The COVID-19 History Project

This really happened.

This Day in COVID: September 9, 2020

COVID-19 Will Be Remembered As The ‘Great Accelerator’ Of Digital Transformation

A new consumer study from FIS Global, a banking technology company has conducted a survey of over 2000 consumers to better understand how their behavior is changing as consumers navigate their way through the new normal.

Forbes

Researchers study link between COVID-19, existing conditions

University of Oregon

Nurses are on the coronavirus frontline, so why are they being left out of the response?

The Conversation

WHO says vaccine safety top priority, as AstraZeneca pauses study

Reuters

Coronavirus cases spike among school-age children in Florida, while state orders some counties to keep data hidden

Washington Post

Coronavirus in the Classroom: How Air Flow May be Key to Safely Reopen Schools

Greater attention is being paid to the air inside schools.

NY1

Vaccinations Head for Recess as Schools Start Online

US News

The Case for Continuing School Sports Remotely

Coaches can still help students find the benefits of youth athletics remotely, writes principal Patrick Burke.

Ed Week

Her School Offered a Path to the Middle Class. Will Covid-19 Block It?

Students at Richmond Hill High School in Queens don’t come from privileged backgrounds, but they go to college in impressive numbers. This year could look different.

New York Times

An Olympic gold medalist said she was ‘brave’ for not wearing a mask. It was not well-received.

Washington Post

Mask memo sent to Pittsburgh police officers after confrontation over mask

WTAE

Gov. Whitmer: Football players, other athletes must mask up, even while competing

Executive Order 180 requires face coverings for all high school athletes unable to maintain 6 feet of social distance.

MLive

Face masks are ‘the mark of the beast’? Enough with the Deep State nonsense, Wichita

Kansas

Customer attacks manager who asked him to wear mask; manager fired for defending herself

York Daily Record

What Is Face Blindness? Mask Use Might Be Making It Harder for You to Recognize People

Health

You’re not imagining it: Masks can make your eyes feel dry. Here’s what to do.

Seattle Times

Emails show HHS official trying to muzzle Fauci

Emails obtained by POLITICO show a top aide at the department dictating what the nation's top infections disease expert should say during media interviews.

Politico

Fauci denies hearing Trump distort facts on coronavirus

The nation’s top infectious disease expert defended the president after recordings revealed that Trump wanted to downplay the severity of the pandemic.

Politico

Trump knew coronavirus was 'deadly' but wanted to 'play it down': Bob Woodward book

U.S. President Donald Trump admitted he knew weeks before the first confirmed U.S. coronavirus death that the virus was dangerous, airborne, highly contagious and 'more deadly than even your strenuous flus,' and that he repeatedly played it down publicly, according to legendary journalist Bob Woodward in his new book 'Rage.'

CTV News

Mr. Trump Knew It Was Deadly and Airborne

New York Times

Conservative Radio Host Michael Savage Accuses Drs. Fauci And Birx Of “Sorcery”

Forbes

Trump Has Always Seen a COVID-19 Vaccine as a Political Bet. Will It Pay Off in Time?

In a new Trump ad, a voiceover claims, “In the race for a vaccine, the finish line is approaching.'

Time

White House cites 1st Amendment in defending Trump rallies that flout COVID restrictions

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended President Trump's decision to hold campaign rallies during the coronavirus pandemic, citing the First Amendment.

ABC

America Is Trapped in a Pandemic Spiral

As the U.S. heads toward the winter, the country is going round in circles, making the same conceptual errors that have plagued it since spring.

The Atlantic

Why COVID-19 Means You Need a Flu Shot This Year

Health experts are warning that the addition of another respiratory illness on top of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic could overburden the health care system, strain testing capacity, and increase the risk of catching both diseases at once.

UCSF

Some scientists spot 'unlikely' patterns in Russia vaccine data: letter

Reuters

12 books and reports on the COVID-19 pandemic and the long road back

The troubling experiences of 2020's 'long hot summer' lead to a need to reflect on the profound potential consequences for our future.

Yale Climate Connections

Despite Pandemic, Many Europeans Still See Climate Change as Greatest Threat to Their Countries

The spread of infectious diseases is the top concern in the U.S., UK, Japan and South Korea as global economic concerns grow.

Pew Research

Near birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr., a predominantly Black nursing home tries to heal after outbreak

Washington Post

Trump rallies in Nevada canceled over crowd-size restrictions

Reuters

Our Mission

The COVID-19 History Project is a curated archive of the events and policy decisions surrounding the emergence of COVID-19.

