end of the year festivities were experienced differently in 2020. Physical distancing and masks were part of the lives of Americans by the end of the year, when the country exceeded 300,000 deaths from covid-19.

The infections increased considerably with the arrival of winter.

(Credit: Ben Hasty / MediaNews Group / Reading Eagle / Getty Images)

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Workers in El Paso, Texas, transported novel coronavirus victims from refrigerated trailers to the main morgue on November 23, 2020. El Paso County had seen an increase in coronavirus cases and inmates were recruited for Helping overworked and understaffed staff.

(Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre / Reuters)

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The US exceeded 400,000 deaths from covid-19 in early 2021. Confronting the crisis generated by the pandemic is one of the main challenges for the new US president, Joe Biden.

If living with the virus also taught us something this year, it is that the road to the end of the pandemic is not a straight line;

While there is hope for the vaccine, there are at least four variants of the coronavirus that worry scientists who are studying whether existing vaccines could fight them as well and whether or not they are an aggravating factor for the pandemic.

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The anniversary of the first recorded case of covid-19 in the US comes one day after a new government in the country took office.

Joe Biden receives a country with a serious health and economic crisis caused by the pandemic.

The new president's team has said that Biden's approach to the pandemic will be "a fundamentally different approach from that of the Trump administration" and that it will be "guided by science, data and public health" and not politics.

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Biden changes America in an instant, but tougher challenges lie ahead

Olivia Grant, right, hugs her grandmother, Mary Grace Sileo, through plastic that was hung on a homemade clothesline in Wantagh, New York, on May 24.

(Credit: Al Bello / Getty Images)

The president did not waste a minute to begin his plan: this Wednesday, in the early hours of his first day in office, he signed an order to wear masks on all federal properties for 100 days.

He also announced that he wants to vaccinate 100 million people in 100 days and it transpired that his team was surprised because they say there is no significant vaccination plan from the Trump government.

LOOK: Biden inherited a non-existent covid-19 vaccine plan from the Trump administration, according to sources

How did we get here?

This January 18, CNN reported a chilling figure: according to an analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University, more than 60% of the total cases of covid-19 in the United States were reported after the November elections.

On Monday, January 18, there were 23,937,331 cases in the country, while on the morning of November 4, a day after the elections, there were 9,573,836.

One more piece of information: in the last month, the number of daily covid cases has fluctuated between 101,000 to more than 302,000, but in the last seven days, the daily average reached 218,000.

LOOK: What has been learned in the United States a year after the announcement of the first case of coronavirus?

It took the US 99 days to reach 1 million cases (recorded on April 28), then 43 days to reach 2 million.

28 days later they surpassed the 3 million mark, on July 8, and only 15 days later they exceeded 4 million cases.

And it continued to get worse: it only took 17 days to reach the 5 million mark.

It took the United States 304 days to reach 12 million cases of covid-19 in the country, but only 59 days to reach 24 million.

(MARK FELIX / AFP / AFP via Getty Images)

Covid-19 cases in the US over time

The gray bars represent the number of cases reported each day, and the red dotted line the average of 7 days.

According to experts, this new wave of cases with which the year begins is driven because many Americans did not follow the recommended guidelines for the end of the year and traveled, reunited with families and friends, and generally ignored basic measures against the pandemic.

In the US, the first death from coronavirus occurred on February 6, 2020, although it was not known until April that it had been from this cause.

Now January 2021 is expected to be the deadliest month for covid-19.

Covid-19 deaths in the US over time

The gray bars represent the number of deaths reported each day and the orange dotted line represents the 7-day average.

Whats Next?

This Wednesday the US reported more than 4,000 deaths, it is the third day that it exceeds that number.

By February 13, the death toll in the country could reach 508,000, according to a CDC prediction.

Despite experts forecasting difficult months for the US and the world due to the pandemic, the new CDC director, Dr. Rochella Walensky, said "healthier days" are coming, saying more testing, surveillance is needed. and vaccination.