SEPTEMBER 29, 2020: According to the South China Morning Post, the nearest person to "patient zero" in the global COVID-19 pandemic appears to be a 55-year-old man from the Hubei province in China. What would become known as the Coronavirus upended world economies, social life, and work. By the end of September 2020, it infected over 33 million people and killed over 1 million. Based on available records, November 17, 2019, appears to be the date of the disease's origin. The gravity of the situation wouldn't be known until Chinese doctor Zhang Jixian at Hubei Provincial Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, alarmed by the 180 infections, contacted associates and Chinese health officials about this new disease on December 27, 2019. Jixian had examined an elderly couple the day before, who presented with pneumonia-like symptoms. However, as she investigated further, she noticed something off in the CT scans and lung X-rays. On December 31, 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) joined the fight. China would be hit hard, with the disease spreading rapidly in the densely populated country. China's government took drastic measures, quarantining and locking down areas of the nation, imposing fines and laws on those failing to follow public health guidelines, and virtually shutting the country off from the world. However, the virus had escaped the borders, and cases began popping up in Europe, other Asian countries, and North America. By the end of January, there were over 2,000 new cases daily worldwide. CHINA February 2019 proved prophetic. China hit over 10,000 cases in a single day, but its lockdown and quarantine measures appeared to be working. European nations began taking precautions. Throughout the world, PPE (personal protection equipment) suddenly was in short supply. Ventilators became more valuable than gold, and COVID-19 cases increased outside China. By March 10, China appeared to be over the hump and would show only minor hotspots in the coming months. The rest of the world was just getting started. On March 11, 2019, the World Health Organization called the disease a global pandemic. Cases had increased thirteen times outside of China, and the number of countries with active infection had tripled. The international case count stood at 118,000 in 114 countries, with 4,291 dead from the disease. ITALY & SPAIN China, the world's most populous country, appeared to have the disease under control, and India, the second most populous, didn't seem to be affected yet. The third most populous country in the world, the United States, would prove to be the biggest problem and the hardest hit in the months ahead. But in early March, all eyes were on Spain and Italy, where the disease tore through each nation, bleeding into the rest of Europe and killing thousands. On March 19, Spain hit over 10,000 new cases in a single day. By March 21, Italy had over 6,500, and the deaths were mounting. With some of the strictest lockdowns in the world, Spain and Italy would emerge from the COVID-19 storm by late spring. Spain, however, would experience an even starker resurgence of the disease in mid-summer UNITED STATES In North America, March 13 (also Friday the 13th) is the day everything went crazy throughout an 8-hour workday. Six hundred new cases would be reported that day in the United States. The US Government officially declared a national emergency, and states started locking down with stay-at-home orders. By April 4, that number would rise to over 34,000 new cases, concentrated primarily in Washington State, New York, and New Jersey. New York City and its surrounding boroughs became the global epicenter. People died so quickly that refrigerator trucks were deployed to handle the dead. The morgues were full. In the United States, there was political division, a lack of centralized leadership, mixed messaging, a disregard for scientific guidance, and the weaponizing of best practices in health maintenance and disease containment. The effects of each challenge combined would prove disastrous in COVID-19 cases and deaths and contribute to a summer of social protest, violence, and increased animosity between Americans. The withdrawal of the United States funding to WHO and record-breaking wildfires exasperated the situation. By late September 2020, the epicenter in the United States would move from New England to the South, Southwest, and West before swallowing up the Midwest States. The total number of cases in the United States would surpass 7.3 million and over 200,000 deaths, with an average of 38,000 new patients daily. BRAZIL Meanwhile, as March gave way to April and then May, the brick nations of India and Brazil discovered they hadn't escaped COVID-19. Brazil, in its winter, and India, in its summer, quickly found themselves battling a massive surge in cases. Brazil experienced many of the same impediments of the United States: political division, lack of centralized leadership, mixed messaging, a disregard for scientific guidance, and the weaponizing of best practices in health maintenance and disease containment. Brazil started May with approximately 7,000 new cases a day and 700 deaths. By the end of September, it would have the third-highest infection rate at nearly five million and the second-highest death rate in the world at over 142,000. INDIA India, with its population of over one billion people and a largely transitory workforce, exploded in June, going from 7,700 daily cases on June 1 to a peak of nearly 100,000 daily cases by mid-September. As of this writing, India is number two globally for infections at 6.1 million and deaths at just over 96,000. As of September, China remains stable, with just over 85,000 cases and 4,600 deaths. Africa has fared better than most continents thus far and has had much more experience with deadly pandemics. As 2020 heads into its fourth quarter, daily new COVID-19 cases globally are averaging 240,000, with deaths around just under 4,000 people daily. The flu season starts in the Northern Hemisphere in a few days, and the first anniversary of the first COVID-19 case discovery is still six weeks out. How and when this ends, nobody knows. What is certain? Life and how we live it has changed forever. _________________________________ UPDATE OCTOBER 6, 2022 Vaccines became available in late 2020 and received wide distribution by the summer of 2021. After that summer, more than 85% of deaths and severe hospitalization from COVID occurred and continue to occur in the unvaccinated. Where are we at? Still in the pandemic. Here are the numbers on October 6, 2022. 625,285,958 Total global infections since the beginning. 6,556,949 Total global deaths since the beginning. The worst day for new infections was January 21, 2022, with 3,846,048 cases globally. The deadliest day was January 21, 2021, with 16,849 people dying of COVID on a single day. The United States leads in infections and deaths. The worst day was January 7, 2022, representing over 908,000 new cases in a single day. January 12, 2021, had the highest number of deaths at 4,347. 1) United States: 98,472,573 total infections; 1,087,331 total deaths. Currently, 1,921,861 people are infected with 30,873 new cases today. An average of 500 people die from COVID-19 in the US daily. 2) India: 44,605,149 total infections; 528,745 total deaths. 3) France: 35,705,236; 155,369 4) Brazil: 34,750,108; 686,759 5) Germany: 33,652,255; 150,289 Case numbers and deaths are considered under-estimates by reporting authorities. Actual numbers are believed to be two to four times higher. ###