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This timeline provides information about select moments in the COVID-19 pandemic in the
United States and around the world beginning from its known origins to today.

December 12, 2019

A cluster of patients in Wuhan, Hubei Providence, China begin to experience shortness of breath
and fever.

December 31, 2019

The World Health Organization China Country Office is informed of a number cases of
pneumonia of unknown etiology (unknown A cause) detected in Wuhan, Hubei Province. All
cases connected to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan.

January 2, 2020

The World Health Organization activates its incident management system across the three levels
of WHO (country office, regional office, and headquarters).

January 5, 2020

Chinese public health official share the genetic sequence of the unknown pneumonia virus
(Wuhan-Hu1) through an online database.

January 5, 2020

CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD) activates a Center
Level Response for novel pneumonia of unknown etiology.

January 7, 2020

Chinese authorities identify and isolate a novel coronavirus as the causative agent of the outbreak

January 7, 2020

CDC establishes a 2019-nCoV Incident Management Structure to guide the response. It follows
previously established MERS-CoV preparedness plans for developing tests and managing cases.

January 10, 2020

CDC publishes information about the novel coronavirus on its website.

January 13, 2020

The Thailand Ministry of Public Health of Public Health confirms the first imported case of lab-
confirmed novel coronavirus from China.
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January 15, 2020

The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare reports an imported case of laboratory-
confirmed novel coronavirus.

January 17, 2020

CDC begins screening passengers on direct and connecting flights from Wuhan; China at San
Francisco, California, Ney York City, New York, and Los Angeles, California and plans to
expand screening to other major airports.

January 17, 2020

CDC deploys a team to Washington state to assist with contact tracing efforts in response to the
first reported case of 2019-nCOV in the U.S.

January 20, 2020

CDC confirms the first U.S. laboratory- confirmed case of COVID-19 in the U.S. from samples
takenon January 18 in Washington state.

January 21, 2020

CDC transitions from a Center-led Incident Management Structure to an Agency-wide Structure

and activates its Emergency Response System

January 21, 2020

CDC artists Alissa Eckert and Dan Higgins create "an identity" for the novel Higgins create "an
identity" for the novel Coronavirus by designing the iconic red and white virus image.

January 22, 2020

The World Health Organization International Health Regulation Emergency Committee meets.
The Emergency Committee decides to not declare the novel coronavirus the novel coronavirus a
Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The Committee decides instead to monitor
the situation and reconvene in 10 days to re-discuss.

January 22, 2020

The World Health Organization confirms human-to-human spread of the novel coronavirus.

January 27, 2020

The United States Food and Drug Administration announces that it will take "critical actions to
advance development of novel coronavirus medical countermeasures" with interagency partners,
including CDC.
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January 29, 2020

The White House Coronavirus Task Force is established with U.S. Health and Human Services
Secretary, Alex Azar, as the head of the Task Force.

January 31, 2020

The World Health Organization International Health Regulation Emergency Committee

reconvenes and declares the coronavirus outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International
Concern.

January 31, 2020

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, declares the SARS- CoV-2 virus a
public health emergency and the White House 2019 the White House 2019 Novel Coronavirus
Task Force announces the implementation of new travel policies to be effective at 5:00 PM EST
on February 2, 2020.

February 3, 2020

CDC submits an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) PACK to the U. mandates that issues
related to children's neurobehavioral disorders, including ADHD, be included as part of
NCBDDD's research agenda 2001

 CDC learns of the first case of inhalational anthrax in the United States since 1976. The
person, a 63-year-old Florida man, is infected by anthrax sent through the mail. He is the
first of 22victims of this domestic terrorism event
 CDC responds to the World Trade Center and bioterrorist anthrax attacks bioterrorist
anthrax attacks
 The Children's Health Act (Public Law 106-310) establishes the National Center on Birth
Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD) at CDC. The Act expands research
and services for a variety of childhood health problems and authorizes the establishment
of Centers of Excellence at both CDC and NIH to promote research and monitoring
efforts related to autism
 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) provides technical
assistance for responder safety and health in the World Trade Center rescue and recovery
 National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD) established

2000

 Measles declared eliminated from the United States

 CDC and West Virginia University release Women and
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Heart Disease: An Atlas of Racial and Ethnic Disparitiesin Mortality, the first national atlas of
heart disease death rates among U.S. women 35 and older

 CDC receives reports of Rift Valley fever (RVF) in Saudi Arabia, with more than 300
people infected. These represent the first cases of RVF outside the continent of Africa
 CDC investigates an E. coli outbreak among teenage campers in Texas, the first
community outbreak attributable to Shiga toxin- producing E. coli 0111 reported in the
United States

CDC Timeline 1990s:

Take a minute to review many of CDC's momentous contributions to public health since it was
organized in 1946 as the Communicable Disease Center.

