Murmurs of a deadly novel coronavirus barely brushed American consciousness in December 2019. Red flags started waving when the U.S. saw its first coronavirus infection a month later, just as more countries in Asia and Europe felt the crush of the brewing pandemic.

In late January, then-Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar attempted to assuage concerns, saying, "this is a potentially very serious public health threat, but at this point, Americans should not worry for their own safety.”

As airwaves and social media accounts were flooded with images of residents abroad wearing masks for protection, U.S. officials insisted it was unnecessary here.

"There’s no reason for anyone right now in the United States with regard to coronavirus to wear a mask," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, told Spectrum News in February of 2020, citing limited supply of protective gear for health care workers – despite clues that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 illnesses, could be airborne.

It is now clear that not wearing masks was a key misstep early on as experts struggled to understand and contain the virus, while also grappling with a rapidly growing number of people falling ill. And the U.S., was initially flying through the crisis with impaired vision.

"It's very important that the CDC really continues testing and expands testing. We don't want to end up in a situation where these infections and the virus flies under the radar," explained Icahn School of Medicine Vaccinologist Florian Krammer.

But that’s exactly what happened. As the virus spread, hospitals and intensive care units filled up as the virus unleashed a storm of inflammation on patients’ organs.

In places like New York City, where case counts were highest, officials worried the demand for ICU beds could soon outpace the available supply. 

On March 24, 2020, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called for additional ventilators: "It means life or death, and we need as many ventilators as we possibly can get right now."

The search for treatments was a process of trial and error. Therapeutics like hydroxychloroquine, which showed early promise, proved risky or ineffective. But there have also been many wins. Hospitals learned quickly and adapted their methods. 

"Now people are put on steroids when they're in the hospital, they're not ventilated as quickly," says New York University Population Health expert Scott Braithwaite. "With all the improvements, about one quarter as many in the hospital and one eighth as many dying. So that's really that's a wonderful advance."

Treatments like monoclonal antibodies may help some patients avoid hospitalization completely. 

"For us it really was a game changer in being more proactive in preventing people from developing more complicated or severe disease,” said Dr. Andrew Wallach, Ambulatory Care Chief Medical Officer for NYC Health + Hospitals. 

The greatest story of triumph throughout the past year of trials may be the rapid discovery, research, and approval of a COVID-19 vaccine.

"This is really good news. It bodes well for the future. A vaccine that is 90 percent protective," said Dr. Mark Mulligan, the lead investigator for the Pfizer / BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine site at NYU Langone’s Vaccine Center, after phase three trial results were announced in early November. 

As the country braced itself for a second major wave in coronavirus cases, two highly effective vaccines were approved for emergency use in December – one from Pfizer, and the other created by Moderna.

"What we're seeing now is the culmination of years of research, which have led to a phenomenon that has truly been unprecedented,” said Fauci as he prepared to receive his first dose of the vaccine. “That is to go from the realization that we're dealing with a new pathogen – a virus that was described in January of this year – to less than one year later, to have vaccines that are going into the arms of so many people including myself.”

But just as the light at the end of the tunnel got brighter, there were problems with the vaccine rollout and news of more contagious coronavirus variants emerged.

"There has been some actual laboratory work done on the UK variant and reportedly on the South African variant," Dr. Stephen Morse, an epidemiologist at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, told Spectrum News. "The current vaccines will also cover these new variants."

Experts continue to remind Americans not to let their guards down, but with a new year, tools in hand, and greater understanding of how COVID-19 behaves, there's renewed hope for a bright future beyond the pandemic.