Gone but Not Forgotten: The Year 2020
The year will be remembered for a record number of COVID cases, high joblessness, and a booming stock market.
The year 2020 began with reports from Wuhan, China, of a confirmed case of a hitherto unknown disease, which the scientists later named COVID-19. The novel-Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) was the cause of the disease. A 35-year old Washington state man who returned from Wuhan was the first confirmed case in the U.S. On December 31, the number of confirmed cases in the country crossed the 20 million mark. The U.S. has 4.25% of the world population, yet we have 23.8% of the COVID-19 case.
The chart displays the confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States since March 4, 2020, when there were just 100 cases. In March and April, most of the country went into a lockdown. On Memorial Day in May, when the total number of cases was 1.47 million, we notice that the pandemic curve was beginning to flatten. Many states relaxed restrictions, and people crowded the bars and beaches without facemasks and ignored social distancing guidelines. In another three months, the total would reach 5 million, and by the end of November…
