Spirit of America Bookstore U.S.  Timeline  – Coronavirus  Epidemic  2021 to 2022 Ancient Times - 3500 B.C.E to 1490 C.E. 1491-1800    •    1801-1900    •    1901-1930    •    1931-1950    •    1951-1968    •    1969-2000 •    2001-2010    •    2011-2016    •    2017-2018    •    2019-2020    •    2021 to present epidemic history to 2019    •    2020 - epidemic begins    •    U.S. national emergency    •    2020 image gallery •    year 2021    •    year 2022    •    monkey pox    •    year 2023    •    RECENT EVENTS    •    2021-2022 image gallery fiction & non-fiction books pages The coronavirus epidemic events of early 2020 kept adding new entries on the Spirit of America Timeline - 2019 to Present Page and news reports made it clear that the epidemic was here to stay; so a new page was cut in late February to make the detail epidemic events more visible without interfering with the U.S. presidential primary elections, stock market uncertainty, weather disasters, and other non-epidemic news. By year-end, that page was large enough to require cutting this page for 2021 & 2022 entries.          coronavirus epidemic entry at Wikipedia latest worldwide info & map at Johns Hopkins University latest on the coronavirus pandemic situation in Italy at the ZME Science website State of California Coronavirus Epidemic Information Page State of New Mexico Coronavirus Epidemic Information Page Because I live in New Mexico USA, I posted events for NM also, which grew large so I cut a separate page in July 2020. advocacy group Guarding Against Pandemics 1918:    worldwide H1N1 influenza 'Spanish flu' pandemic • entry at Wikipedia 1957:    the Asian flu (70,000 Americans killed) 1968:    the Hong Kong flu (34,000 Americans killed) 2002 Nov 16:    The new SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) coronavirus was first identified in Foshan, Guangdong, China. Over 8,000 people from 29 different countries and territories were infected, and at least 774 died worldwide. 2003 July 5:    The World Health Organization declared SARS contained after about 8 months. ( However, several SARS cases were reported until May 2004.) • entry at Wikipedia 2009 March:    An unknown virus began spreading in Mexico, and by late April, cases of the H1N1 virus - commonly called the Swine Flu - had been confirmed in the U.S., Canada, Spain, and the United Kingdom. 2009 June 11:    The World Health Organization declared a new pandemic as a result of the global spread of the H1N1 virus • '2009 swine flu pandemic' entry at Wikipedia 2013 December:    An 18-month-old boy in Guinea was bitten by a bat and died a brutal death a day later; after that, there were five more fatal cases. 2014 July:    The Ebola virus disease (EVD) spread out of Guinea, crossing borders into neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone; President Obama activated the Emergency Operations Center at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia; the C.D.C. immediately deployed C.D.C. personnel to West Africa to coordinate a response that included vector tracing, testing, education, logistics, and communication. Altogether, the C.D.C. trained 24,655 medical workers in West Africa, and back home in America, trained more than 6,500 people thru mock outbreaks and practice scenarios. 2014 Sept 30:    The first case of Ebola was detected in the U.S.A.; a man had traveled from West Africa to Dallas and somehow slipped through the testing protocol; he was immediately detected and isolated, but died a week later; two nurses who tended to him contracted Ebola but later recovered – All of the protocols had worked: the disease was contained. Those three confirmed cases of Ebola virus disease (EVD) were the ONLY cases of Ebola in the U.S.A. because President Obama did what needed to be done three months prior to the first case. 2015 April:    A widespread epidemic of Zika virus disease or Zika fever in Brazil spread to other parts of South and Central America; the U.S. was affected very little, except in Miami, Florida and Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico still has large numbers of cases in 2020). Zika virus originated in Africa and is spread by mosquitoes or human contact. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced the end of the Zika virus epidemic in November 2016.      As part of the perpetual fascist propaganda dis-information campaign, this photograph is described as showing Dr. Fauci, Melinda Gates, and President Barack Obama at the Wuhan, China Virus Laboratory in 2015. Balderdash! First factual correction: President Obama visited coastal Beijing, China and the interior Great Wall in November, 2009; Beijing again for two summit meetings in November, 2014; and the G-20 Summit Meeting in Hangzhou, China in September, 2016. Second factual correction: This is a photo of those three Americans visiting the N.I.H. facility in Bethesda, Maryland. Third factual correction: The falsehood caption 'three Americans visiting the Wuhan, China Virus Laboratory in 2015' is proof of nothing whatsoever, anyway. 