Covid Timeline

WHO issues Global Public Health Emergency
Worldwide Death toll: 200
9800 cases

US Declares Public Health Emergency

CDC declares COVID-19 meets 2 out 3 criteria for Pandemic Status:

1. Illness resulting in death
2. Sustained person-to-person spread

Ship with more than 3500 onboard held at sea.

Travel ban on non-US Citizens traveling from Europe goes into effect.

Federal Courts in New Jersey begin shut down at close of business day. DNJ-Notice

DNJ-Order 20-03: Criminal Proceedings
DNJ-Order 20-02: Court Operations
DNJ-Visitor Restrictions

Third Circuit clerk's office begins working remotely Notice re Court Operations

DNJ- 90% of staff teleworking. All trials scheduled on or before 4/30/20 continued
Third Circuit Press Release
DNJ Notice re Paper Filings/Drop Box

Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act includes provisions for remote operation of the federal judiciary.
DNJ- Order 20-05: Building Closure
DNJ- Order 2020-04: Deadlines

DNJ-Order: Filing Deadlines extended
DNJ-Order 2020-07: Electronic Signatures
DNJ-Order 2020-06: CARES Act

DNJ- Order 20-10: Detainees
DNJ-Order 20-09: Court Operations

Third Circuit Judicial Conference canceled.
DNJ- Order 2020-11: Fees

HHS expects the first vaccine doses to be available by October.
DNJ- Order 2020-13: Entrance Protocols

DNJ- Order 2020-12: Court Operations

CDC asks Americans to continue to follow state and local guidelines – social distancing, hand hygiene, and wearing a face mask in public.

Health and Human Services announces COVID-19 vaccine will be free to elderly and vulnerable.

DNJ- Order 2020-06: CARES Act

BLM protests break out across the country. No spike in cases reported due to marches.

Dr. Fauci warns Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee that given the outbreak trajectory new cases could jump from the current level of 40,000 to as high as 100,000 per day.

50,000 new cases were recorded in the largest one-day spike.

WHO announces COVID-19 can be transmitted through the air and may linger in crowded indoor space and may be spread by asymptomatic individuals.

Phase 1&2 trials of Moderna show doses produced immune response.

HHS and Dept. of Defense announce a distribution agreement with Pfizer/BioNTech for December delivery of 100 million vaccine doses.

Antibody cocktail targeting regions of viral spikes may be used to treat and prevent COVID-19.

To date Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority investment total: $955 million.

Senate introduces Health Economic Assistance Liability Protection and Schools (HEALS) Act. This $1 trillion stimulus bill was not enacted.

FDA issues emergency use approval for SalivaDirect antibody test developed by researchers at Yale School of Public Health.

COVID-19 death toll: 170,434 now third leading cause of death in U.S. behind heart disease and cancer. 
DNJ- Order 2020-12: Court Operations

FDA issues emergency use authorization for convalescent plasma to fight COVID-19.

FDA grants emergency use authorization for Abbott 15-minute rapid test with potential for use in workplaces and schools.

25 year old man from Nevada is first known case of reinfection to be reported.

U.S. airports stop screening international travelers.

Pfizer/BioNTech expands phase 3 trial by 50% to 44,000 participants. Shots given 3 weeks apart must be kept at -94 degrees Fahrenheit. NIH investigates halted AstraZeneca trial.

HHS and DOD release vaccine distribution plan to make doses free for all Americans when vaccine rolled out in January 2021.

DNJ- Order: Entrance Protocols

DNJ- Order: Entrance Protocols - Trenton

Johnson and Johnson begins phase 3 trial.

DNJ- Order: Court Operations extension
DNJ- Order: CARES Act

South Dakota has a 166% increase. The annual Sturgis motorcycle rally, school and university reopenings, and Labor Day weekend celebrations are cited as causes of uptick in cases.
Third Circuit issues Notice of Operations

"The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is open for business and will fulfill its constitutional and statutory obligations and responsibilities. "

Per The New York Times, the total surpasses the deaths caused by HIV, dysentery, malaria, influenza, cholera, and measles combined in 2020.

HHS plans to send 100million Abbott rapid tests by end of year to hasten k-12 school reopening.
Regeneron tests Monoclonal Antibody treatment.

“Out of an abundance of caution” the president is taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

President Trump leaves the hospital to continue treatment and monitoring at the White House.

Nine states set 7-day records for new infections and deaths.

White House cluster outbreak grows to 34 after Rose Garden ceremony for Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

44 states see caseload rise.

DNJ- Order: Entrance Protocols

Death toll:
1.1million worldwide
220,000 in the U.S.

