COVID-19 Pandemic: An analysis of what is working, what we have learned thus far, and the challenges that remain ahead

The COVID-19 pandemic started globally with the first cases being reported as early as December 1, 2019 in Wuhan, China.1 The first US cases were reported January 20, 2020.2 To date we have 11,892,382 confirmed cases globally and 545,485 deaths.3 Ominously, as of July 2020, the number of cases continues to rise with the United States having the highest cases (3,016,515) and mortality rates in the world. The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unique challenges for emergency managers since most professionals have not experienced or managed a global pandemic. Complicating things further is the nature of SARS CoV-2 itself. As a novel virus we are still learning about the virus which requires adaptive changes to our current response as the pandemic evolves.