'COVID-19 misinformation' article at Wikipedia 'The Coronavirus Crisis' postings at The New Yorker Magazine coverage of the COVID-19 outbreak, from the science of testing & treatment to the fight for herd immunity Selected  Entries  For  The  Year  2 0 2 0 2020 January:    President Trump received a briefing from our intelligence organizations that the outbreak of the Wuhan 2019-nCoV coronavirus was much worse than China was admitting and that it would definitely hit our country if something wasn’t done to prevent it; he ignored the report, refusing to trust our own intelligence. 2020 Jan 6:    Likely first deaths in U.S.A. from Wuhan 2019-nCoV coronavirus - see February 6th entry. 2020 Jan 8:    Washington Post reporters Gerry Shih and Lena Sun reported an outbreak of an 'unidentified and possibly new viral disease in central China' that was sending alarms across Asia in advance of the Lunar New Year travel season; based on a C.D.C. warning. 2020 Jan 9:    First confirmed death from the new coronavirus epidemic in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. 2020 Jan 11: After Chinese scientists quickly identified the virus and its genomic sequencing data, they shared the information internationally. 2020 Jan 20:    The first case of corona virus in the U.S., in Washington State. 2020 Jan 22:    Donald Trump, speaking in Davos, Switzerland: "We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. It’s going to be just fine." 2020 Jan 30:    W.H.O. declared the Wuhan 2019-nCoV coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency. More than 200 people have died from the flu-like virus, and more than 9,400 have been infected. 2020 Feb 6:    Officials in Santa Clara County, California revealed on Tuesday April 22 that autopsies had uncovered three early COVID-19 coronavirus deaths; the cases included a person who died at home on February 6, three weeks before the earliest known U.S. coronavirus death was recorded in Kirkland, Washington; the three "died at home during a time when very limited testing was available only through the C.D.C.", the county said; deaths typically occur a month after exposure, so the virus could have reached the U.S. by early January. 2020 Thursday March 5: W.H.O. declared the Wuhan 2019-nCoV coronavirus outbreak to be a public health emergency of international concern. Bill and Melinda Gates pledged $100 million to coronavirus response efforts. 2020 Wednesday March 11 shortly before Noon: New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham issued Executive Order 2020-004 declaring a state of emergency in response to the Wuhan 2019-nCoV coronavirus pandemic. That same day, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak to be a pandemic. 2020 Friday March 13:    President Trump declared a national emergency related to the Wuhan 2019-nCoV coronavirus outbreak; the new designation will allow up to $50 billion in additional funding for response teams to mitigate the effects of COVID-19, which now has over 2,100 confirmed cases in the U.S. 2020 Sunday March 15:    It took three months to reach 100,000 coronavirus cases worldwide; the second 100,000 took only 12 days. 2020 Tuesday March 17:    The Wuhan 2019-nCoV coronavirus has now spread to all 50 states and Washington, DC as West Virginia announced its first case; the number of cases in the U.S. has surpassed 6,500 with 115 deaths (note that it was 4,661 cases and 85 deaths just yesterday) – that is a rate of 1.75 percent, far better than the worldwide rate, but far worse than the average 0.1% death rate from seasonal flu. There have been deaths in 18 states, with the most deaths in Washington State (55). The number of confirmed cases worldwide has surpassed 200,000, with 8,243 deaths – a death rate of more than 4 percent; more than half of those deaths have occurred outside of China. 2020 Sept 28:    The worldwide death toll from the coronavirus pandemic reached 1 million, with more than 33 million confirmed infections; about 205,000 people have died in the United States.    "The Pandemic Enlightenment" [indep Oct 2020] Credible report on the COVID-19 situation at this time • Produced by Harrison Engle, Karen Cantrell, Carlos Amezcua, Rachel Wang; directed by James Zeffirelli & Niko Ren; written by Niko Ren & Sheri Determan; narrated by Dax Phelan; featuring broadcaster Carlos Amezcua, Karen Cantrell, actress Kelly LeBrock, Paul N.J. Ottosson, Dr. Douglas S. Harrington MD, Barack Obama, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Arnold Schwarzenegger, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterras DVD/Blu-ray not yet available • no credits at IMDb watch 10/2020 full movie [24:01] online at YouTube 2020 Dec 10:    The U.S. reported more than 3,300 coronavirus deaths, setting a single-day record above 3,000 for the second straight day; the national total death count surpassed 292,000. 2020 Dec 14:    More terrible coronavirus milestones for U.S.A.: 16,388,504 confirmed US cases and 300,267 confirmed US deaths and 3,054 more Americans died, another daily death toll exceeding 3,000. That's 77 more victims than died on 9/11, 72 more people than died as a result of Hurricane Maria in 2017, and 651 more people than died at Pearl Harbor in 1941. 2020 December:    77,124 people in the U.S. died of coronavirus this month, making it the deadliest month of the pandemic. The  Year  2 0 2 1 2021 Sun Jan 3:    The United States surpassed 350,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths per Johns Hopkins University; there have been more than 20 million recorded infections in the country - both figures lead the world (as per capita statistics). 