2020s | 2010s | 2000s | 1990s |

1980s | 1970s | 1960s | 1950s |

1940s |1990s

1999

 CDC launches National Pharmaceutical Stockpile (now the Strategic National Stockpile),
a stockpile of drugs, vaccines, and other medical products and supplies, to provide for the
vaccines, and other medical products and supplies, to provide for the emergency health
security of the United States and its territories
 CDC establishes CDC's Laboratory. Response Network, an integrated national and
international network of laboratories that are fully equipped to respond quickly to acts of
chemical or biological threats, emerging infectious diseases, and other public health
threats and emergencies.
 CDC responds to the first case of West Nile virus identified in New York City

1998

 For the first time since 1981, AIDS is diagnosed in more African-American and Hispanic
men than in white men.
 The Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Surveillance Network is created in October and develops a
multisource surveillance methodology to determine the prevalence of FAS within certain
regions of the United States.
 MMWR publishes the first Surgeon General's report focusing on tobacco use among
ethnic and racial minorities.
 Cereal grains will be enriched with folic acid through a federal mandate to reduce
congenital disabilities.
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 The Global Polio Eradication Initiative launches a public- private partnership led by
national governments and spearheaded by the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary
International, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the United Nations Children's
Fund (UNICE) with the Gates Foundation joining in 2000

1997

 CDC participates in the nationally- televised White House event of the Presidential
Apology for the Tuskegee Study.
 CDC convenes a group of organizations dedicated to advocacy and education about folic
acid- preventable birth defects. This group becomes the National Council on Folic Acid
(NCFA).
 Fenfluramine (fen- phen) diet pill deaths and heart valve damage .

AMERICA RESPONDS ΤΟ AIDS

1987

 The National Center for Health Statistics becomes an organizational component of CDC.
 CDC publishes guidelines on preventing HIV transmission in healthcare settings, on HIV
counseling, and on antibody testing.
 NIOSH establishes the Sentinel Event Notification System for Occupational Risk
(SENSOR) program.
 The national health information campaign "America Responds to AIDS" launches

1986

 CDC establishes the Division of Injury Epidemiology and Control.

 Department of Health and Human Services Office on Smoking and Health was
transferred to CDC and joined with CDC's programs to produce the first of these reports,
Smoking and Health: A National Status Report
 CDC cosponsors the first National Conference on Chronic Disease Prevention and
Control

1985

 CDC cosponsors the first International Conference on AIDS.

 Evidence mounts of multidrug- resistance in the bacterium that causes TB.
 Study finds that a new polysaccharide vaccine is a cost- effective means to protect
children who were at risk for developing Haemo phallus influenza Type b.
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 Heat-treated, blood-based clotting factor products used by people with hemophilia are
introduced and shown to eliminate the transmission of HIV through infusion of clotting
factor products.
 CDC provided international disaster relief assistance to Mexico after a major earthquake
in its capital, Mexico City, and to Puerto Rico and Colombia following devastating
mudslides in these areas.

1984

 CDC study supported by Congress and funded bythe U.S. Veterans Administration shows
that male Vietnam veterans are at no higher risk than other men for fathering babies with
birth defects, and produces the first of many publications on risk factors for birth defects.
 The Interagency Committee on Smoking and Health (ICSH) was established.
 Public health department and laboratory staff are trained by CDC to perform a new test
for antibodies to the virus that causes AlDS (the test is licensed in 1985).
 Reports show declining incidence of Reye syndrome in the U.S. 174

1983

 NIOSH publishes a list of Ten Leading Work-Related Disease and Injuries.

 Persons at increased risk of contracting AIDS are advised to refrain from donating blood.
 CDC receives funding for HIV risk reduction services for people with hemophilia and
others using blood products.
 CDC establishes the National AIDS Hotline to handle the growing number of calls
concerning the AIDS virus.
 CDC established the Violence Epidemiology Branch.

1982

 CDC begins an international campaign to gather support for elimination of

dracunculiasis. Guinea worm disease.
 Epidemiologists discovers that foodborne E. coli 0157 is the cause of two outbreaks of
hemorrhagic colitis.
 A report of 1,714 measles cases (an all-time low) indicates a 99% reduction from the
annual average of 500,000 in the pre-vaccine era.
 National surveillance for Lyme disease, a tick-borne disease begins.
 CDC receives first reports of AIDS in persons with hemophilia, other transfusion
recipients, and in infants born to mothers with AIDS. Infection control recommendation.

1981

 MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) publishes a report of five cases of
Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) among previously healthy young men in Los
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previously healthy young men in los angeles. Local clinicians and the Epidemic
intelligence Service (EIS) Officer stationed at the Los Angeles Country Department of
Public Health prepares the report and submits it to MMWR. CDC develops an
investigative team to identify risk factors and to develop a case definition for national
surveillance.
 CDC establishes the international Health program Officer
 The Department of Health and Human Services assigns implementation of the Superfund
Act to CDC.
 To prevent Reye syndrome, the Surgeon General’s advisory against the use of salicylates
(aspirin) for children with influenza or chickenpox is published.

1980

 MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly report) publishes the first report on a newly-
recognized illness associated with tampon use : toxic shock syndrome; CDC organizes a
task force to study the illness.