Журнал. World association for medical law. The COVID-19 pandemic. Volume 39 2

372 Medicine and Law Keywords: Epidemic/Pandemic; Corona Virus Infection; Originated from Wuhan; China; Infection in the USA, Implication to Medical Law and Ethic Introduction ALooking back at how average Americans learned about corona virus infections arriving in the USA, [TN1][TN2], their attention may not have been fully addressing the oncoming coronavirus in early January 2020, still drawn towards the political turmoil, generated by the upcoming presidential election in November 2020. The Congress was set to move and vote on articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. Newspaper and media were largely ignoring the coronavirus’ coming to the US until late February or early March 2020. To Americans, the Covid-19 pandemic arose rapidly as the infections initially were identified in most major metropolitan areas by early March 2020. Early in November and December 2019, coronavirus started in Wuhan, Hubei China. Dr. Wu (1) chronologically documented the first 27 cases and 0 deaths in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. On December 8 and 31, 2019[TN3], the center reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) in Wuhan. On January 7, the new virus was identified. TheWHO sent out a global Emergency Alert as the infections in China rose to 7,736 cases with 170 deaths. There had been 82 cases with 0 deaths outside of China. By February 20 2020, China had 74,675 cases, 2,121 deaths, with 1,073 cases and 8 deaths outside of China. During early March, the virus spread rapidly throughout the US and even more so in New York, especially in New York City (NYC). According to Governor Andrew Cuomo, the mass infection first spread to Europe and arrived to NYC. Because of the oncoming pandemic, many scheduled conventions, scientific meetings, national and international events, such as the Summer Olympic Games, were rescheduled or cancelled. The scheduled WAML congress in Toronto Canada for August 2020 also had to be cancelled, the next congress being scheduled in Istanbul in 2021. Schools have been closed and online instruction has been implemented. Graduation ceremonies have been cancelled. Medical appointments shifted from being face-to-face to online telemedical consultations. Despite the initial delay, since the pandemic began in the US, the government has been coordinating research efforts, documenting the virus’ epidemiology and advocating for increased COVID-19 testing, including offering to send a team of Centers for Disease Control (CDC) health experts to China to help contain the outbreak.