2021 Mon Jan 4:    U.S. coronavirus hospitalizations surged to the latest in a string of record highs, increasing by about 2,800 to more than 128,000 patients nationwide. The biggest increase came in California, which had more than 22,000 people under treatment for COVID-19, more than any other state. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said California is working with the Army Corps of Engineers to upgrade oxygen delivery systems at older hospitals to keep up with the surge. By population, Arizona, Nevada, and Alabama had the most COVID-19 patients. 2021 Mon Jan 4:    British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that his government was imposing a strict new lockdown to fight the spread of the coronavirus, which has risen sharply since Britain first detected a highly infectious new strain of the virus. Johnson ordered schools & colleges in England to close and pivot entirely to remote learning, urging people to stay home except for necessary trips such as buying food and medicine, or going to an essential job. 2021 Wed Jan 6:    The U.S. coronavirus epidemic hit a record of near 4,000 deaths, the most yet in a single day. 2021 Wed Jan 6: Violent pro-Trump terrorists stormed the U.S. Capitol Building. Why is this political event included here? One of the lasting impacts will be as a 'super-spreader' event for trumpvirus. { Visit Spirit of America Bookstore's January 6th U.S. Capitol Riot Page } 2021 Thu Jan 7:    U.S. health officials reported a record 4,051 coronavirus deaths, the second single-day record in a row, and the first time U.S. COVID-19 deaths had ever exceeded 4,000 in a single day. In California, more than 1,000 people died of the virus in the prior two days. 2021 Fri Jan 8:    London Mayor Sadiq Khan declared a 'major incident' as the spread of coronavirus threatens to 'overwhelm' the U.K. capital's hospitals. 2021 Mon Jan 11:    Worldwide coronavirus pandemic statistics update: 90,990,108 cases and 1,948,269 deaths. 2021 Mon Jan 11: Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman (Dem-NJ) and Pramila Jayapal (Dem-WA) said that they tested positive for coronavirus after being on lockdown with colleagues during last week's siege of the Capitol by pro-Trump rioters. Jayapal said that her infection came after she spent hours confined with several Republican colleagues who "not only cruelly refused to wear a mask but mocked colleagues and staff who offered them one". Watson Coleman said that she was resting at home in good spirits, but "experiencing mild, cold-like symptoms". 2021 Tue Jan 12:    Coronavirus deaths in the United States reached another record high, with a stunning 4,327 people dying in a single day; also 229,712 more Americans were newly confirmed as infected, and there are 131,326 people hospitalized with the virus. 2021 Wed Jan 13: Scientists are now worried about a new South African variant of the coronavirus that has emerged and spread to 12 countries, and whether the COVID-19 vaccines currently in production or on their way to approval will be as effective against that new strain. 2021 Wed Jan 13: Portugal’s government ordered the country into a coronavirus lockdown, but with exceptions so that a presidential election can go ahead on January 24th; Portugal has witnessed a record-breaking surge in confirmed COVID-19 cases since it eased restrictions for the Christmas holiday. 2021 Thu Jan 21:    President Biden signed a flurry of executive orders on COVID-19 Day aimed at fighting coronavirus infections, and promised a 'full-scale wartime effort' against the pandemic; the orders called for requiring masks on interstate planes, trains, and buses, and for quarantining international travelers entering the country. "History is going to measure whether we are up to the task," Biden said. The new administration released its 200-page "National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness" in a bid to intensify a nationwide campaign against COVID-19. 2021 Feb 16: President Biden spoke at a C.N.N. town hall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he addressed some of our nation’s most pressing concerns - in particular, the economic and health effects of COVID-19. 2021 April 27:    With the coronavirus surge devastating India - 3,645 people died there in one day, and there were 379,257 new infections, a global record - the U.S. government is officially urging all U.S. citizens to get out of India immediately, and not to travel there. 2021 May: 98.9% of 107,000+ COVID-related U.S. hospitalizations in May involved unvaccinated patients; 99.2% of 18,000+ COVID-related U.S. deaths in May were among the unvaccinated. 2021 Monday June 14:    The U.S. coronavirus death toll surpassed 600,000 Americans, reaching the tragic milestone even as infection and death rates fall, and the economy reopens; the U.S. total amounts to about 15 percent of COVID-19 deaths worldwide. 