COVID-19 Pandemic

In December 2019, a cluster of patients in Wuhan, China, developed an unusual pneumonia-like illness. The new coronavirus was highly contagious and could spread before symptoms appeared; many infected people had no symptoms at all, while the elderly and people with other conditions were especially vulnerable.

Despite a lockdown in Wuhan on January 23, 2020, the virus spread worldwide through travel.

The CDC confirmed the first U.S. case on January 20, 2020. On March 11 the WHO declared a pandemic, and on March 13 the Trump administration declared a national emergency. Schools, restaurants, and offices closed; New York City’s school system shut down. New York City was devastated that spring, with mobile morgues set up to hold the dead. By April, 10 million Americans had lost their jobs; on March 27 the CARES Act was signed into law to provide relief. States competed for scarce protective equipment, and mask-wearing became politicized. By May 2020, 100,000 Americans had died. The worst wave came that winter, when nearly 3,000 Americans died each day through January and much of February 2021. The FDA authorized the first vaccine on December 11, 2020, and by late spring 2021 millions were being vaccinated.

Many Americans refused vaccines, influenced by conspiracy theories or politics, and new, more contagious variants such as Delta and Omicron kept the virus spreading. Over 600,000 Americans had died by the end of summer 2021, and the official death toll crossed one million by May 2022.

The pandemic moved many white-collar workers to working from home while hourly workers, often without paid sick leave, had to choose between a paycheck and their health; it also deepened political polarization over public health.