The COVID-19 History Project

This really happened.

This Day in COVID: August 17, 2020

‘Companies need to step up’: The ever-increasing demand for disinfection during the pandemic

New ways to clean or disinfect buildings, surfaces and clothes are seeing increased demand, according to tech company leaders.

CNBC

Which countries have made wearing face masks compulsory?

More than 50 countries require people to cover their faces when they leave home.

Al Jazeera

Coronavirus temperature scans are nothing more than pandemic security theater. In some cases, they're dangerous.

Public thermometer scans for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, are not only useless but also may be fueling the virus' spread.

Business Insider

Trump elevates Scott Atlas, a doctor with a rosier coronavirus outlook

Unlike Deborah Birx and Anthony Fauci, the new senior adviser is telling the president what he likes to hear.

Politico

Brazil indigenous tribe ordered to end protest blocking key grains export route

Reuters

Novavax begins mid-stage study of COVID-19 vaccine in South Africa

Reuters

We Can't Live Like Zombies': Protesters In Spain Decry COVID-19 Mask Mandate

Demonstrators gathered in Madrid on Sunday to protest expanded requirements aimed at combating the disease, which has seen a sharp uptick in recent weeks.

NPR

G7 'less pessimistic' on global economy, says Italy's finance minister

Reuters

COVID-19 Community Spread Metric Hits Highest Peak In D.C. Since May

D.C. Health Director LaQuandra Nesbitt says a majority of the District's COVID-19 cases come from travel, social gatherings and the workplace.

DCist

South Korea Faces New Spike In COVID-19 After Months Of Low Infection Rates

Officials believe church gatherings in the greater Seoul region are largely responsible for a sudden increase in COVID-19 infections. South Korea had been praised for its control of the virus.

NPR

The great gamble of COVID-19 vaccine development

The Hill

China Seeks to Use Access to Covid-19 Vaccines for Diplomacy

WSJ

Startling report suggests COVID-19 may have first appeared in 2012

Now, a report on the website Independent Science News by researchers Jonathan Latham, and Allison Wilson suggests that the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), may not have originated at a Wuhan wet market in 2019, but 1,000 miles away in 2012, in a Chinese mineshaft where workers fell ill with a mysterious, pneumonia-like illness after being exposed to bats.

News Medical

Covid-19 Is Creating a Wave of Heart Disease

New York Times

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: August 17, 2021

Details

How COVID-19 death rates impacted 2020 presidential voting patterns

Northwestern Now News

WATCH: How to keep kids safe from COVID-19 in school

Will everyone wear a face mask? How many children and staff will be present in each classroom? Do school administrators have resources to improve ventilation and air flow?

PBS

The WHO is right to call a temporary halt to COVID vaccine boosters

Richer countries should focus on ramping up vaccine supply to the billions who are still waiting for their first dose.

Nature

Use of Dexamethasone, Remdesivir Against COVID-19 Varied Widely Across U.S. Health Systems | Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

As many as one-fifth of patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19 in the U.S. who may have benefitted from treatment with dexamethasone or closely related drugs were not given such treatment at the height of the pandemic.

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

NIH develops faster COVID-19 test | AHA News

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health have developed a sample preparation method to detect SARS-CoV-2 that could reduce the time and cost of COVID-19 diagnostic testing, the agency announced.

American Hospital Association

Black patients more likely to have had strokes prior to COVID-19 diagnosis | Penn State University

Black COVID-19 patients are more likely to have experienced strokes prior to their diagnosis than their non-Black counterparts, according to a study by Penn State College of Medicine researchers. They said this may be one explanation for why COVID-19 mortality has been high in Black populations.

Penn State

A take-home message from COVID-19 on urban air pollution reduction through mobility limitations and teleworking - npj Urban Sustainability

Nature

Texas governor tests positive for COVID-19, in 'good health'

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has tested positive for COVID-19. His office said Tuesday that Abbot is in good health and experiencing no symptoms.

PBS

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on incidence, time of diagnosis and delivery of healthcare among paediatric oncology patients in Germany in 2020: Evidence from the German Childhood Cancer Registry and a qualitative survey

The Lancet

Establishment of a humanized swine model for COVID-19 - Cell Discovery

Nature

High COVID-19 transmission potential associated with re-opening universities can be mitigated with layered interventions - Nature Communications

Reopening of universities to students following COVID-19 restrictions risks increased transmission due to high numbers of social contacts and the potential for asymptomatic transmission. Here, the authors use a mathematical model with social contact data to estimate the impacts of reopening a typical non-campus based university in the UK.

