Unsurprisingly a year ago, the United States has surpassed the grim mark of 500,000 deaths from COVID-19.
On Monday, President Joe Biden led Americans in observing a moment of silence to mark the hard milestone, urging Americans to set aside party differences and fight the pandemic together.
Here’s a look back over the past 12 months and how the U.S. reached such a devastating death toll.
Early issues
Forward January 21, 2020, the US has confirmed its first case of coronavirus.
The case was a citizen who returned from a trip to the Wuhan region of China. The man, in his 30s, was reported to be in good condition.
Former President Donald Trump described the virus as “just one person coming in from China” and said his administration said the new disease was “completely under control”.
He was named the first U.S. mortal February 29th in Seattle. It later emerged that two other patients had died in California earlier that month.
Trump told reporters that the deceased was a “high-risk” woman in her late 50s – a health official in Washington state later said she was a man.
The uprising quickly spread across the country, forcing state regulators and local authorities to impose locks. It plundered the state of New York early and spread rapidly throughout the country.
By mid-March, the death toll had exceeded 100 with confirmed cases in all states. The US came to a halt with schools closed and ties with the rest of the world greatly reduced.
The economy soon struggled. Forward March 23rd, Trump said the country could not continue with the locks.
“America will once again and soon be open for business,” Trump said. “Very quickly.” Much faster than three or four months someone suggested. Earlier. We cannot allow the cure to be worse than the problem itself. “
Trump left the ruling to fight the pandemic to individual states.
Forward April 6th, the U.S. reported the third highest number of deaths reported from the virus in the world, with 10,000 dead.
Incremental tax
Forward May 27th, the U.S. recorded 100,000 coronavirus deaths, almost a month after they passed the 50,000-dead milestone.
Trump blamed China for spreading the virus, saying Beijing could have stopped the disease before it wiped out the universe. He threatened to carry out “serious investigations” into China’s handling of the pandemic.
Trump’s controversial messages
Amid the high tax, the U.S. president gave confused and controversial advice.
In early april, health authorities recommended the wearing of masks. Trump delivered the message, saying he would not wear one.
The U.S. has become a major global hub of the pandemic with more than 277,000 confirmed cases.
Forward August 13th, the former president changed his approach and supported masks in a confused statement.
“My administration has a different approach. We have persuaded Americans to wear masks, and I stressed that this is a loving thing to do. They may be very good, and they may just not be as good, “he said.
By the end of the month, the total number of coronavirus cases exceeded the six million mark, with states including Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota reporting daily records. More than 183,000 people died from the disease.
Forward September 22nd, the U.S. killed 200,000.
Forward October 2nd, Trump staff said he and his wife Melania had contracted the virus. After four days of emergency treatment, Trump left the hospital October 5th.
Ro November 27th, the number of COVID-19 patients treated in hospitals across the U.S. reached 90,000.
The number of hospitals was at its highest level since the outbreak began, pushing up some medical facilities in addition to capacity and drawing warnings from public health experts and state officials.
Vaccines
Forward December 14th, the first American to receive the coronavirus vaccine.
Forward December 21st, then president Joe Biden chose his first vaccine dose on live television.
New administration
Biden’s main initiative was heavily involved in a new approach to the pandemic.
Accepted the post on January 20th, Biden set a goal of managing one million beats a day for a total of 100 million in the first 100 days of his presidency.
The current average is 1.7 million vaccines per day.
Biden forward January 22nd warns that “more than 600,000” people in the U.S. could die from the virus.
Approximately 19 percent of global coronavirus deaths have occurred in the U.S., an outlier figure as it makes up just 4 percent of the world’s population.
Forward February 22nd, Johns Hopkins University has announced the hard milestone of 500,000 U.S. deaths – more than Wars I and II and the Vietnam War combined. This is the highest death rate in any country in the world.