2021 Tuesday June 15:    California officially reopened, marking a significant step in the recovery from the pandemic by lifting business-capacity limits and most other COVID-19 restrictions; the state celebrated the milestone with state-subsidized vacation giveaways and $15 million in vaccine lottery prizes; many restrictions had already been relaxed, and some will not fully phase out until fall. The pandemic has killed more than 63,000 people in the state and infected 3.8 million; two attempts to dial back restrictions before widespread vaccinations ended with infection surges. California historically generates 14.5 percent of U.S. gross domestic product. 2021 Tuesday June 15:    New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the state would end most restrictions on businesses and gatherings that were imposed to fight the spread of COVID-19; the changes took effect immediately, lifting the pandemic restrictions as it reached its goal of giving 70 percent of adults at least one dose of a vaccine. 2021 July 8: Global death toll from COVID-19 officially topped 4 million. 2021 Aug 10: The Lambda mutation of the Wuhan coronavirus began appearing in Florida and Texas. 2021 Aug 12: Official statistic: If you are vaccinated, your risk of a symptomatic breakthrough case remains very low – just 0.01 to 0.29 percent of fully vaccinated people will experience one; and if a vaccinated person does get COVID-19, their immune system is better prepared to handle an infection than it would have been without the vaccine. 2021 Sept 15:    The pandemic marks another grim milestone: 1 in 500 Americans have died of covid-19; the burden of death in the prime of life has been disproportionately borne by Black, Latino, and American Indian & Alaska Native people. 2021 late October:    COVID surges reported in Czech Republic, Russia, Ukraine, Belgium. 2021 Nov 1:    The worldwide death toll from COVID-19 passed 5 million people. 2021 Nov 1: In the wake of the pandemic, U.S. corporate debt has reached record levels, with total debt outstanding for nonfinancial businesses in the United States at about $17.7 trillion at the end of last year. 2021 Nov 2:    The U.S. deathtoll from COVID-19 passed 750,000 people; the majority of people who died recently were unvaccinated. 2021 Nov 28:    The Austrian government imposed strict COVID-19 lockdown rules as the country faced a new wave of coronavirus infections, as did some other European nations. 2021 Sunday Dec 12:    The United States coronavirus-related death toll reached 800,000, per the Reuters news agency. Public health officials are bracing for a potential surge of new cases as winter hits and people spend more time indoors, increasing the risk of infection at the same time as the highly infectious Omicron variant continues to spread. More than 450,000 people have died after contracting COVID-19 this year, more than did in all of 2020, despite the widespread availability of vaccines and new treatments. The highly trans-missible Delta variant drove a summertime surge and continues to account for nearly all COVID deaths. Most of those dying now are unvaccinated. The U.S. has the highest COVID death rate in the Group of Seven wealthiest nations. 2021 Sunday Dec 12:    Austria lifted coronavirus lockdown restrictions for vaccinated people, clearing the way for theaters, museums, and other cultural sites to resume operations; some regions also gave restaurants and hotels the green light to open their doors; stores will be able to reopen starting Monday. Restaurants still face an 11pm curfew, and people still must wear masks on public transportation, in stores, and in other public places. 2021 Dec 13:    COVID-19 Omicron is confirmed in D.C. and 30 U.S. states as the variant is poised to dominate in Europe. 2021 Dec 13:    Another terrible and sad statistic: 1 in 100 Americans over the age of 65 have died in the pandemic, representing 600,000 of the 800,000 that have died so far. The  Year  2 0 2 2 2022 Jan 2: Twitter permanently suspended Marjorie Taylor Greene’s personal account over covid-19 misinformation. 2022 Jan 2:    Puerto Rico is experiencing a massive surge, with 225 cases of coronavirus per 1,000 population; three weeks ago, there were three cases per 1,000 people, mostly thanks to the island's high vaccination rate. 2022 Jan 2: U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that he had tested positive for a breakthrough case of COVID-19; he was fully vaccinated and received a booster shot in October, which he said was probably why he was only experiencing mild symptoms; Austin said that he would 'retain all authorities', but isolate himself by attending all necessary meetings virtually for at least five days under new guidelines from the C.D.C.; he got tested after he began experiencing symptoms while at home on holiday leave. 2022 Monday Jan 3:    New coronavirus infection cases hit a U.S. single-day record of over 1 million, jumping to a record of 1,082,549 according to Johns Hopkins University data, as the highly infectious Omicron coronavirus variant continues to tear across the country; more than 103,000 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Monday, the most since the late summer surge; hospitalizations for COVID-19 have risen by 27 percent in the past week as the daily average of new cases more than doubled, but deaths declined by 8 percent; the total number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. reached 56,189,547 (17% of the population), with 827,748 U.S. deaths. 2022 Jan 4:    Maryland declared a state of emergency as a surge in Omicron variant cases overwhelmed hospitals. 