Key COVID-19 dates

■ March 1: Hoarding and “panic buying” of supplies, especially bottled water, toilet paper and cleaning supplies, reported at “big box” retailers in the Las Vegas Valley as the new coronavirus spreads in neighboring states.

■ March 3: A shortage of COVID-19 testing supplies and kits hampers Nevada’s ability to detect if the new coronavirus is spreading on the state, with only 14 people tested since Feb. 22, the date that state labs received their first testing kits from the CDC.

■ March 5: Nevada reports first two cases of COVID-19 in the state: a Clark County man in his 50s who had recently traveled to Washington state and Texas and a Reno resident linked to a cruise ship hit by the new coronavirus.

■ March 12: Gov. Steve Sisolak declares a state of emergency to deal with the ongoing coronavirus outbreak in Nevada. Eleven cases of COVID-19 had been reported at the time.

■ March 15: Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak orders all public, private and charter schools to close at least through April 6 to slow the spread of the coronavirus in the state. The order comes the same day the state reports its first COVID-19 death.

■ March 17: Sisolak orders the closure of the state’s casinos and strongly urges nonessential businesses to shut their doors to blunt the spread of the coronavirus.

■ March 20: Sisolak orders a mandatory shutdown of most nonessential businesses in the state at least through April 16, saying that many such businesses had defied his request that they close three days earlier.

■ March 22: Sisolak selects outgoing MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren to lead a new public-private partnership meant to help distribute resources to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

■ March 24: Sisolak issues emergency measure to safeguard the supply of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, used to treat malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, saying they are being hoarded for possible use in the treatment of COVID-19.

■ March 27: Number of COVID-19 cases in Nevada surges to 535.

■ March 28: Clark County and the City of Las Vegas open the upper parking lot of Cashman Center as a temporary homeless shelter to accommodate residents displaced by the closure of the Catholic Charities shelter.

■ March 29: Washoe County announces first death from COVID-19, bringing state total to 15.

■ March 30: As the number of COVID-19 cases in Nevada tops 1,000, Murren holds his first news briefing since being names to head the governor’s coronavirus task force, saying the state is in a fierce competition with other states to procure medical equipment and testing kits.

■ April 1: Sisolak issues a “stay at home” order for the state’s 3 million residents, a directive that contains numerous exceptions for buying groceries, doctor visits and exercise, among others. Separately the governor asks

■ April 3: Sisolak sends memo to state agency heads telling them to prepare for steep budget cuts because of an “expected decline in revenues” caused by the economic disruption of the coronavirus.