The coronavirus evolved from a back page story about a Chinese city outbreak in January to a global pandemic that has ravaged the U.S., led to at least 340,000 deaths here, sparked massive unemployment, canceled countless events, and changed nearly every part of society in 2020.
The coronavirus evolved from a back page story about an outbreak in Wuhan in January to a global pandemic that has ravaged the U.S. — with 20 million cases and 346,687 deaths here — sparked massive unemployment, canceled countless events and changed nearly every part of society in 2020. While the virus keeps surging and hospitals fill up with patients, there is some light at the end of the tunnel with the COVID-19 vaccine rollout ramping up in the new year. Here’s a look back at the coronavirus timeline across the world, U.S. and Massachusetts in 2020: Reports in mid-January started to emerge out of China about a new virus that had sickened hundreds and killed three patients. The novel coronavirus, a new form of viral pneumonia, appeared to have originated in the city of Wuhan. Nearly 12 months later, there have been more than 80 million cases and nearly 2 million virus deaths around the world. The first U.S. coronavirus case was confirmed on Jan.21. A Washington state man who recently returned from a trip to China was diagnosed with the virus. Since then, the U.S. has tallied 19.