2022 Jan 7: A biology professor at the University of Cyprus has discovered a new COVID-19 coronavirus strain that is a genetic hybrid of the Omicron and Delta variants, thus it is named 'Deltacron'; in contrast to the deadly Delta variant, the Omicron variant is highly contagious but has not produced a corresponding uptick in deaths; around 25 cases of the Deltacron variant have been identified. 2022 Jan 9:    U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez [Dem NY-14] tested positive for COVID-19; her symptoms were mild and she self-quarantined at home. 2022 Jan 12:    West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice says that he is ‘extremely unwell’ after testing positive for coronavirus. 2022 Jan 12:    COVID-19 was the leading cause of death among U.S. law enforcement in 2021, per news report. 2022 Friday Jan 14:    Hundreds of students in Boston, Chicago, Maryland, and other U.S. school districts staged walkouts, demanding a return to remote instruction as Omicron-variant cases continued to spike; many of the protesting students claim that schools need to do more to provide them with COVID tests and high-quality masks, while other in-person learning should be suspended altogether. 2022 Sunday Jan 16:    U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy warned that the record-setting wave of COVID-19 cases fueled by the fast-spreading Omicron coronavirus variant had not yet peaked in the United States; Murthy said on CNN's "State of The Union" TV program that hospitalizations and deaths could continue to rise for the next few weeks, with many hospitals overwhelmed with a nationwide record number of COVID-19 patients; the seven-day average of new cases was more than 800,000 over the weekend. 2022 mid-January:    New lockdowns imposed in several Chinese cities to counter the latest coronavirus surge have clogged ports and forced companies to shut factories, threatening to cause fresh supply-chain disruptions just as global bottlenecks were starting to clear; due to China's zero-tolerance policy, for example, about two dozen COVID-19 cases prompted restrictions on trucks & warehouses that threaten to worsen backlogs at the world's third-busiest container port of Ningbo-Zhoushan; the lockdowns and mass testing currently in effect in China are the most aggressive in nearly two years. 2022 late January:    Over ten billion vaccine doses have now been administered globally, representing a new milestone in the fight against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; in wealthy countries, 77 percent of people have received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine, versus less than 10 percent in low-income countries – even as the U.S. and parts of Europe build out their booster campaigns to fight the Omicron variant, more than one-third of the world's population is still waiting for a first jab. 2022 Saturday Jan 29:    A 'Freedom Convoy' of some 2,700 trucks entered the Canadian capital city of Ottawa to protest Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's COVID-19 policies; the convoy began as a protest against a vaccine mandate for Canadian truckers crossing into the United States. B.J. Dicher, an organizer of the convoy, urged the demonstrators to remain peaceful, saying "We cannot achieve our goals if there are threats or acts of violence". 2022 Sat Jan 29:    Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau and his family were moved from their home to an undisclosed location somewhere in the city due to security concerns by law enforcement that violent 'lone wolf' actors may have concealed themselves in the crowd, but the protests remained peaceful thru Sunday. 2022 Sat Jan 29:    Former U.S. President Donald Trump praised the Canadian protesters during a rally in Texas, saying that they were 'resisting bravely these lawless mandates'. 2022 Sun Jan 30:    Canadian truckers and other protesters blocked much of downtown Ottawa for a second day to protest Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau's COVID-19 vaccine mandates ahead of lawmakers' scheduled Monday return from a holiday break; some of the truckers vowed to stay until the mandates are lifted. Ottawa police tweeted that several alleged incidents during the protests were under investigation, including 'desecration of the National War Memorial' and 'threatening/illegal/intimidating behavior to police/city workers, and other individuals'. 2022 Wed Feb 2:    Anti-vax protests are making an obnoxious scene in Ottawa for a sixth day and authorities seem to be hoping they'll tire themselves out, pack up, and leave, but experts are warning that the police may resort to clearing them out through 'paramilitary action - the types of actions we don't traditionally see on the streets in Canada'. Ottawa's police chief cited 'clear statements and incitements to riotous behaviour, injury, [and] the bringing of arms and weapons into the National Capital Region' as reasons for concern. The protests were organized by white nationalists and actions thus far include 'protesters displaying swastikas, harrassing staff at a soup kitchen, defacating publicly, and using the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as a urinal'. 2022 Wed Feb 2:    'Freedom Convoy' truckers blocked a U.S.-Canada border crossing as further protest against Canada & U.S. vaccine mandates. 2022 Sun Feb 6:    Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson declared a state of emergency over the so-called 'Freedom Convoy' demonstrations by hundreds of anti-vaccine-mandate protestors using large trucks to paralyze the Canadian capital's downtown. Ottawa police officials have called the siege, which includes blaring horns and nightly fireworks, part of a 'nationwide insurrection'; authorities have noted that the protesters include far-right extremists, and Prime Minister Trudeau has said that he won't be intimidated by a 'fringe minority'. The state of emergency is designed to give officers more 'flexibility' to respond to the hundreds and sometimes thousands of truckers and their supporters who are gathered in the streets of Canada’s capitol and reflects the 'serious danger and threat to the safety and security of residents'; police are clamping down on demonstrators, making multiple arrests, issuing hundreds of tickets, and seizing vehicles and fuel.                   2022 Friday Feb 4:    The nation hit another tragic milestone: more than 900,000 people in the U.S. have died of covid-19, even though coronavirus infections across the country are dropping; deaths lag cases, so it’s a reflection of the Omicron variant’s huge surge in January. 2022 Feb 7:    Australia is reopening its international borders to vaccinated tourists, two years after it closed them. 2022 early February:    The latest states abandoning their mask mandates are California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachussets, New Jersey, Oregon, and Rhode Island; in Canada, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec, and Prince Edward Island have announced plans to roll back some or all restrictions. 2022 Tuesday Feb 8:    "The world surpassed 400 million known coronavirus cases, just one month after reaching 300 million." – per The New York Times 2022 April 26:    a href=Biden46Harris.htm#KH target="_blank">VP Kamala Harris tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus; she has no symptoms, and hasn't been around President Biden because they've been traveling separately. 2022 Friday April 29:    Difficult to pin down due to reporting inconsistencies, but the nation hit another tragic milestone: more than one million people in the U.S. have died of the COVID-19 Trumpvirus. How? Why? While more than three-quarters of Americans have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, less than one-third have received a booster. 2022 May:    According to N.B.C. News, COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. passed 1 million; the country hit the milestone just 27 months after the first COVID-19 case was confirmed; 1 million is roughly the population of San Jose, California, and is the highest recorded COVID-19 virus death toll of any country. 2022 Monday May 16:    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that the U.S. COVID-19 death toll has risen above one million; President Biden ordered all federal flags flown at half-staff to mark the grim milestone. The news came as "cases are spreading at an alarming rate across the United States, particularly in the Northeast and the Midwest"; average daily new cases have surpassed 90,000, up 60 percent in two weeks; hospitalizations have reached more than 21,000, far below peak levels but up 23 percent from two weeks ago. Experts believe the wave of infections is worse than official data show, because results from many at-home tests aren't officially recorded.      What is monkeypox? It’s a virus that can spread through respiratory droplets and bodily fluids. And in terms of symptoms, it’s a whole gaggle of things that you don’t want: fever, aches, swollen lymph nodes, and painful blisters on the hands, feet, and face. Most of the cases in the current outbreak have been confirmed to be from a mild strain that has a 1% fatality rate. Most people catch monkeypox directly from animals (though first found in monkeys in 1958, it’s usually spread by rodents) in West Africa or central Africa, and it’s pretty rare to contract it from another person. But a majority of the current cases were found in people who haven’t recently traveled to those regions, meaning that they might have caught it via community transmission. The virus spreads by way of skin-to-skin contact with infected individuals, including - though not exclusively - through sex. Symptoms of the virus are similar to the flu, and often involve a fever along with painful lesions on the body that turn into scabs over the weeks. Should we be worried? Health experts say not right now. Monkeypox is pretty easy to spot and track because of the sores, and it’s similar enough to smallpox that the vaccines for that disease would likely offer protection. 2022 May 18: Officials detected the monkeypox virus in the U.S., following cases in U.K. and other European countries – the new viral outbreak is testing whether the world has learned anything from the COVID-19 coronavirus. 2022 May 18: Massachusetts health officials said that they detected the first U.S. case of monkeypox this year, and New York City officials are investigating another possible case; at least 67 other suspected cases of the rare virus have also recently popped up in countries like the U.K., Portugal, and Canada, baffling experts who have yet to uncover how the virus managed to make giant continental jumps. 