U.S. approves Remdesivir.
AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson resume COVID-19 vaccine trials.

New rules waive co-pay and deductibles on vaccines for Medicare.

Shortage of N95 face masks at health care facilities reported.

Workers ration and reuse masks.

President-elect Biden announces scientific, medical and public health professions will serve on COVID-19 advisory board transition team. Pfizer releases data from vaccine trial showing 90% efficacy.

Study in Nature shows most new cases of COVID-19 originate from indoor gatherings in restaurants, gyms, and grocery stores. Increased outbreak reported after Halloween gatherings.

Dr. Fauci addresses American Heart Association Scientific Session discussing cardiovascular implications, fatigue, shortness of breath, muscle aches, sporadic fever, and inability to concentrate for 1/3 of COVID-19 patients lasting weeks or months after infection.

CDC warns against holiday travel.

Pfizer/ BioNTech submit an emergency use authorization application to FDA.

AstraZeneca vaccine 90% effective with half dose followed by full dose month later. FDA grants emergency use authorization for Regeneron.

DNJ- Order 2020-17: Court Proceedings

FDA advisory panel recommends Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine 2 doses 21 days apart for ages 16 and older.

Shipments begin for Pfizer/BioNTech to start health worker vaccinations.

Sandra Lindsey, a nurse in NY is the first American outside clinical trial to receive the vaccine.

FDA panel approves Moderna vaccine 2 doses 28 days apart for ages 18 and older.

Shipments of Moderna vaccine begin.

DNJ- Extension of Standing Order 2020-17 Suspension of in-person judicial proceedings and limitation of Grand Jury Proceedings due to resurgence of COVID-19

DNJ- Third Extention of Standing Order 2020-12 re: Court operations under exigent circumstances

DNJ- Third Extension of Amended Standing Order 2020-06 video conferencing and teleconferencing for criminal proceedings under the CARES Act. 

DNJ- Extension of Standing order 2020-11 pro hac vice fees in Habeas Petitions from IMmigration Detainees seeking immediate release due to COVID-19

14 million of 20 million allocated doses have been distributed

Around 8 pm Congress reconvenes to finish certifying election results.

Results were certified at 3 a.m. Thursday morning.

Vaccine shortage reported.

One year anniversary of the first reported U.S. case.

Worldwide cases > 100 million

President Biden announces federal vaccine website to find sites administering doses. All states, tribes, and territories are directed to make all adults eligible by May 1.

CDC announces children in school can socially distance at 3 feet instead of 6 feet.

DNJ- Standing Order 2021-08 (Vaccination Required)
DNJ- COVID-19: Orders, Procedures and Changes

DNJ: Chief Judge issues Third Extension of standing order 2021-03 for Criminal Proceedings due to ongoing National Emergency.

US Confirmed cases 48,202,463
US Death toll 777,417

DNJ- Standing Order 2021-11

DNJ- Fourth Extension of Standing Order 2021-03 video conferencing and teleconferencing for criminal proceedings under the CARES Act

The public health emergency declared in NJ ends on March 7, 2022. Mask requirement inside schools lifted. 

On March 14, 2022 mask mandate for state employees and visitors to state offices ended.

DNJ- Standing Order 2022-01 Amendment of Standing Order 2020-14, Updated Amended Standing Order 2021-04, and Standing Order 2021-08; Vacation of Standing Orders 2020-13, 2020-15, and 2020-16

DNJ- Fifth Extension of Standing Order 2021-03 video conferencing and teleconferencing for criminal proceedings under the CARES Act.

On August 2, bench and bar colleagues, friends, and family, gathered for a historic event, the ceremonial investiture of seven new U.S. Magistrate Judges in the District of New Jersey. According to an AO Judicial Historian, “I have never heard of an instance of a ceremonial swearing-in of multiple magistrate judges at one time in my 25 years at the AO.” While there were many instances of two magistrate judges on the same court entering duty on the same day (there was only one documented instance with three judges being sworn-in together), no more than that has been recorded and no evidence indicated that those swearings-in were done in a ceremonial fashion.

DNJ- Sixth Extension of Standing Order 2021-03 video conferencing and teleconferencing for criminal proceedings under the CARES Act.

DNJ- Standing order 2022-02 UPDATED COVID-19 PROTOCOLS REGARDING VACCINATION AND TESTING, MASKING, AND SOCIAL DISTANCING OF VISITORS TO COURT FACILITIES AND
CRIMINAL DEFENDANTS; Partial Recission of Standing Orders 2021-08 and 2022-01

DNJ- Seventh Extension of Standing Order 2021-03 video conferencing and teleconferencing for criminal proceedings under the CARES Act