THE DATE THE EARTH STOOD STILL
On this day in 2020, horror became real for us
March 11 marks a year since COVID-19 became a frightening reality for Americans.
In a span of about 12 hours that day, three events offered a glimpse of the public health calamity that was about to unfold. First, the World Health Organization declared the fast-moving outbreak a pandemic. Hours later, the NBA said it was suspending its season. Then Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, announced they’d tested positive for the virus — the first of many U.S. celebrities to share their diagnosis with the public.
Twelve months later, America has lost more than a half-million lives to COVID-19 and at least 29 million people have been infected with the virus nationwide.
On the morning of March 11 last year, New Yorkers had signs there was a major crisis brewing.
The number of coronavirus cases in the city had just climbed to 46, and the MTA was planning to ramp up efforts to disinfect the subway system. Congress and the Trump administration were negotiating the first virus stimulus package as the country’s economic downturn continued to accelerate. And Mayor de Blasio expressed “real concerns” about holding the St. Patrick’s Day Parade the following week amid the growing outbreak in the city. The event was canceled hours later.
Nationwide, the official COVID-19 death toll was just over 30 and came from only three states — California, Florida and Washington — while the number of confirmed infections was around 1,000. But the fast-spreading respiratory illness first detected in China months earlier had already spread to 114 countries, sickening more than 100,000 people and killing about 4,300.
The numbers weeks later were concerning enough that the world’s top health agency decided to finally call the growing crisis a “pandemic.” The official designation by the World Health Organization came after Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, the agency’s director general, slammed world leaders for not moving fast enough to curb the spread of the virus.
“WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock, and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction,” he said at a daily briefing March 11. “We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic.”
As people around the world tried to process what that would mean for them, the NBA announced it would suspend its season after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the virus — a move that would soon be followed by every major sports league.
Within the same hour that night, one of the world’s most recognizable faces revealed he and his wife were infected. Hanks and Wilson, who were in Australia at the time, said they were experiencing some symptoms, including fever and chills, and would isolate to protect those around them.
The cascade of news was a wakeup call to many Americans and marked the beginning of a series of drastic actions that would transform life in this country.
Broadway would soon announce a temporary shutdown, which is still in effect a year later. The growing public health disaster also led schools to cancel graduations and move classes online, forced nonessential businesses to temporarily close as millions of workers set up makeshift offices at home, devastated the entertainment and travel industry, overwhelmed hospitals across the country, and caused millions of job losses.
On the night of March 11, 2020, then-President Donald Trump addressed the nation from the Oval Office.
He announced a new travel ban on European countries and other steps to combat the virus — though his words failed to show the urgency or scale of the massive crisis the country was facing.
“The vast majority of Americans: The risk is very, very low,” Trump told the nation that night.
“If we are vigilant — and we can reduce the chance of infection, which we will — we will significantly impede the transmission of the virus,” he said. “The virus will not have a chance against us. No nation is more prepared or more resilient than the United States.”