• Dec. 31: Forty-one cases of pneumonia, mysterious in nature, are reported from Wuhan, China. They occurred between Dec. 12-29.
• Jan. 7: Two days after confirming the cases are not SARS or MERS, Chinese authorities identify a novel coronavirus. This would come to be known as COVID-19 on Feb. 11, but was initially called 2019-nCoV by the World Health Organization.
• Jan. 11: First death, in China, connected to the virus. The 61-year-old man has respiratory failure.
• Jan. 20: Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says the National Institutes of Health is working on a vaccine against the coronavirus.
• Jan. 21: First positive case in America, reported in state of Washington.
• Jan. 29: White House forms a task force. Its job is to monitor, help contain the spread, ensure Americans have accurate health and travel information.
• Jan. 31: President Trump says entry to the U.S. will be denied for anyone who traveled to China in the last 14 days.
• Feb. 29: First death in the U.S. is confirmed, from the state of Washington.
• March 1: First case in the the state of New York. Florida governor declares public health emergency.
• March 3: First case in North Carolina, reported by Gov. Roy Cooper. He says Wake County resident traveled to state of Washington.
• March 11: NBA becomes first major professional sports league to suspend operations. More follow in the next four days.
• March 12: ACC Tournament in Greensboro ended minutes before quarterfinals tip off.
• March 13: COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Team formed in Bladen County. It includes members of the Health Department, Emergency Management, Emergency Medical Services, Sheriff’s Office, Economic Development and the county manager’s office.
• March 14: Cooper closes public schools for two weeks. It is later extended to May 15.
• March 17: West Virginia becomes 50th state to report a positive case; there are more than 5,000 nationwide. Lack of testing is cited as a possible reason for it taking so long to be reported.
• March 20: Bladen County declares State of Emergency. Municipalities of Clarkton, White Lake and Elizabethtown do likewise later.
• March 25: First death in North Carolina, in Cabarrus County.
• March 25: A stimulus package of $2 trillion is passed by Congress, signed by Trump. It includes checks for $1,200 to individuals not making more than $75,000 annually, with $500 for each child in a household.
• March 30: North Carolina has reported six deaths. Cooper’s stay at home order begins at 5 p.m., is to last until April 29.
• April 2: First positive case reported in Bladen County. The Health Department says patient is hospitalized and “doing well.” Only Pender of adjacent counties is yet to report a case; its first comes three days later.
• April 6: North Carolina has reported 33 deaths and 2,870 positive cases.
• April 7: North Carolina’s worst day, with 13 deaths bringing the total to 46. There are 3,221 positive cases in 90 counties. In New York City alone, the death toll rose past 4,000 — more than the number of people killed at the World Trade Center in the 9/11 terrorist attack. The Empire State had 731 deaths, also its worst day to date. The lockdown in Wuhan, China, where the outbreak began in December, was lifted after 76 days.
• April 8: State death toll is 53, up seven from the day before.
• April 9: One dozen more North Carolinaians have been killed, the second time in three days a double-digit number were added. Unemployment numbers are out. Restaurant and hospitality industry says 350,000 of 500,000 are out of work. In the week ending April 3, more than 137,000 filed for unemployment. Since March 16, there have been 497,000 claims with 87 percent citing COVID-19. Nationally, 1 in 10 have lost their jobs in just three weeks — 16.8 million Americans.
• April 10: Nine more deaths in North Carolina, bringing the total to 74; the previous Friday, it was 19. Positive cases went from 2,093 to 3,908. In counties adjacent to Bladen, there are two deaths and 115 cases; the previous Friday, there were 41 cases.
• April 11: State death toll hits 80.
• April 12: Bladen County’s second case reported, but will be retracted a day later. The case was not in a Bladen facility, and was reassigned to another county. First case is declared a recovery. State death toll is 81. In counties around Bladen, there are two deaths and 139 cases.
• April 13: State deaths climb to 86. The number hospitalized is down to 313. Adjacent to Bladen there have been two deaths and positive cases number 147. Cumberland County has had one death and 84 cases, Columbus one death and 37 cases, Sampson 13 cases, Robeson eight cases and Pender five cases.
• April 14: Worst day statistically for the state, with 22 deaths moving the total to 108. North Carolina has had 75 deaths in eight days, including four days with nine or more added to the tally. Positive cases in the state goes to 5,024, number hospitalized rises by 105 to 418. Adjacent to Bladen, the number of deaths remained at two and the number of cases climbed to 151. Cumberland County has one death and 86 positive cases, Columbus has one death and 37 cases, Sampson has 13 cases, Robeson has 10 cases and Pender has five cases.
• April 15: Nine more deaths give North Carolina 117 in all. Gov. Roy Cooper, late in the day, says testing, tracing and trends are the key to reopening North Carolina’s economy.
• April 16: Fourteen more deaths are counted in the state, the second-highest one-day total. There have been 131 total. In the last 10 days, 99 people have died; six days have included nine or more fatalities recorded.