One year later: A timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in DeKalb County

It’s been a year since the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the world and into the DeKalb County community, shuttering businesses, forcing schools and offices into virtual settings, impacting life as we know it, and taking lives and loved ones in its wake.

Over the past year, 113 DeKalb County residents died due to complications from the viral respiratory disease. Over 8,570 residents have contracted the disease over the course of the pandemic, according to the DeKalb County Health Department, while 7,705 have fully recovered.

Over the course of the next several weeks, the Daily Chronicle will look back -- and forward -- at the pandemic’s impact on our community, its people and all the facets that have changed, inviting local voices to reflect and remember.

To begin, what follows is a timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in DeKalb County, and a look back at significant dates throughout the past 365 days.

Brittany Melvin (left) and Stacy Slayton, both nurses in Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital's COVID-19 unit, ready for work at the hospital Monday afternoon in DeKalb. (Mark Busch)

From then to now: A timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in DeKalb County

Jan. 24, 2020: The first case of the disease in Illinois is reported in a woman who’d just traveled from Wuhan, China, to Chicago.

Jan. 31, 2020: The World Health Organization declares a public health emergency, as cases are now found in the U.S., Germany, Japan and other countries.

Feb. 3, 2020: The Trump administration declares a public health emergency.

March 9, 2020: The stock market takes its worst tumble since the Wall Street crash in 2008, with Dow Jones plummeting by 7.8%

March 11, 2020: WHO declares COVID-19 a pandemic.

March 13, 2020: Gov. JB Pritzker orders all Illinois schools closed until March 30.

March 16, 2020: Per Pritzker’s executive order, restaurants and bars must close at 5 p.m.

March 17, 2020: The City of DeKalb holds an emergency townhall to discuss ways to provide immediate economic relief to local businesses impacting by lockdown mitigations

File photo - DeKalb City Manager Bill Nicklas talks during the Monday City Council meeting at the DeKalb Public Library. (Katie Finlon)

The week of March 16, 2020: The Daily Chronicle begins recording a live list of local impact as events and other cancelations sweep across the community.

March 21, 2020: The first case of COVID-19, a DeKalb County resident in their 40s, is reported.

March 21, 2020: Pritzker issues a stay-at-home order for Illinois.

April 6, 2020: DeKalb County Health Department reports the first local death due to COVID-19, a man in his 50s.

April 17, 2020: Pritzker announces all Illinois schools will remain closed for the remainder of the academic year.

File photo - DeKalb School District employee Ben Sloniker hands lunches to students at the Northern Illinois University School of Nursing building during the district's meal pickup program. The district hopes to ensure children continue to get their meals, which are available at several locations, during the governors school closure due to coronavirus. (Mark Busch)

April 23, 2020: Pritzker extends stay-at-home order through the end of May.

May 5, 2020: Pritzker announces the five-phase Restore Illinois plan.

May 15, 2020: The first reported virus case in a long-term care facility is announced at the DeKalb County Rehabilitation and Nursing Center

May 28, 2020: The first virus death at a local long-term care facility is reported: a woman in her 70s at Pine Acres Rehab and Living Center in DeKalb.

File photo - Daily Chronicle reporters throughout the pandemic have been able to track down family members of residents at some facilities, including Pine Acres Rehab and Living Center in DeKalb, which was the epicenter for the county's first devastatingly lethal outbreak.

May 29, 2020: The state, except Chicago, moves into Phase 3 of the plan. Nonessential retail, salons, barber shops and more are allowed to reopen with capacity limits, gyms can offer outdoor group fitness classes and outdoor dining is permitted.

June 26, 2020: All regions in Illinois move into Phase 4 of the plan, allowing indoor dining. Gyms, theaters, museums, zoos and more reopen, all with capacity limits. Gatherings of up to 50 people are permitted.

July 3, 2020: Corn Fest is canceled, the first time in its 42-year history.

July 28, 2020: Sycamore Pumpkin Fest is canceled

Oct. 2, 2020: Fighting Pritzker’s announcement that regional mitigations would be imposed on DeKalb County businesses due to a viral resurgence, including banning indoor dining, seven DeKalb County restaurant and bar owners filed a lawsuit against the governor and Illinois Department of Public Health, asking officials to delay mitigations until further information could be provided. The delay is denied that Friday by DeKalb County Judge Bradley Waller, and the lawsuit heads to Springfield.

Oct. 3, 2020: As a result of a second surge of virus cases, Region 1, which includes DeKalb County, moves back into Tier 1 mitigations, prohibited indoor dining once again, but permit outdoor dining

Oct. 8, 2020: Three more DeKalb County business owners join the lawsuit fighting indoor dining restrictions

Oct. 23, 2020: The DeKalb County Health Department begins publishing a weekly list of local bars and restaurants not complying with the ban on indoor dining.

File photo - A cooler full of collected samples wait to be shipped off for testing during free drive-thru COVID-19 testing at Sycamore High School. The testing at this site by HR Support is offered through a partnership with the Illinois Department of Public Health, the DeKalb County Health Department and Sycamore School District 427. (Mark Busch)

Nov. 10-16, 2020: DeKalb County reports its highest number of COVID-19 cases in a week with 615 cases in a seven day period. (The month of November also marks a new pandemic peak, with 2,373 cases reported in the month, according to the DeKalb County Health Department, more cases than all previous months combined, from March through October).

Nov. 20, 2020: DeKalb County and the entire state of Illinois move into Tier 3 mitigations, the most restrictive phase since early spring, due to a spike in cases and hospitalizations.

Dec. 10, 2020: DeKalb County has seven COVID-19 deaths in six days reported the week ending Dec. 12, the highest number of deaths in a week to date.

Dec. 29, 2020: The DeKalb County Health Department receives its first COVID-19 vaccine shipment. The 800 Moderna doses are distributed to Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee and Valley West hospitals to administer to front-line health care workers.

Travis Karr, a City of DeKalb firefighter/paramedic, receives an injection of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from DeKalb County Health Department public health nurse Alex Diehl Thursday in DeKalb. — File photo - Travis Karr, a City of DeKalb firefighter/paramedic, receives an injection of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from DeKalb County Health Department public health nurse Alex Diehl in DeKalb. (Mark Busch - mbusch@shawmedia.co)

Jan. 15, 2021: The COVID-19 vaccine begins to arrive in local long-term care facilities, an urgent need to elderly communities throughout DeKalb County who during this past years have suffered the most deaths.

Jan. 18, 2021: After nearly four months without indoor dining, DeKalb County’s health region returns to Phase 4 of the Restore Illinois plan following a drop in positivity rates, hospitalizations and ICU bed usage, and indoor dining resumes with limited capacity.