Number of U.S. coronavirus (COVID-19) cases from Jan. 20, 2020-Apr. 10, 2021, by day

Around 76,377 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the United States on April 10, 2021. Between January 20, 2020 and April 10, 2021 there have been over 30 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 with over 554 thousand deaths in the U.S as reported by the World Health Organization.

How did the coronavirus outbreak start?

Pneumonia cases with an unknown cause were first reported in the Hubei province of China at the end of December 2019. Patients described symptoms including a fever and a difficulty breathing, and early reports suggested no evidence of human-to-human transmission. We now know that a novel coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2 is causing the disease COVID-19. The virus has been characterized as a pandemic and continues to spread from person to person – there have been almost 137 million cases worldwide as of April 12, 2021.

The importance of isolation and quarantine

In an effort to contain the early spread of the virus, China tightened travel restrictions and enforced isolation measures in the hardest-hit areas. The World Health Organization endorsed this strategy, and countries around the world implemented similar quarantine measures. Staying at home can limit the spread of the virus, and this applies to individuals who are only showing mild symptoms or none at all. Asymptomatic carriers of the virus – those that are experiencing no symptoms – may transmit the virus to people who are at a higher risk of getting very sick.