The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is a global pandemic. The novel virus was first identified in an outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. Attempts to contain it there failed, allowing the virus to spread to other areas of Asia and later worldwide.
The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on January 30, 2020, and began referring to it as a pandemic on March 11, 2020.
As of June 21, 2023, the pandemic had caused 767,984,225 cases and 6,943,377 confirmed deaths, ranking it fifth in the deadliest pandemics in history.
Common public health mitigation measures during the emergency phase included travel restrictions, lockdowns, business restrictions and closures, workplace hazard controls, mask mandates, quarantines, testing systems, and contact tracing of the infected, which, together with treatments, served to control the pandemic.
Educational institutions and public areas were partially or fully closed in many areas, and many events were cancelled or postponed during 2020 and 2021.
For Lori and me things were simple: We stayed home for 18 months. We only went to the veteran's hospital and the laundry and then fully masked. Lori and I only surfaced on May 9, 2021, having lunch at a restaurant.
When vaccines became available, we immediately got each one.
Overall, 230,637,348 people or 70% of the population, including us, are fully vaccinated.
