With 100,000 dead from coronavirus, U.S. sees its promise and flaws far more clearly - NBC News

The same day, in a development that barely seemed to register in the United States, Chinese officials in Wuhan confirmed dozens of cases of what appeared to be pneumonia, origins unknown.

But the cause soon became clear: an outbreak of a new coronavirus and the ruthless disease it causes, COVID-19.

The first recorded fatality from the coronavirus in the United States, that of a man in his 50s in Washington state whose death was confirmed on Feb.

Inside the offices of NBC News, the coronavirus had all but announced itself as the defining storyline of the year, and I began overseeing our 24/7 liveblog of daily news updates.

You could argue the realization dawned on March 11, with three developments: The World Health Organization declared that the coronavirus was now a pandemic; the NBA suspended its season after a player tested positive; and the American everyman Tom Hanks and his wife, actress Rita Wilson, announced that they, too, had COVID-19.

Mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, neighbors, colleagues, strangers in our own towns and cities and states — 100,000 people gone, leaving unfathomable grief and confusion and anger in their wake.

In late April, NBC News published a project called “60 Lives, 60 Days.” It’s a page containing the names, ages and photos of 60 people who lost their lives to COVID-19, alongside short obituaries and vignettes about their lives.

In suburban homes and urban apartments across the country, fury has mounted at President Donald Trump’s administration over news reports that it failed to act quickly and decisively enough to contain the early spread of the coronavirus and outfit states with desperately needed resources.

The deficiencies of America’s response to the crisis have put a spotlight on a wide array of structural inequalities and systemic issues, many of which predated Trump’s tenure in office.

In truth, no country mustered a perfect response to the outbreak, to the extent perfection is even attainable for a virus so stubborn, relentless and deadly.