Template:COVID-19 Testing, Reporting, and Information Management in the Laboratory/Overview of COVID-19 and its challenges/COVID-19: History and impact (so far)

1.2 COVID-19: History and impact (so far)

COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, typically yielding varying levels of short- and long-term symptoms, including fever, cough, shortness of breath, loss of taste or smell, headaches, fatigue, joint pain, chest pain, heart palpitations, brain fog, and depression.A majority of cases yield relatively mild symptoms, but some progress to life-threatening short- and long-term situations involving pneumonia, organ failure, cardiovascular complications, renal complications, neurological complications, and psychiatric issues.

The first known case of COVID-19 dates back to November 2019, "according to government data seen by the South China Morning Post." By the middle of December, infections were at 27, and by the end of the year the number was 266. By that time, Chinese health authorities had been updated that the pneumonia-like symptoms of patients in China's Hubei province may have been the symptoms of a disease caused by a novel (new) coronavirus, and the WHO was notified. At the start of 2020, that number grew to 381 known cases, jumping to more than 7,700 confirmed and 12,000 suspected cases by the end of January. By that time, the WHO had convened a second meeting of its Emergency Committee to discuss the declaration of a PHEIC, saying the then-called "2019-nCoV" constituted a health emergency of international concern. This spurred the publishing of WHO technical advice to other countries, with a focus on "reducing human infection, prevention of secondary transmission and international spread, and contributing to the international response." However, at the same time, the virus was already beginning to spread in locations such as Australia, France, Germany Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

(Note that as the pandemic has progressed, additional clues have been discovered that may eventually push the November 2019 Wuhan timeline—as well as the timelines of first diagnosis in countries around the world—back even further. A non-peer-reviewed report released by Harvard Medical School in June 2020 suggested that circumstantial evidence of higher traffic around hospitals even a month earlier may push the Wuhan timeline back further. Stories of routinely analyzed wastewater samples from locations in Brazil and Italy may likewise indicate that the SARS-CoV-2 virus was circulating earlier than initially gauged.)

As the disease continued to spread in February, naming conventions came together, with the WHO declaring the disease's name "COVID-19," short for "coronavirus disease 2019." By the end of the month, the WHO warned a "very high" likelihood the virus's spread could turn into a full pandemic. Less than two weeks later, on March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 a pandemic, noting more than 118,000 confirmed cases and 4,000 deaths on all continents except Antarctica. As of November 12, 2020, the number of global confirmed cases was more than 49.7 million, with more than 1.2 million people dead. In the U.S. in particular, the situation has gotten more difficult into November, with overwhelmed hospitals—the most recorded COVID-19 hospitalizations since the pandemic started—and rapidly increasing COVID-19 cases and deaths becoming "a humanitarian crisis."

Governmental reaction to the pandemic around the globe has varied significantly since the pandemic's declaration in March. Some of that variance can be seen when reviewing the various policies implemented by the world's governments. The International Monetary Fund's policy tracker for COVID-19 response, for example, paints a picture of the laboratory testing, social, transportation, trade, and financial situations of each country. Reviewing it shows that Kosovo, for example, has implemented citizen lockdowns, not allowing people to leave their homes for more than 1.5 hours per day. Other more comprehensive measures such as widespread testing and digital tracking, with fewer mobility restrictions, have allowed South Korea to virtually have their daily reported case numbers shrink to less than 15. After strict stay-at-home rules, complete with enforcement, Austria has been able to gradually reopen its operations as of mid-April while also supporting citizens through debt servicing delays, financial aid for the self-employed and micro-businesses, and prohibitions on banks from share buy-back. Another source for examining government reaction is through the collation of data on how governments have implemented technological tracking measures in the name of slowing the epidemic. Groups like Privacy International collate such information through their collective tracking project, which links to hundreds of news stories concerning the forced sharing of mobile phone data, the use of drones and other surveillance for tracking and enforcing quarantines, geolocation tracking though phones, and the implementation of facial recognition technology. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce also collects a dashboard of governmental policies for comparison.

Citizen reaction to the pandemic has also varied. Local governments in China have been criticized, while the central government has, at least at times, been seen in positive light for its handling of the pandemic. Some Indians have criticized their government for its police brutality during lockdowns, while some Italians have criticized their government for trivializing the situation for too long. In the U.S.—and in other parts of the world—criticism has been rampant concerning the United States government's response, though some governors have received praise for standing up for their state's citizens. Since April 8, polled Americans have increasingly expressed disapproval with the U.S. president's handling of the COVID-19 crisis, from 47.8% dissapproval on April 8 to 57.0% disasapproval as of November 12, which aligns with the president's increasing attempts to downplay the existance of the COVID-19 virus.

It's too early to truly quantitatively (or qualitatively) measure the impact of COVID-19 on the world, let alone the United States. But the effects of the virus are taking shape, from significant job losses and bankruptcies, to poor mental health impacts and postponed cancer surgeries. What has long been known and remains true, however, is that beyond preventative measures such as increased use of masks, in order to further limit the negative consequences of the pandemic, testing must be expanded.