December 31st - Chinese scientists informed the WHO about a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan. Within two weeks, the Chinese had sequenced the virus. Within days, German scientists had developed a test that could identify a unique part of the virus’ DNA. 
January 17th - WHO adopted the German test, publishing technical guidelines and working with private companies to produce testing kits.
January 15th - A 35 y/o man who would become the first American to test positive arrives in Seattle following a trip to Wuhan.
January 21st - Swabs from the Seattle man’s nodes and throat are flown to the CDC. Trump tells the nation “We have it totally under control”.
January 28th - Having decided to produce its own test, the CDC published the technical details for its COVID-19 test. Ten days after the WHO. By then the virus had already been in the US for at least two weeks. Strict testing criteria are placed on who could be tested.
January 30th - The WHO declares the outbreak a public health emergency. Trump assures Americans that the virus was “very well under control”. He leaves for a golf trip at Mar-A-Lago.
January 31st - The U.S. declares a public health emergency. The U.S. was finally expands testing criteria to include any citizen returning from China, not just Wuhan, but the person must still have a fever.
February 4 - The U.S. had only tested 178 patients with 82 others pending. To increase the number of screenings, the FDA authorized CDC-certified labs run by state health departments to begin processing swabs.
Mid-February - Because of a problem with the tests that the CDC was distributing, only about six state and local public health labs had reliable tests.
February 24th - The Association of Public Health Labs sent a letter to the FDA asking for permission to develop their own tests and the FDA agrees.
February 27th - Trump insists that the virus is under control and “One day, it’s like a miracle. It will disappear.” Experts say that the opportunity to stop the spread of the virus within the U.S. had been lost.
February 29th - Only 472 patients had been tested nationwide with 22 cases confirmed. South Korea cases peaked this date and have continued to decline.
March 6th - Trump and Alex Azar visit the CDC lab promising 4M test kits by March 13th. Trump indicates he doesn’t want the cruise ship passengers to disembark on U.S. soil in order to keep the number of cases reported low.
March 13th - Trump states “I don’t take responsibility at all” when asked about the testing blunders that have allowed the virus to spread throughout the U.S.
March 17th - Dr. Birx and Trump were asked why the US hadn’t adopted the WHO test. Both indicated that it was because the test was not reliable. The WHO test had been deemed reliable and valid by three independent labs on Feb. 21st.
