January 21 was the one-year anniversary since COVID-19 arrived in America. That was when the Centers for Disease Control announced in 2020 that it “confirmed the first case of 2019 Novel Coronavirus in the United States in the state of Washington.”
Over the past year, much has happened, from testing and contact tracing, combined with growing case counts, hospitalizations, and fatality rates. At the same time, the nation learned about treatments, mitigation measures, contact tracing, how the virus spreads more readily and how it may not. Vaccines were developed and are already being distributed, and yet, the nation (and the world) have yet to turn the corner to defeat the virus.
We’ve seen spread in nursing homes and healthcare facilities, and we learned about the impact of lockdowns on supply chains, employers, the economy, education and individual mental health.
