COVID-19 One Year Later: Timeline of a Pandemic
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. A year later, we reflect on Project HOPE's global response, which has reached 150 countries.
More than 110 million people infected. Over 2 million lives lost. Decades of gains in global health erased.
There was no way to know one year ago just how staggering the costs of COVID-19 would be. The pandemic has been the greatest public health threat of our lives, and is likely to be one of the 10 deadliest in history.
As we mark the one-year anniversary of the day COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, we reflect on a response unlike any in Project HOPE’s history, during which Project HOPE has delivered more than 14 million pieces of PPE, trained over 93,000 health care workers and frontline personnel, and reached 150 countries around the world.
That response, laid out in the timeline below, is also recapped in a new in-depth report available here.
Project HOPE’s global COVID-19 response, like all our work, is only possible because of the valued support of our donors and partners. Thank you for joining us in our mission to place power in the hands of health care workers to save lives across the globe.
December 31, 2019
The World Health Organization is first informed of new cases involving a previously unknown pneumonia in Wuhan City.
Project HOPE has worked in Wuhan since 2001, when we first partnered with Wuhan University to establish the Wuhan University HOPE School of Nursing.
January 27, 2020
Project HOPE mobilizes its first support for health care workers in Wuhan, delivering 220,000 face masks, 870 pairs of goggles, and 6,500 pairs of coveralls.
February 3, 2020
As the virus continues to spread, Project HOPE delivers more than 2 million pieces of PPE in Wuhan.
February 19, 2020
Less than a month into the response, Project HOPE’s PPE deliveries top 4.5 million.
February 28, 2020
As Project HOPE’s response in China reaches 22 hospitals, Project HOPE teams around the world begin preparing for a pandemic.
March 6, 2020
Project HOPE partners with the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies at the Watson Institute of Brown University to develop a virtual COVID-19 health worker training.
Read “Is This The Future Of Health Worker Training?” >>
March 11, 2020
COVID-19 is declared a global pandemic.
March 30, 2020
Project HOPE activates its roster of medical volunteers to support frontline health care workers in the United States and deploys its first volunteers to Chicago.
April 2, 2020
The first virtual COVID-19 trainings are held in North Macedonia and Puerto Rico.
April 3, 2020
Project HOPE and Americares join forces to deliver more than 3 tons of PPE to the city of Chicago.
April 10, 2020
Project HOPE launches its first downloadable COVID-19 trainings for health care workers.
May 6, 2020
The number of health care workers trained by Project HOPE tops 15,000.
May 14, 2020
Project HOPE distributes PPE inside Navajo Nation as global distributions now top 6.5 million.
June 10, 2020
As COVID-19 cases continue to spike in the U.S., Project HOPE joins forces with Business Roundtable and Healthcare Ready to deliver 2.3 million pieces of PPE to frontline health workers across the country.
July 9, 2020
The number of health care workers trained around the world now exceeds 30,000.
July 22, 2020
Project HOPE partners with Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association to deliver PPE, medical supplies, and training to nine hospitals in eight hard-hit provinces in the Dominican Republic.
July 23, 2020
The number of health care workers trained by Project HOPE now exceeds 53,000, while PPE deliveries top 8.6 million across 13 countries.
September 28, 2020
The worldwide death toll from COVID-19 hits 1 million.
October 23, 2020
Project HOPE delivers 22,000 pieces of PPE to Beirut to support health care workers in the wake of the Port of Beirut explosion.
October 29, 2020
Project HOPE begins piloting mental health trainings for health care workers in the Dominican Republic and Indonesia.
November 12, 2020
Project HOPE deploys a new wave of volunteers to Navajo Nation and Chicago. Over the previous eight months, Project HOPE volunteers in Chicago have consulted with 66 long-term care facilities and helped more than 8,000 residents.
Read “COVID-19 in Navajo Nation: How Project HOPE is Responding” >>
November 13, 2020
Project HOPE distributes PPE to hurricane shelters in Honduras to help contain the spread of COVID-19 in the wake of Hurricane Eta.
Read “‘Triple Emergency’: Honduras’ Long Road to Recovery” >>
January 28, 2021
The worldwide death toll from COVID-19 tops 2 million.
February 4, 2021
Project HOPE has now distributed 14 million pieces of personal protective equipment, provided training for over 93,000 health care workers and frontline personnel, and reached more than 150 countries.
March 3, 2021
Project HOPE and partners roll out COVID-19 vaccination trainings across 20 African countries.
As our response to COVID-19 now enters its second year, Project HOPE is working with its network of global and
country partners to support COVID-19 vaccine roll-out.
Going forward, our strategy will focus on training clinicians and frontline personnel on COVID-19 vaccines; training frontline vaccinators on guidelines and administration; supporting COVID-19 vaccine distribution, particularly for high-risk and hard-to-reach populations; supporting health facilities in vaccine cold chain maintenance; procuring and distributing consumables and supplies for vaccine administration; and community mobilization and vaccine awareness campaigns.
For the latest updates on our COVID-19 response, click here.
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