A Covid Timeline. III

2020. A year to remember

Jan. 3, 2020–CDC first learns coronavirus from Chinese colleagues. The CCDC’s Dr. Gao Fu, phoned the CDC’s Dr. Robert Redfield to notify him of the virus's dangers. On January 3 the head of the U.S. Center for Disease Control was personally informed by his Chinese counterpart that there was an outbreak of pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan.

January 1, 2020: China is hit by a “highly pathogenic” strain of bird flu in Hunan province. Many chickens died, many were killed. China purchases US poultry products.

Jan. 1, Chinese CCDC researchers publish an article on the suspected outbreak. Seafood market shut down.

January 2, according to the WHO’s situation report, “the incident management system was activated across the three levels of WHO (country office, regional office, and headquarters).” By January 20 four countries had reported incidents of what would later be known as COVID-19—China, Thailand, Japan, and South Korea. Six people had died in Wuhan City.

January 4, the WHO announced publicly that the Chinese authorities had informed it of “a cluster of pneumonia cases—with no deaths—in Wuhan.” The WHO also reported this on its official Twitter account. The next day, on January 5, the WHO published its first risk assessment. “There is limited information to determine the overall risk of this reported cluster of pneumonia of unknown etiology,” the WHO wrote. “The symptoms reported among the patients are common to several respiratory diseases, and pneumonia is common in the winter season; however, the occurrence of 44 cases of pneumonia requiring hospitalization clustered in space and time should be handled prudently.” It is important to know that Wuhan City’s population is roughly 11 million, and of Hubei Province is roughly 58 million. The 44 cases of what was then called pneumonia were of concern, but there was no imperative to sound a global alarm.

Jan. 3, China reports 44 suspected patients with the mystery pneumonia. National Health Commission classifies it as highly pathogenic, orders all labs without high pathogen licenses to destroy or transfer samples to secure labs.  

January 8 The "unknown cause" was identified as a novel coronavirus. A full genome sequence of the virus was published on January 12, and preliminary testing kits were developed and made available in Wuhan. By January 13 another test and test protocol had been developed in Germany, and on January 17 WHO adopted refined version.

Jan. 9, Chinese labs confirm the existence of the new virus, begin genetic sequencing. China reports the death of a 61-year-old male in Wuhan with several underlying medical conditions. Chinese officials announce the coronavirus outbreak with 44 confirmed cases.

Jan 11, China uploads the genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus to an international database. It was unclear how serious this was or if serious actions should be taken: winter, flu, and pneumonia are common, but the serious outbreak is no simple matter. 

Jan 15, Wuhan’s health commission said that “although significant evidence confirming human-to-human transmission has yet to be found, the possibility of limited human-to-human transmission cannot be ruled out.”

Jan. 15, Oxford University's Evolutionary Ecology of Infectious Disease group says Covid-19 reached the UK no later than mid-January and may have infected half the population by March 21.

Jan 16, President Trump decides to evacuate Americans out of Wuhan and bar people from entering the US.

Jan. 18, HHS runs a 6-month, “Crimson Contagion” scenario of a respiratory virus pandemic that begins in China and quickly spreads around the world.

Jan 19,By Zhao Yusha Source: Global Times Published: 2020/6/7 10:18:41. An official document on Sunday revealed for the first time that researchers from a high-level expert team organized by China's top national health body confirmed that the coronavirus was transmissible among humans at midnight on January 19. That was just hours before they notified the public, and less than a month before the experts were alerted by the newly-discovered disease.

January 20,The first official statement that verified human-to-human transmission made by China’s leading respiratory disease expert, Zhong Nanshan. The next day, the National Health Commission reported that the novel coronavirus was a Class B infectious disease and that Class A methods of prevention had to be adopted. With this notification, everything changed. 

January 23, On January 23, Wuhan was shut down, and the Chinese government operated on an emergency basis. China is building a 1,000-bed hospital over the weekend to treat coronavirus. There were many questions on Quora debating the engineering prowess at that time. Nobody asked why they needed to do that?

Jan. 21, WHO confirms human-to-human transmission of the virus.

Jan. 23, Complete cordon sanitaire (not quarantine) around Wuhan.