2022 May 22: The World Health Organization says it has been notified of 92 lab-confirmed monkeypox cases and 28 suspected cases in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and some European countries. Studies have indicated the smallpox vaccine to be at last 85 percent effective against monkeypox. 2022 June: The World Health Organization announced that there have been 257 confirmed monkeypox cases and about 120 suspected cases in 23 nations, including the U.S., which has reported 12 cases. In five African countries where monkeypox is commonly found, the W.H.O. said that it has received reports of 1,365 cases and 69 deaths from December through May due to the virus. No deaths have been reported in non-African countries. The W.H.O. also said that the global public health risk level is moderate, but could become high if the virus spreads to groups at higher risk of severe disease, such as young children and immuno-suppressed persons. 2022 July 8: Monkeypox cases are surging in New York City; health officials reported that 141 residents tested positive for the orthopoxvirus on Wednesday, the genus to which the disease belongs. Across the U.S., there have been at least 605 cases, almost 20 percent of them in New York City; city officials believe that the recent 50 percent uptick in cases stems from June's Pride month celebrations. 2022 July 23: The W.H.O. declared monkeypox a global health emergency as infections soared. More than 16,800 cases of the virus have been reported this year, with at least 2,890 in the U.S. This declaration puts pressure on countries to take action and should lead to more funding. Experts are concerned about the virus spreading in new ways: in the past, monkeypox spread through contact with animals; this time, it’s concentrated among men who have sex with men. 2022 Friday July 29: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a State Disaster Emergency as the number of monkeypox cases in the state approached 1,400, with over 1,100 cases in New York City alone. New York State accounts for a quarter of monkeypox cases nationwide; the federal government agreed to send New York an additional 110,000 doses of monkeypox vaccine. 2022 Sunday July 31: New York City declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency. 2022 Monday Aug 1: California and Illinois declared states of emergency over monkeypox after each state reported high case numbers of the normally rare virus; there is a vaccine, called Jynneos, that protects against monkeypox, but the U.S. could easily run out of it. 2022 Monday Aug 1: The U.S. named a coordinator to lead the national response. 2022 Aug 4: The Biden administration declared the monkeypox outbreak a national health emergency, a designation that will increase funding and resources for the federal response. Good news for boomers and anyone who served in the military before 1991: the smallpox vaccine should protect these groups from monkeypox: symptoms shouldn’t be too bad if they do end up getting monkeypox. General availability of the smallpox vaccine ended in 1972. 2022 Aug 4: More than 26,000 monkeypox cases have been reported in more than 80 countries since the outbreak began in May; about 6,600 cases have been confirmed in the United States, and the Biden administration has faced criticism for its handling of the outbreak, including missing opportunities to vaccinate people more quickly. 2022 Aug 17: The latest C.D.C. data shows that there are more than 13,500 total confirmed monkeypox cases in the U.S., with the highest number of cases in New York, California, and Florida. 2022 May 31:    Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland of New Mexico tested positive for COVID-19 after having had all four vaccinations; she experienced mild symptoms and began working remotely from Las Vegas, Nevada. 2022 Sunday July 17:    Two people in Ghana died after testing positive for the deadly, rare, and highly contagious Marburg virus; the victims both lived in the southern Ashanti region and were not related; dozens of people who came in contact with them are being monitored, and the W.H.O. has sent specialists & resources to Ghana to help with this outbreak - the country's first. Marburg is from the same family as Ebola, and there is no vaccine; fatality rates can reach nearly 90 percent; it is usually transmitted to humans from fruit bats, and can also spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people - bodies can remain contagious at burial. Symptoms begin 'abruptly' and include high fever, malaise, muscle aches, and severe headaches. The C.D.C. says that cases outside of Africa are 'infrequent'; the largest outbreak was in Angola in 2005, with more than 200 deaths. 2022 July 21:    President Biden tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus, experiencing mild symptoms; he worked from isolation for five days while being treated with the approved antiviral drug Paxlovid. 