Five years since initial response to coronavirus spread in the United States

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Slowing the spread: COVID-19 guidance and closures from March 2020

'Special Report' anchor Bret Baier looks back on the initial COVID-19 recommendations and closures during the early stages of the pandemic.

February 2020

By the time the coronavirus had begun to spread throughout the United States, officials were still unsure of how contagious the virus was. Much of the country was still focused on the upcoming 2020 election.

"Joe [Biden] is not going to be running the government. He’s just going to be sitting in a home someplace," President Donald Trump told CPAC attendees. "And people are going to be running it for him."

Trump and the Democratic candidates for president were balancing their campaigns with a platform for containing the growing epidemic.

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March 1, 2020

"He doesn't know what he's doing. He doesn't know how to run the country," eventual Democratic nominee Joe Biden said on Fox News Sunday in March 2020. "He is making us more unsafe the way he's responding to the coronavirus."

March 2, 2020

Fox News hosted a series of town halls across the country where candidates spoke about their coronavirus platforms.

"Nobody knows what this virus is going to do. It does seem to be spreading," Democratic candidate Michael Bloomberg said at a town hall in Manassas, Virginia. "Is it going to overtake the whole world? Some of these things could just all of a sudden die out, and nobody knows why."

A healthcare worker seals a coronavirus swab after testing at the Pro Health Urgent Care coronavirus testing site April 30, 2020, in Wantagh, N.Y. (Al Bello/Getty Images)

Virginia had no known coronavirus cases at the time. With Asia and Europe reporting more cases than the United States, the virus still seemed far away. New York City reported its first case ahead of Fox News’ Super Tuesday coverage.

"It wasn't a question of if, but when. This is New York. We're a gateway to the world," Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y., said.

March 3, 2020

As more than a dozen states tallied votes on Super Tuesday, many also tallied new coronavirus cases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed at least 60 cases across the United States, but many worried the U.S. could face the same rapid spread that Italy and South Korea had.

"Do masks actually help? Do they prevent or reduce the likelihood of being exposed to the disease?" Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, asked Dr. Anthony Fauci in early March.

"The most important thing for a mask would be if someone is infected to prevent them from infecting others. The other is the healthcare provider, to protect them," Fauci answered. "The general public, who could wear them, that could certainly prevent gross droplets from going when someone sneezes and coughs on you, but it doesn't provide the kind of protection that people think it does."

March 4, 2020

Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator  urged Americans to take basic precautions during an early White House meeting on how the virus could affect airlines.

"We're always saying the common sense, that washing your hands, not touching your face, ensuring that if you've touched anything," Birx said.

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Trump told a group of CEOs he was pleased airlines were taking additional cleaning procedures on planes and said he was taking his own precautions.

"I haven't touched my face in weeks and weeks. I miss it," Trump said.

March 5, 2020

The next day, he attended a town hall hosted by Fox News in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He was asked about his past comments on being a germophobe and how he has changed that on the campaign trail.

"If there was ever a time that you could convince people not to shake hands, this could be it," Trump joked. "The bottom line is, I shake everybody's hand now. I'm proud of it."

Coronavirus  (CDC)

There were no cases of COVID-19 in Pennsylvania at the time of the town hall, but other locations were beginning to report rapid increases. New York had doubled its cases overnight with additional testing, increasing the number of cases from 11 to 22. Washington state then had 70 confirmed cases, prompting a visit by Vice President Mike Pence to assess the situation.

"The American people have watched with great concern as the coronavirus has taken hold in this community," Pence said at a roundtable with Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.

March 6, 2020

As Pence promised more resources for Washington, other states were calling for more test kits. Trump visited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta with administration health officials. They discussed efforts to improve access to testing and warned the public that cases would likely spike.

"I think there's no doubt we're going to see more community cases," CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said. "There's no doubt that the public health system in the United States is enhancing surveillance in a variety of ways."

With the likelihood of more confirmed cases, state and local leaders began canceling major events. South by Southwest was canceled in Austin, Texas. The Ultra Music Festival was indefinitely postponed in Miami. Trump was asked if local leaders were taking the right precautions.

"I think it's fine if they want to do it. I don't think it's an overreaction, but I wouldn't be generally inclined to do it. I really wouldn't be," Trump said.

March 9, 2020

Fox News held one of its last major events the next week in Dearborn, Michigan, a town hall with Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders.

"What happens if you have that virus and you're going to work? You're spreading it to other people," Sanders said.

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Trump administration health officials updated guidance for high-risk Americans and called for increased use of protective equipment and distancing measures. Amid quarantine orders for cruise ships with confirmed cases, Fauci urged vulnerable groups to avoid cruises.

"I think if you're a healthy young person that there is no reason, if you want to go on a cruise ship, go on a cruise ship. Personally, I would never go on a cruise ship because I don't like cruises," Fauci said. "That if you have the conditions that I've been speaking about over and over again to this group, namely an individual who has an underlying condition, particularly an elderly person that has an underlying condition, I would recommend strongly that they do not go on a cruise ship."

March 10, 2020

Michigan reported its first coronavirus cases the day after the Fox News town hall. Across the country, more than 36 states and Washington, D.C., had reported 647 cases and 25 deaths.

President Donald J. Trump listens to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks with members of the coronavirus task force during a briefing in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House April 17, 2020, in Washington, D.C. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

March 12, 2020

The guidance to avoid highly populated places would extend to a wider group of Americans. In most instances, people did not have a choice about whether they could or could not attend certain places, even healthy young people.

"What are we going to do now? There’s no soccer. There’s no football. There’s no basketball," one sports fan said as the NHL and NBA suspended their seasons.

New York banned gatherings of 500 or more people, and Americans began finding new ways to greet one another instead of shaking hands.

"Forget any physical contact, greetings. Bow in an eastern style," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said.

March 13, 2020

By the end of the week, the two remaining Democratic presidential candidates had moved their campaigns online.

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"Under normal circumstances, I would not be in Burlington today," Sanders said. "I would be probably in Ohio, Florida or another state where a primary is coming up."

March 16, 2020

Over the next week, the Trump administration’s recommendations became more urgent.

President Donald Trump addressed the nation from the Oval Office about the widening coronavirus crisis March 11, 2020, in Washington, D.C. (Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images)

"Avoid gathering in groups of more than ten people, avoid discretionary travel and avoid eating and drinking at bars, restaurants and public food courts," President Trump said at a news conference. "Much of what we're talking about is for the next 15 days."

March 17, 2020

Early spring activities were being altered. St. Patrick’s Day celebrations had already been canceled in many cities like New York and Chicago. Fewer visitors took in Washington’s cherry blossoms. And spring breakers faced limited options in Florida.

"What is there to do here other than go to the bars or the beach? And they're closing all of it," one spring breaker said in Miami.

Late March 2020

Governors began to issue statewide shutdowns, including locations where Fox News town halls had been held just weeks before.

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"With the knowledge of how easily … this disease spreads, I ask all Pennsylvanians to stay home," Gov. Tom Wolf, D-Pa., said.

With many locations now closed to the public, crews set up extra hospital space. Washington state built a hospital in a soccer field. The USNS Mercy deployed to Los Angeles, and the USNS Comfort parked in New York Harbor. States called for additional ventilators, masks and other equipment to treat the increasing number of cases. The economy was showing signs of weakening. President Trump warned of the effect of the shutdowns.

"We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself. We're not going to let the cure be worse than the problem," Trump said.