As the news of deaths in China, South Korea, Italy, and Iran began to saturate every form of media 24/7, we became familiar with a new term: COVID-19. To be clear, the name of the newly identified coronavirus is SARS-CoV-2; short for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2. This virus's symptoms include fever, cough, chest pain, and shortness of breath. These are the complex of symptoms that form the diagnosis of COVID-19.

Public Health Emergency

The Trump administration declared a public health emergency on January 31, 2020. Then on February 2, they placed a ban on the entry of most travelers who had recently been in China. On February 4, Alex Azar, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a declaration of public health emergency and activated the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, otherwise known as the PREP Act.