2022 Saturday July 30:    President Biden tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus for the second time in less than 10 days; Presidential physician Kevin O'Connor explained that Biden's positive antigen test was the result of a rare 'rebound' infection that can occur in patients taking the antiviral drug Paxlovid, with which Biden was treated. 2022 Aug 15:    First Lady Dr. Jill Biden tested positive for coronavirus; she is taking the Pfizer antiviral drug Paxlovid, as the president did after his recent COVID infection, while in isolation at a private residence on Kiawah Island in South Carolina. Dr. Biden was fully vaccinated and had received two booster shots before her infection and experienced only mild symptoms. 2022 Aug 21:    First Lady Jill Biden tested negative for the coronavirus and returned to Delaware to join President Biden. 2022 Aug 24:    First Lady Jill Biden tested positive with a rebound COVID-19 case and returned to isolation; she was not experiencing symptoms. 2022 Aug 24:    President Biden tested negative for the coronavirus in an antigen test; he will test more frequently and wear a mask when near others for the next 10 days. 2022 Aug 30:    First Lady Jill Biden tested negative for COVID after a rebound case and left isolation. 2022 Sept 18: President Biden made an apparently off-the-cuff remark on “60 Minutes”, saying "The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over." Major furor followed, of course, but the facts of the matter are that new COVID-19 infections are down to just over 65,000 per day and that COVID-19 deaths are down to around 400 per day. The U.S. government still designates COVID-19 as a Public Health Emergency and the World Health Organization says it remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. 2022 Oct 30: This year’s flu season in the U.S. is earlier and more severe than it has been since 2009; there have been at least 880,000 cases of influenza, nearly 7,000 hospitalizations, and 360 deaths from influenza so far this fall - including one pediatric death - according to the C.D.C. Since it takes about two weeks to reach optimal immune pro-tection after receiving a flu vaccination, people who haven't gotten one yet should do so now; all citizens are encour-aged to get vaccinations against COVID-19, R.S.V. (respiratory syncytial virus) in children, and now seasonal flu. 2022 Oct 31: Pfizer says that it will seek F.D.A. approval this year for a vaccine to prevent respiratory syncytial virus, or R.S.V.; the virus typically causes mild, cold-like symptoms, but it can cause serious illness, particularly in older adults and infants; in the trial, the vaccine appeared to be about 80% effective at preventing severe R.S.V. disease in infants during the first three months of life; if approved, Pfizer's shot will be the first new product against R.S.V. in over two decades. Worldwide, R.S.V. causes about 33 million infections in children under the age of 5 and hospitalizes 3.6 million annually. 2022 Monday Oct 31: The Shanghai [China] Disney Resort shut down to comply with China's strict rules to prevent the spread of COVID-19; the Shanghai government ordered all visitors to stay in the park until they test negative three times in three days. The park was closed for two days in November 2021, leaving more than 30,000 visitors stuck inside while authorities tested them in a contact tracing exercise, and the park was shut down for three months earlier this year during the lockdown of Shanghai. 2022 December: Less than half of Americans have gotten a flu shot; there already have been 15 million cases of the flu, 150,000 Americans have gotten it bad enough that they had to be hospitalized, and a whopping 9,300 Americans have died from influenza! About 244,000 Americans died of COVID-19 in 2022 (weekly average 4,700), far more than were killed by the flu. According to the C.D.C., up to 160,000 Americans 65 and older are hospitalized with R.S.V. each year, and the virus kills about 10,000 of them. Don't fool around; get vaccinated. latest Wuhan 2019-nCoV coronavirus info & map at Johns Hopkins University advocacy group Guarding Against Pandemics                                                                   Image  Gallery                                                                            Fiction  &  Non-Fiction  Books This section got real, real big real fast and so was cut to its own page in September 2020, then split in August 2022.                                                                   here on the Spirit of America Wuhan Coronavirus Epidemic Timeline Pages for 2020: top of page • 2020 - epidemic begins • U.S. national emergency • 2020 image gallery for 2021 to 2022: top of page • year 2021 • year 2022 • image gallery for 2023 to 2024: top of page • year 2023 • Other Health Threats • year 2024 • RECENT EVENTS fiction & non-fiction books pages 2020-2024 Wuhan Coronavirus Epidemic in New Mexico Timeline Page {because this is where I happen to live} Epidemic / Pandemic Film Festival at Magic Lantern Video & Book Store Spirit of America Bookstore's U.S. History Timeline Pages Ancient Times - 3500 B.C.E to 1490 C.E.    •    1491-1800    •    1801-1900    •    1901-1930    •    1931-1950 •    1951-1968    •    1969-2000    •    2001-2010    •    2011-2016    •    2017-2018    •    2019-2020    • 2021-2022    •    2023 to present + recent    •    The Looming Future?

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