Jan. 23, China locks down three cities, including Wuhan, and suspends flights. New York Times: "Scott Liu, 56, a Wuhan native and a textile importer who lives in New York, caught the last commercial flight, on January 22."

Jan. 24-Feb.14, Following private briefings on the COVID-19 pandemic, five senators sold major stock holdings, allowing them to avoid significant losses before the markets plummeted.

Jan. 24, Slate op-ed by the New America Foundation: “Many of China’s actions to date are overly aggressive and ineffective in quelling the outbreak.” The Los Angeles Times calls President Xi’s efforts to rally the country “Shoddy propaganda.” The Economist depicts China as a severe plague threatening the world more than any pandemic.

Jan. 25, China banned its citizens from reserving overseas tours and buying overseas resort and flight packages amid COVID-19, and China health screens people leaving China.

Jan. 26, A description of the first clinical cases published in The Lancet challenges that hypothesis. “No epidemiological link was found between the first patient and later cases. Their data also show that, in total, 13 of the 41 cases had no link to the marketplace. That’s a big number, 13, with no link,” says Daniel Lucey, an infectious disease specialist at Georgetown University. Lucey says if the new data are accurate, the first human infections must have occurred in November 2019—if not earlier—because there is an incubation time between infection and symptoms surfacing. “The virus came into that marketplace before it came out of that marketplace.” 

Jan. 27, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there was no need for measures that “unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade” in trying to halt the spread of a coronavirus. 

Jan. 28, Coronavirus first confirmed case at Seattle clinic. 

Jan 29 – Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, a virus-hunter at the Columbia University School of Public Health and another American expert travel to China as part of a joint mission of the World Health Organization (WHO) and China, which conducted a field study on the virus in different parts of the country. 

Jan. 29, WHO rejects accusations that China was responsible for the global spread of COVID-19. Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says, “[China’s] actions helped prevent the spread of coronavirus to other countries.” 

Jan. 30, The WHO declared Covid-19 a global health emergency when there were only 82 cases outside of China and zero deaths.

Jan. 30, US State and Federal officials refuse permission for Dr. Chu, UW infectious disease expert, permission to monitor for Coronavirus.

Jan. 30, ‘Coronavirus will help to accelerate the return of jobs to North America’. ‘Coronavirus Could End China’s Decades-Long Economic Growth Streak,’ New York Times, March 16, 2020. ‘Coronavirus deals China’s economy a “bigger blow than the global financial crisis,”’ The Guardian, March 16, 2020. Feb. 3–US CDC refuses to adopt a WHO test and ships 200 test kits. 

Feb. 7, Fifty-seven people arrived at a Nebraska military base, the first Americans from Wuhan, and infectious disease specialist Dr. James Lawler asked the CDC for permission to test them for Covid. “CDC does not approve this study. Please discontinue all contact with the travelers for research purposes.”

Feb. 15, CDC announces that its Covid tests were flawed and recalls them. 

Feb 16-24, WHO’s Michael Ryan: “I have never seen the scale and commitment of an epidemic response at this level in terms of all of government. The challenge is great, but the response has been massive. The Chinese government deserves huge credit for that response and for the transparency in which they have dealt with this”.

Feb. 25, 2020, Without government approval, Dr. Helen Chu and UW colleagues begin testing and get a positive Covid-19 result immediately. The virus would go on to kill twenty more in the Seattle region in a few days.

March 1 - June 19, CDC was not permitted to conduct public briefings, despite multiple requests by the agency, and CDC media requests were “rarely cleared”. HHS stated that by early April 2020, “after several attempts to get approvals”, its Office of Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs “stopped asking” the White House “for a while”. 

March 3, CDC announces it will distribute diagnostic kits to test 75,000 people by March 17. The C.D.C. decided not to adopt a test approved by the World Health Organization and instead forged ahead with its own test.

March 9, HHS staffers often weren’t informed about coronavirus developments because they didn’t have adequate clearance. A source familiar with the meetings said HHS staffers often weren’t informed about coronavirus developments because they didn’t have adequate clearance. He said he was told that the matters were classified "because it had to do with China." 

March 11, White House classifies all coronavirus deliberations and shifts HHS meetings to a secure area called a “Sensitive Compartmentalized Information Facility,” or SCIF, usually reserved for intelligence and military operations during biowarfare or chemical attacks. 