Nature

Iran hopes to defeat COVID with home-grown crop of vaccines

Nature talks to vaccine developer Kayhan Azadmanesh about efforts in Iran to develop ten or more COVID jabs, two of which have been approved for use.

Nature

Charting a course for the management of long COVID

The Lancet

Deep forest model for diagnosing COVID-19 from routine blood tests - Scientific Reports

Nature

Contributor: As a doctor in a COVID unit, I'm running out of compassion for the unvaccinated. Get the shot

A doctor featured in a Times article published Sunday on the latest wave of COVID-19 speaks for herself in a searing letter to unvaccinated people.

Los Angeles Times

‘Spreading like a virus’: inside the EU’s struggle to debunk Covid lies

Understaffed and underpowered, a Brussels taskforce tries to fight a fake news tide that threatens to undermine the union itself

The Guardian

Overwhelmed by Coronavirus, Cuba’s Vaunted Health System Is Reeling (Published 2021)

The New York Times

RIT scientists model how coronavirus attaches itself to human cells

Rochester Institute of Technology

“Armed for the future Coronavirus pandemic”: a promising use of the multimeric SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain nanoparticle as a new Pan-Coronavirus vaccine - Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy

Nature

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Tests Positive For The Coronavirus

The Republican Texas governor, who has been fully vaccinated and has no symptoms, "will isolate in the Governor's Mansion and continue to test daily," his office announced.

NPR

Johns Hopkins team details lack of daily data on COVID-19 from many states

Despite new COVID-19 cases exceeding 900,000 last week, 36 states do not update their pandemic data every day, causing significant data gaps for public health agencies and officials

Johns Hopkins University

Coronavirus concerns again force cancellation of N.J. marathon

The New Jersey Marathon and Half Marathon were scheduled to be held in and around Long Branch on Oct. 16 and 17.

WHYY

The Coronavirus Is Here Forever. This Is How We Live With It.

We can’t avoid the virus for the rest of our lives, but we can minimize its impact.

The Atlantic

Mississippi girl dies a day after positive coronavirus test | CNN

CNN

Coronavirus Briefing: What Happened Today (Published 2021)

The New York Times

New Zealand Is Locking Down The Entire Nation After Finding A Single Coronavirus Case

The prime minister said Auckland, where the infected man lives, and Coromandel, where he had visited, would go into a full lockdown for seven days and the remainder of the country for three days.

NPR

Why Vaccinated People Are Getting ‘Breakthrough’ Infections (Published 2021)

The New York Times

Pope Francis chides those traveling abroad to escape coronavirus lockdowns. (Published 2021)

The New York Times

Federal leaders urged not to use vaccines 'as a political toy' during election campaign

CBC

TSA extends into January mask rule for airline passengers

AP News

Where to buy N95 masks as delta variant spreads and mask mandates come back

Many places have reinstated COVID mask requirements.

AL.com

Most Americans Back Mask Mandates Amid Surging Covid Cases, Poll Finds—But Republicans Support Them Being Banned

Despite the controversy they’ve caused, a majority of Republicans are still in favor of state policies that prohibit local and school mask mandates.

Forbes

Texas school district makes masks part of dress code to get around Gov. Abbott's order

Several school districts in Texas have sought to require masks amid an increase in Covid-19 cases. Gov. Greg Abbott has tried to ban mask mandates.

NBC News

Employers Want You To Get Vaccinated. This One Is Offering A $1,000 Bonus

With the delta variant spreading, more companies are mandating that employees be vaccinated against the coronavirus, but some are still hoping bonuses will do the trick.

NPR

How COVID-19’s origins were obscured, by the East and the West

The origins of the Covid-19 pandemic remain obscure. The reasons include a vigorous campaign of concealment by the Chinese authorities and missteps by senior medical research officials in the United Kingdom and United States who mishandled the initial inquiry into the virus’s origins.

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Digital payments soared during the pandemic and are here to stay

The pandemic brought about a massive shift to digital payments — one that is unlikely to wane even when more people feel comfortable returning to stores.

CNBC

Public Education Is Set Up to Fail in the Pandemic

A crisis looms over school reentry. Chronic underinvestment threatens to make it that much worse.

The Nation

Daybreaker Offers Collective Joy During The Trauma Of The Covid Pandemic

Founded in 2013, early morning sober dance party Daybreaker has seen tremendous organic growth. During the pandemic, events moved entirely online. Now, in-person events are being offered to those fully vaccinated. Founder Radha Agrawal sees them as a critical way to rediscover our collective joy.

Forbes

COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 17 August

The World Economic Forum

The coronavirus may be evolving to be more airborne, new studies hint | Science News

More coronavirus RNA is in fine aerosols than in larger droplets, but masks can reduce the amount of virus in the air.

Science News