The pandemic era of 2020-2022 saw massive increases in restrictions on daily life—enforced by the government and by social stigma—accompanied social protests that roiled cities worldwide

In the United States alone, trillions of dollars were spent by the federal government to offset the forced closure of businesses and the devastation of normal life.

The impacts of these policy decisions are still being felt today.

Some would like us to forget the actions and people that played a significant role during the pandemic.

But we of the COVID-19 History Project don't want to forget. Through our work, we hope there will always be an archive to learn from and interpret this fascinating, disturbing, time in world history.

The Timeline

In order to learn from the mistakes of the past, and give COVID-19 decision makers the credit—both good and bad—they deserve, we have compiled a media timeline from every day of the pandemic.

We have endeavored to make the timeline comprehensive without being duplicative, following the major trends as they unfolded.

We provided analyses for each month highlighting major events, but encourage readers to make their own conclusions about these events as well.

This Day in COVID: September 9, 2021

Details

Analysis: Biden faces hard truths of the pandemic ahead of major speech | CNN Politics

CNN

Sweeping new vaccine mandates for 100 million Americans

AP News

Massive numbers of new COVID–19 infections, not vaccines, are the main driver of new coronavirus variants

When the coronavirus copies itself, there is a chance its RNA will mutate. But new variants must jump from one host to another, and the more infections there are, the better chance this will happen.

The Conversation

We’re sick of COVID. So government messaging needs to change if it’s to cut through

After what feels like a never-ending 18 months of lockdowns and COVID-19 saturated government messages, we’re all just a bit over it.

The Conversation

Rand Paul says Fauci deserves a five-year prison sentence

The Hill

NIH Documents Provide New Evidence U.S. Funded Gain-of-Function Research in Wuhan

The National Institutes of Health-funded experiment in Wuhan, China, posed biosafety risks but did not cause the Covid-19 pandemic, scientists say.

The Intercept

Delta COVID variant is a much bigger concern than Mu right now

Axios

The COVID-19 Case for Bigger Government Is Weak

Cato Institute

Health officials "keeping a very close eye" on COVID-19 Mu variant

The World Health Organization has dubbed Mu a "variant of interest," but the U.S. says it is not "an immediate threat" for the time being.

CBS News

Biden announces new vaccine mandates that could cover 100 million Americans | CNN Politics

CNN

Don’t throw that cloth mask away yet—it still works

The reusable cloth masks people have been using for the past year or more may look a little worse for the wear. But new research from the University of Colorado

University of Colorado Boulder

Supply Chain Lessons Learned From The Covid-19 Pandemic

The last 18 months of the Covid-19 pandemic have shown us that we can no longer think about the supply chain the way we used to.

Forbes

Face masks for COVID pass their largest test yet

A rigorous study finds that surgical masks are highly protective, but cloth masks fall short.

Nature

Further validation of the efficacy of mesenchymal stem cell infusions for reducing mortality in COVID-19 patients with ARDS - npj Regenerative Medicine

Recent double-blind, randomized, controlled trials reported that human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) infusions in COVID-19 patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) could diminish cytokine storm and lung damage. While these outcomes are significant, additional phase II/III trials are required to validate the efficacy of MSCs to improve the survival of COVID-19 patients with ARDS. Future studies also need to assess the efficacy of MSCs to prevent long COVID.

Nature

The effects of remote work on collaboration among information workers - Nature Human Behaviour

Using a large dataset of workers’ technology use from before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, Yang et al. find that firm-wide remote work caused the collaboration networks of information workers to become more static and siloed and communication to shift to more asynchronous media.

Nature

Long COVID and kidney disease - Nature Reviews Nephrology

Kidney involvement is common in patients with acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, and subclinical inflammation and injury may persist for many months, resulting in a progressive decline in kidney function that leads to chronic kidney disease. Continued research is imperative to understand these long-term sequelae and identify interventions to mitigate them.

Nature

Convalescent plasma for hospitalized patients with COVID-19: an open-label, randomized controlled trial - Nature Medicine

A randomized trial in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 showed no benefit and potentially increased harm associated with the use of convalescent plasma, with subgroup analyses suggesting that the antibody profile in donor plasma is critical in determining clinical outcomes.

