U.S. News

150 Days of Coronavirus in the United States: A Timeline of How the Pandemic Unfolded

What Happened Again?
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Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast

In just five months, the U.S. can boast over 2.2 million confirmed cases and nearly 120,000 deaths due to the novel coronavirus: a look back to how we got here

Americans reached another startling milestone in their national coronavirus nightmare on Friday: 150 recorded days of the deadly virus in their midst.

In just about five months since the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was discovered in Washington state on January 21, the U.S. has identified over 2.2 million cases and 118,758 deaths, according to data from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. Both numbers are over two times more than those of the next most infected country, Brazil—and almost certainly represent a vast undercount.

In recent weeks, dozens of states moving forward with reopening from lockdowns geared at reining in the pandemic have registered a spike in new cases. States like Texas, Florida, and Arizona are setting new 24-hour case records virtually by the day.

Meanwhile, tens of millions of Americans have lost their jobs, and the pandemic's multi-layered attack has hit communities of color harder than anyone.

With no clear end in site and as experts continue to race for a vaccine or some more reliable treatment for such a novel threat, here's a look back at 150 days of the outbreak in the United States.

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Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Bea/Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast
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Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Bea/Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast