Early missteps allowed the new coronavirus to spread throughout the U.S for weeks before state and local officials implemented strict lockdowns designed to keep the pandemic from spinning further out of control.

Why it matters: The U.S. missed the boat on the kind of swift, early response that would have been most effective, and has been scrambling to catch up ever since. This timeline, compiled from official sources as well as media reports, shows how that all-important time was lost.

Dec. 31, 2019: China reports the novel coronavirus to the World Health Organization.

Jan. 6: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a travel notice for Wuhan, China.

Jan. 15: The first U.S. case is confirmed, in a man who traveled from Wuhan.

Jan. 17: The World Health Organization publishes a protocol for manufacturing coronavirus tests.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention opts to develop its own test instead of using the WHO's.
Jan. 30: The WHO declares global health emergency.

The CDC confirms person-to-person spread of COVID-19 within the U.S.
Jan. 31: The Trump Administration suspended entry into the U.S. for most foreign nationals who had traveled to China in the past 14 days.

The WHO reports 11,950 coronavirus cases worldwide.
Feb. 5: The CDC begins shipping its diagnostic tests to state and local health agencies.

Feb. 8: Labs report problems with the CDC’s tests.

Feb. 24: President Trump tweets: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”

Feb. 29: Washington state reports the first COVID-19 death in the U.S.

The Food and Drug Administration allows academic labs to develop and begin testing coronavirus testing kits while reviewing pending applications.
The WHO reports 86,604 coronavirus cases worldwide.
March 5: LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics launch coronavirus test for commercial use.

March 9: Trump tweets: “So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!”

The WHO reports 114,381 coronavirus cases worldwide.
March 13: Trump declares a national emergency, freeing up $50 billion in federal funds for states and territories.

March 15: 33 states and the District of Columbia closed public schools, according to Education Week. This included the New York City school system, the largest in the country.

March 16: Trump advises Americans to self-isolate for 15 days.

March 19: Trump signed into law an emergency coronavirus relief package for paid sick leave and free testing.

March 23: 9 states had stay-at-home orders.

Washington, Oregon, California, Louisiana, Illinois, Ohio, New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey.
March 26: The U.S. now leads world in coronavirus cases.

12 more states issue stay-at-home orders, totaling 21: Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico, Michigan, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Indiana, West Virginia, Hawaii, Connecticut, Vermont and Delaware
March 29: Trump extends social distancing measures to April 30.

March 30: Nine more states issue stay-at-home orders, bringing the total to 30.

Governors say testing is still lacking in many states.
March 31: Trump warns of the potential for 100,000 to 240,000 deaths.

April 6: Twelve more states issue stay-at-home orders, bringing the total to 42.

Weird, I see Dolphin looking in my asshole

Can we say both Trump and the WHO fucked up?

Is that ok?

Can we say both Trump and the WHO fucked up?

Is that ok?

The victims are the American People and the Republic itself.

I am going to choose to say Trump fucked up his initial response, and the WHO is scared of China.

Can we say both Trump and the WHO fucked up?

Is that ok?

It's more fun to be a victim

There will never be an effective vaccine. I'll never get one anyway.

Did Dr WHO downplay the epidemic or not? They did and unfortunately the WORLD listened to the WORLD Health Organization. It's frustrating to know that people think the US is supposed to know all things at all times everywhere.

The fact of the matter is the WORLD probably halfassed MERS, H1N1, and SARS and dodged a bullet. This time we didn't. That's pretty much it in a nutshell.

Weird, I see Dolphin looking in my asshole

It can be both I guess? I was not trying to take one side over another. Same can be said when people say they can't make it financially as they spend 3-8 bucks a day on Starbucks, smokes or anything else. They can't be convinced that it all adds up to the bigger budget trouble.

Yes.

Trumpets will never say "Trump fucked up" with either including somebody else as part of the blame, or pointing the finger at somebody else to blame.

Weird, I see Dolphin looking in my asshole

I don’t think they’ll ever say Trump fucked up about anything.

But he did fuck up bad in February especially.

It's more fun to be a victim

There will never be an effective vaccine. I'll never get one anyway.

I don’t think they’ll ever say Trump fucked up about anything.

But he did fuck up bad in February especially.

Yeah, he fucked up. I might have fucked it up too. I probably would have fucked it up.

The victims are the American People and the Republic itself.

I think that one of the problems in our country is being naive about the rest of the world. We should have learned long before this that many people in the world do not care at all about the citizens of other countries being harmed by their decisions and products harming others. China is our enemy and has been so for decades yet through the years, American leaders have coddled them much to the detriment of our own people.

If any good comes out of this, it just might be an awakening of the American people to demand that the US take matters into its own hands to protect its people from the danger that China presents. We awoke one morning a few years ago to find the twin towers destroyed by fundamentalist Muslims. And it was still tough for many Americans to get their head on straight that those people didn't think the way true Christians do regarding their fellow man.

I also think that we need to demand that people countries that the US trades with for any products that we depend on for the health and safety to our people provide certifications that their products have passed required safety benchmarks even to the point that we install random testing sites at their manufacturing facilities manned by our own inspectors.

Yeah, he fucked up. I might have fucked it up too. I probably would have fucked it up.

Weird, I see Dolphin looking in my asshole

People make mistakes!!

Why this is news to any adult is something.

It's more fun to be a victim

There will never be an effective vaccine. I'll never get one anyway.

Can we say both Trump and the WHO fucked up?

Is that ok?

People make mistakes!!

Why this is news to any adult is something.

There is a difference between making mistakes out of incompetence or ignorance and deliberately working against the best interests of humanity.

Weird, I see Dolphin looking in my asshole

People make mistakes!!

Why this is news to any adult is something.

Even Kellyanne makes a mistake once in a while...
“This is COVID-19 ― not COVID-1, folks,” Conway said during an appearance on “Fox & Friends.” “And so you would think the people charged with the World Health Organization would be on top of that.”

Note: COVID-19 stands for “coronavirus disease 2019” and is reflective of the year it was identified, not the number of previously documented diseases.

The victims are the American People and the Republic itself.

Yes, but those both can be considered fucking up.

But they aren't equal. And its very suspicious how these people show up every time China is brought up to deflect criticism away from them and towards Trump. Even the seemingly reconciliatory platitude "they both made mistakes" seeks to make it appear that China and Trump share equal culpability.

They dont.

Its not even fucking close. We haven't even ruled out the possiblity that China unleashed this with intent yet.

Weird, I see Dolphin looking in my asshole

I’m not sure about intent, but yes I consider the worldwide ramifications of China/WHO downplaying the initial signs of a problem to be worse than what Trump has or hasn’t done.

I’m merely here to try and bring people together.

Yes it was a mistake to not call out WHO and their dicksucking skullduggery from the gitgo. Did Trump know they were dicksucking skullduggerers? The evidence was there. Probably should have done less golf, more skullduggery investigating. This is why you don't surround yourself with yes men.

Fair to say almost everyone was caught off-guard by the sudden turn of global institutions here. But again, your unending quest to deflect blame from China to indulge your Trump hate continues unabated.

Fair to say almost everyone was caught off-guard by the sudden turn of global institutions here. But again, your unending quest to deflect blame from China to indulge your Trump hate continues unabated.

There is not a damned thing wrong with people who are bull shitters.