On Feb. 29, the U.S. had its first reported death from the novel coronavirus, in Washington state.
On March 2, Washington Governor Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency.
On March 11, Inslee announced sweeping restrictions on public gatherings.
On March 13, Inslee announced mandatory closure of all K-12 schools.
In that two week period, the number of identified and state-reported cases of COVID-19 in the US rose from 39 (not counting repatriated cases) to 2,177. In Washington, they jumped from 12 to 568 identified cases with, now, 37 deaths. According to the World Health Organization, in that period the global case numbers rose from 85,403 to 132,758.
On March 13, President Trump announced a national state of emergency.
If it seems slightly surreal, that’s because it is.
