Memo - How we got here: COVID-19 in the U.S.

It’s hard to describe how events have turned in the past several months in the United States. What once seemed like a far-off threat, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a major toll in the U.S., and life as we know it has been upended.

The U.S. remains the global leader in COVID-19 cases. The economy has taken a nosedive, much of the country is under various guidelines to enforce social distancing, the return of students to schools has been hampered by outbreaks, tens of millions of Americans have lost their jobs. Tragically, tens of thousands of Americans have lost their lives.

But things perhaps could look different if not for key missteps and weeks of downplaying the risk of the pandemic by the Trump administration. In the memo below, our team is keeping an updated timeline of events that led to this outbreak that continues to plague our country.