March 12, CDC director Robert Redfield admits to a House Oversight Committee that some Americans diagnosed as dying from influenza tested positive for Covid-19 posthumously but do not identify their dates or locations. 

March 10, Petition launched on the White House’s website: Why wasFort Detrick military lab was shut down, why the flu season came earlier, what caused vaping pneumonia, and why are people not permitted to do coronavirus testing?”

March 11, The White House orders federal health officials to treat top-level coronavirus meetings as classified. HHS meetings were held in a “Sensitive Compartmentalized Information Facility,” or SCIF, usually reserved for intelligence and military operations. 20 Mar. 20

Mar. 11, US announces it has tested 5,000 people suspected of C-19 infection.

March 11, White House fires the National Security Council Pandemic Response Directorate. “We worked very well with that office,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Congress, “It would be nice if the office were still there.”

Mar. 12, CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield testifies to Congress that some early fatalities attributed to ‘flu has been attributed to C-19 after post-mortem analysis. Dr. Redfield does not identify their dates or locations.

March 12, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian says the United States lacks transparency. “When did patient zero begin in the US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be the US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! The US owes us an explanation!”

March 13, “If I get COVID, I’m going to China,” said WHO’s Dr. Bruce Aylward. “They know how to keep people alive.”

March 13, Since Jan. 31, Santa Clara County, CA reported infections reached 114. Fifteen were associated with travel to China or other infection hot zones, 28 had been in close contact with infected people and 52 involved patients with no travel risk or contact with known cases, indicating their infections were acquired through the local community.  

March 17–A team of American, British, and Australian virologists in Nature: “we do not believe that any type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible….”

March 18, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vows to increase crushing sanctions on Iran though it is already preventing the country from purchasing vital medicine and ventilators. Meanwhile, in Venezuela, U.S. sanctions have increased the cost of a coronavirus test to three times more than in non-sanctioned countries. 

March 19, China declares victory over Coronavirus. The U.S. achieved a milestone of its own: it boasted the sharpest increase in deaths and new infections per day of any country in the world.

March 19, The United States announces the sharpest daily increase in deaths and new infections of any country in the world.

March 19, US doctors run out of N95 masks

March 19, A bipartisan group of 130 lawmakers write the Pentagon, demanding 98 new F-35 stealth fighters at the cost of $94 million each.

March 20, US State Department cables all officials: “NSC Top Lines: [PRC] Propaganda and Disinformation on the COVID-19 Pandemic. Chinese Communist Party officials in Wuhan and Beijing had a special responsibility to inform the Chinese people and the threat world since they were the first to learn of it. Instead, the... government hid news of the virus from its people for weeks, while suppressing information and punishing doctors and journalists who raised the alarm. The Party cared more about its reputation than its own people’s suffering. “These talking points are all anyone is really talking about right now. Everything is about China. We’re being told to try and get this messaging out in any way possible, including press conferences and television appearances,” one official said.

March 24, Three-quarters of China’s workforce was back on the job. 

March 27, The U.S. military stops providing some of the more granular data about coronavirus infections within its ranks, citing concern that adversaries might use the information as the virus spreads.

March 30, The US Defense Department orders commanders at all of its installations worldwide to stop announcing publicly new coronavirus cases among their personnel, as more than 1,000 U.S. military-linked people had been sickened by the virus.

April 16, Peter Daszak, a disease ecologist, "I’ve been working with that [Wuhan] lab for 15 years. And the samples collected were collected by me and others in collaboration with our Chinese colleagues; they’re some of the world’s best scientists. There was no viral isolate in the lab and no cultured virus that’s anything related to Covid. So it’s just not possible."

April 17, CNN’s Chris Cuomo says there will be revelations showing the novel coronavirus was spreading in the United States as early as October. “The kids now anecdotally, (wife) Cristina believes, that at least two of them have had it in the last few months. Why? We don’t know, but atypically long-duration sinus, fever, lethargy. I think we’re going to learn that coronavirus has been in this country since, like, October, that there have been cases,” Cuomo said. “And as you guys both know, and I hear all the time from all over the country, how many people do you hear saying, ‘I think I had it, I had this and this, I lost my sense of smell and this and that, but I never got tested’? Those cases are, like, abounding all over the country,” he added. 

Next: China, Covid, and the WHO