Reflecting back on one year of COVID-19: Anniversary is not a cause for celebration
by Trinity Gruenberg
It has been one year since the first case of COVID-19 appeared in Minnesota.
One year of mandates, distance/hybrid learning, social distancing, canceled events, and detrimental effects on bars and restaurants.
The SARS-CoV-2 ( what we now call COVID-19) first appeared in the Wuhan province of China in late December 2019. A large portion of the initial cases in late December 2019 and early January 2020 were linked to the Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market in Wuhan City, where seafood, wild, and farmed animal species were sold.
Many of the initial patients were either stall owners, market employees, or regular visitors to this market.
The virus could have been introduced to the human population from an animal source in the market or an infected human could have introduced the virus to the market.
The pandemic quickly spread around the globe.
2020
January 21-The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) confirms the first U.S. coronavirus case in the U.S., a Washington state resident, having returned from Wuhan on January 15.
January 23-Wuhan and its population of 11 million are under quarantine.
January 31-The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a Global Health Emergency, for the sixth time in its history, with a worldwide death toll of more than 200 and an exponential jump to more than 9800 cases. . .