An Epic COVID-19 Timeline
by Eric Treacy
Over this past year I have taken the time to catalog all of the most important information gained through this last year concerning the Sars-CoV-2 (COVID-19) virus. I have come to the conclusion that at no point in scientific history has there been a time where the whole world came together and pooled every bit of data that was know about something to rid it from the planet. In an interview with the renowned Immunologist, Pippa Marrack, she described the work of the science community much like that of the Eye of Sauron.
Obviously there is much more data out there that can be found and you can read that on Nature where they wade through the literature on the new coronavirus — and summarizes key papers as they appear. This timeline is my compilation of information read via The New York Times, Science Magazine and Nature Publications, et al.
COVID-19 Timeline
| Date | Policy & Public Health | Findings | Papers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12/31/2019 | Health officials in Wuhan, China, report a cluster of mysterious pneumonia cases | ||
| 01/08/2020 | A novel coronavirus is publicly identified as the source of the outbreak | ||
| 01/10/2020 | Genetic sequence posted to virological.org | ||
| 01/20/2020 | Human-to-human transmission confirmed | ||
| 01/23/2020 | Wuhan lockdown begins | The novel coronavirus is 96.2% similar to a virus in bats. | |
| 01/24/2020 | - A Novel Coronavirus from Patients with Pneumonia in China, 2019- New England Journal of Medicine* - Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China - The Lancet | ||
| 01/30/2020 | WHO declares the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern | ||
| 02/03/2020 | - A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin - Nature - A new coronavirus associated with human respiratory disease in China - Nature | ||
| 02/05/2020 | Diamond Princess cruise ship begins its 2-week quarantine | ||
| 02/11/2020 | The virus gets its name | ||
| 02/15/2020 | Age, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and male sex are all confirmed as risk factors for severe disease. | ||
| 02/17/2020 | Widespread undocumented infection led to the rapid spread of COVID-19 | ||
| 02/19/2020 | Scientists image the atomic-level structure of the spike protein | ||
| 02/23/2020 | First major European outbreak in Italy | ||
| 03/11/2020 | WHO declares the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic | ||
| 03/16/2020 | Moderna and CanSino vaccine trials launch | Imperial College London model suggests health care systems will be overwhelmed. | |
| 03/26/2020 | New York City becomes the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak | Widespread viral RNA in hospital rooms suggests airborne transmission. | |
| 03/28/2020 | U.S. regulators issue emergency use authorization (EUA) for hydroxychloroquine | ||
| 04/01/2020 | COVID-19 can damage multiple organ systems, including the heart, blood vessels, kidneys, and brain | ||
| 04/03/2020 | U.S. public health officials suggest people wear cloth masks | Respiratory virus shedding in exhaled breath and efficacy of face masks - Nature Medicine | |
| 04/13/2020 | |||
| 04/15/2020 | Temporal dynamics in viral shedding and transmissibility of COVID-19 - Nature Medicine | ||
| 04/19/2020 | First evidence that a COVID-19 vaccine can protect monkeys | ||
| 04/24/2020 | Asymptomatic carriers play a large role in COVID-19 transmission | ||
| 04/27/2020 | Remdesivir reduces hospital stays in severely ill patients | ||
| 05/01/2020 | U.S. regulators issue EUA for remdesivir. | ||
| 05/15/2020 | Operation Warp Speed vaccine project launches | ||
| 05/22/2020 | Projecting the transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 through the postpandemic period - Science | ||
| 06/03/2020 | A Randomized Trial of Hydroxychloroquine as Postexposure Prophylaxis for Covid-19 - New England Journal of Medicine | ||
| 06/04/2020 | Major medical journals retract coronavirus papers over fabricated data | ||
| 06/05/2020 | Hydroxychloroquine does not reduce death in hospitalized patients | ||
| 06/08/2020 | - The effect of large-scale anti-contagion policies on the COVID-19 pandemic - Nature - Estimating the effects of non-pharmaceutical interventions on COVID-19 in Europe - Nature | ||
| 06/11/2020 | Spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the Icelandic Population - New England Journal of Medicine | ||
| 06/15/2020 | U.S. regulators revoke EUA for hydroxychloroquine | ||
| 06/16/2020 | Dexamethasone reduces fatality by up to one-third in hospitalized patients. | ||
| 06/20/2020 | Retraction—Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or without a macrolide for treatment of COVID-19: a multinational registry analysis - The Lancet | ||
| 07/06/2020 | United States sends a formal notice of withdrawal from WHO | ||
| 07/09/2020 | Early studies hint at the lingering symptoms of “long COVID†| ||
| 08/15/2020 | High SARS-CoV-2 Attack Rate Following Exposure at a Choir Practice — Skagit County, Washington, March 2020 - Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report | ||
| 08/25/2020 | First confirmed case of reinfection | Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Re-infection by a Phylogenetically Distinct Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Strain Confirmed by Whole Genome Sequencing - Clinical Infectious Diseases | |
| 09/02/2020 | Association Between Administration of Systemic Corticosteroids and Mortality Among Critically Ill Patients With COVID-19 - JAMA | ||
| 09/09/2020 | Two-thirds of countries have joined COVAX, an international vaccine distribution effor | ||
| 09/15/2020 | High SARS-CoV-2 Attack Rate Following Exposure at a Choir Practice — Skagit County, Washington, March 2020 - Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report | ||
| 09/24/2020 | Up to 14% of severe cases are linked to genetic factors | ||
| 09/25/2020 | Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Re-infection by a Phylogenetically Distinct Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Strain Confirmed by Whole Genome Sequencing - Clinical Infectious Diseases | ||
| 10/21/2020 | Europe and the United States confront their second and third waves | ||
| 11/09/2020 | Pfizer and BioNTech announce vaccine efficacy above 90% | ||
| 11/16/2020 | Moderna reveals vaccine efficacy nearing 95% | Immunological memory to SARS-CoV-2 assessed for greater than six months after infection - bioRxiv | |
| 11/23/2020 | AstraZeneca reports vaccine efficacy between 62% and 90% | ||
| 11/24/2020 | Russia’s Gamaleya institute reports vaccine efficacy of 91.4% | ||
| 12/02/2020 | U.K. regulators are the first to authorize the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine | ||
| 12/09/2020 | China National Biotec Group vaccine has 86% efficacy, according to UAE health ministry | ||
| 12/14/2020 | U.S. health care workers begin to receive Pfizer vaccine |