NEW ORLEANS — The past year has been turbulent, heartbreaking and life-changing. To date, more than 29 million Americans have been infected with COVID-19.
For more than 525,000, it was a battle that couldn't be won. We take a look back at the past year, by the numbers.
One: The number of cases reported on March 9, 2020, in Louisiana.
The Coronavirus had emerged, but we never could've imagined the role it would play over the next 365 days.
By March 19, 112 cases were reported and by April 9, 1,253.
Everything changed.
We were told to stay home, stand six feet apart, washing hands for 20 seconds and if exposed, to quarantine for at least 14 days.
According to Business Insider, toilet paper sales rose 845%. Also, aerosol cleaners purchases also went up about 400%. Still, COVID-19 cases climbed, and life as we knew it shut down.
By the end of April, more than 26.5 million Americans filed for unemployment. A number that'd keep rising as the pandemic progressed. According to Forbes, roughly 70 million Americans looked for jobless benefits between March and December. That's the equivalent of about 40% of the entire labor force.
The government spent about $3.5 trillion and counting trying to help with COVID-19 relief.
Hope came nine months into the pandemic. Pfizer's two-dose vaccine, proven to be 95% effective, was approved. Seven days later, on Dec. 18, Moderna's double-dose vaccine (with similar efficacy) was also given the green light.
Johnson and Johnson had the largest trial with 60,000 participants. Their single-dose vaccine was recently approved, giving us another shot at stopping the virus.
To date, about 1-in-10 Louisianans have had COVID-19. That's using data from the Louisiana Department of Health. Now as cases drop, vaccinations are on the rise.
More than 448,000 people in Louisiana are vaccinated, which is more than the state's total number of confirmed cases. The goal now though is to continue that trend, protecting as many as possible to get the number of cases back to zero.
In August, The Coronavirus became the third leading cause of death behind heart disease and cancer.
In Louisiana, more than six million tests have been administered and more than 415,000 people are presumed to have recovered.
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