Nature

Impact of overlapping risks of type 2 diabetes and obesity on coronavirus disease severity in the United States - Scientific Reports

Nature

Explaining COVID-19 outbreaks with reactive SEIRD models - Scientific Reports

Nature

Exploratory study of the global intent to accept COVID-19 vaccinations - Communications Medicine

de Figueiredo et al. perform a global exploratory study to estimate COVID-19 vaccination acceptance and its determinants based on a survey across 32 countries. With some exceptions, they find that factors associated with increased vaccine acceptance are male sex, age over 65, being highly educated, and a belief that their government is handling the pandemic well.

Nature

Fauci 'Untruthful' to Congress About Wuhan Lab Research, Documents Suggest

Newsweek

Biden Lays Out Plan To Mandate Vaccines Or Testing For Millions Of Workers

The president outlined a forthcoming federal rule that all businesses with 100 or more employees have to ensure that every worker is either vaccinated for COVID-19 or submit to weekly testing.

NPR

An Anti-Vaccine Book Tops Amazon's COVID Search Results. Lawmakers Call Foul

Democratic lawmakers are pressing the e-commerce giant about what it's doing to stop its systems from recommending books and other products with falsehoods about the pandemic and vaccines.

NPR

Biden Dangles New Federal Funds For Schools That Defy Mask Mandate Bans

On Thursday, the president announced a series of actions to encourage K-12 schools to mandate masks for all and require vaccines for employees.

NPR

Before Dying, An Unvaccinated TikTok User Begged Others Not to Repeat Her Mistake

Megan Alexandra Blankenbiller got sick before she was able to get the COVID-19 vaccine, and she spent her time in the hospital trying to help others to get the shot.

NPR

Babies, The Delta Variant And COVID: What Parents Need To Know

The rate of new cases of COVID-19 among babies and children under 4 years old in the U.S. recently surpassed the rate of new cases among adults older than 65. Here's how to protect newborns.

NPR

Worst-Case Estimates for U.S. Coronavirus Deaths (Published 2020)

The New York Times

Fauci Wants to Make Vaccines for the Next Pandemic Before It Hits (Published 2021)

The New York Times

The Delta Variant Is Sending More Children to the Hospital. Are They Sicker, Too? (Published 2021)

The New York Times

Babies and Toddlers Spread Virus in Homes More Easily Than Teens, Study Finds (Published 2021)

The New York Times

When Was the First U.S. Covid Death? C.D.C. Investigates 4 Early Cases (Published 2021)

The New York Times

‘Fauci’ Review: The First Pandemic That Shaped the Good Doc (Published 2021)

The New York Times

Vaccination Mandates Are an American Tradition. So Is the Backlash. (Published 2021)

The New York Times

COVID-19 surge slows travel industry’s recovery

Several leading U.S. airlines warned Thursday that the rise in COVID-19 cases due to the delta variant is hurting their bookings and further delaying a recovery for the travel industry.

PBS

Dr. Fauci on vaccine mandates, reopening schools, booster shots

President Joe Biden's plan to get the country vaccinated would essentially require two-thirds of American workers to get vaccinated or face weekly testing. The Department of Labor will draft new rules requiring the same for all businesses with 100 workers or more. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, joins Judy Woodruff to discuss that and more.

PBS

Executive Order 14043—Requiring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees

The American Presidency Project

How the Delta variant's remarkable ability to replicate threw new twists into the Covid-19 pandemic

Once it has a toehold, the Delta variant cranks out copies of itself like the viral version of the brooms in “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” quickly driving viral loads higher and allowing those infected to shed large amounts of the virus.

STAT

Biden announces new US vaccine mandates to ‘turn the tide of Covid-19’

President expresses frustration with unvaccinated Americans and says nearly 100m US workers to be subject to vaccine requirements

The Guardian

Coronavirus-sniffing dogs unleashed at Miami airport to detect virus in employees

The Washington Post

Biden announces sweeping new vaccine mandates for businesses, federal workers

The Washington Post

18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic – a retrospective in 7 charts

A lot has happened since the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. A portrait in data highlights trends in everything from case counts, to research publications, to variant spread.

The Conversation

COVID-19 vaccines don't raise miscarriage risk, 3 studies show

CIDRAP

Diagnostic classification of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and other pneumonias using radiomics features in CT chest images - Scientific Reports

Nature

The effect of population size for pathogen transmission on prediction of COVID-19 spread - Scientific Reports

Nature

Covid Medical Bills Are About to Get Bigger (Published 2021)

The New York Times

Azithromycin for mild-to-moderate COVID-19

The Lancet

The potential impact of vaccine passports on inclination to accept COVID-19 vaccinations in the United Kingdom: Evidence from a large cross-sectional survey and modeling study - eClinicalMedicine

The Lancet