The COVID-19 virus was first documented in Wuhan, China, and spread to the United States in February 2020. A national emergency was declared on March 13, 2020, and ended on April 10, 2023. Harvard University shifted classes online in response to rising COVID-19 cases during the spring of 2020. Hybrid teaching began in the Fall 2021 semester, offering both in-person and online classes. The pandemic greatly affected hospitals across the country.
The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected Black, Latino, and American Indian/Alaskan Native communities. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) reported in 2021 that COVID-19 had caused more deaths by population size in Black, Latino, and American Indian/Alaskan Native people than in white or Asian people. Such inequities emerged in the context of multiple social forces, such as pre-existing co-morbidities related to socioeconomic status and structural racism.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over one million Americans have died of the virus as of January 2024.
Learn more about how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the Black community at The Black Frontline, an oral history project where Black healthcare workers share their stories from working on the frontlines.