With all the panic surrounding the coronavirus outbreak, it's important to stay calm and remember where we are as things begin to get worse in the US. We are currently around 50 days behind China in the course of this illness and you won't believe some of the stories and headlines that were out there at the time. Check back each day as we update these stories, here are a few:

February 4th — 63 days ago

• Hangzhou and Taizhou, cities 500 miles from virus epicentre, locked down

The city of Taizhou and three Hangzhou districts will only allow one person per household to go outside every two days to buy necessities, city officials said. The areas between them account for more than nine million people.

• China, desperate to stop coronavirus, turns neighbor against neighbor

Nationwide, despite China's extensive surveillance network with its facial recognition systems and high end cameras which is increasingly used to track its people, the gov has turned to familiar authoritarian techniques - such as setting up dragnets and asking neighbors to inform each other.

• Hong Kong Issues Tracking Bracelets To Virus Carriers

Victor Lam, the government's chief information officer, said the wristbands will be connected to a phone plugged into the mains at the wearer's home. If the wristband moves too far away from the phone, an alert will be sent to the authorities.

• Hong Kong leader orders officials not to wear masks to save stocks for medical workers

However, Lam was spotted wearing a mask on Tuesday morning when receiving petitions outside her office from protesters angered at her government's response to the outbreak, just before meeting reporters.

• 'Striking' coronavirus mutations found within one family cluster, Chinese scientists say

Viruses mutate all the time, but most changes are synonymous or "silent", having little effect on the way the virus behaves. Others, known as nonsynonymous substitutions, can alter biological traits, allowing them to adapt to different environments. Two nonsynonymous changes took place.

• Coronavirus Cases Have More Than Tripled In Past Week; 20,000 Sickened In China

China says it has more than 20,000 confirmed cases of the Wuhan coronavirus, representing a huge leap from the 4,400 cases reported as of last week.

February 13th — 54 days ago

• Hubei's coronavirus cases rise 10-fold after change in diagnostic criteria

Health authorities in China's Hubei province – the epicentre of the coronavirus epidemic – reported on Thursday 14,840 new confirmed cases, almost 10 times the number reported a day earlier, and new deaths attributable to the contagion rose to 242, more than double on the day.

• Top CDC official says US should prepare for coronavirus 'to take a foothold'

"At some point, we are likely to see community spread in the U.S. or in other countries," Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. "This will trigger a change in our response strategy."

• Coronavirus Outbreak 'Just Beginning' Outside China, Says Expert

The coronavirus outbreak may be peaking in China where it was first detected in the central city of Wuhan but it is just beginning in the rest of the world and likely to spread, a global expert on infectious diseases said on Feb. 12.

• Coronavirus still stumps experts on when human carrier turns infectious

Global health experts are divided on whether the coronavirus outbreak has peaked or worse is to come, but a more fundamental problem for front-line hospitals and laboratories is identifying when a person carrying the virus becomes infectious to others.

• Why many deaths will never appear in official figures

Wuhan's overburdened health workers are unable to confirm many of those who died were suffering from Covid-19, so they will not show up in official figures

• Hong Kong government to extend school closures until March 16

Hong Kong schools will remain closed until March 16 at the earliest and an important exam for primary school pupils has been cancelled, the education minister said on Thursday.

February 14th — 53 days ago

• Wuhan doctors battle outbreak in diapers as masks rub their faces raw

Medical personnel in Wuhan, outfitted in protective suits as they battle the coronavirus outbreak, wear diapers as they work through gruelling shifts, often until skin irritation from their masks leaves bloody marks on their faces.

• 44 more on Diamond Princess cruise ship test positive

The new cases bring the number of passengers and crew members infected with the virus to 218.

• Japanese Health Official Contracts Coronavirus Aboard Diamond Princess

A Japanese health official who visited the quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess in Yokohama has been diagnosed with the Wuhan coronavirus, Japan's health ministry reported Wednesday.

• Shunned Cruise Ship With No Sick Onboard Arrives in Cambodia

A cruise ship that spent two weeks at sea after being turned away by five countries over fears that someone aboard may have the coronavirus arrived in Cambodia on Thursday to the relief of passengers and the praise of global health officials.

• CDC blames label mix-up after mistakenly releasing coronavirus patient

A labeling mix-up was to blame for a San Diego hospital mistakenly releasing a patient infected with the coronavirus, officials said Tuesday.

• Bat curry continues to fly off the shelves in Indonesian

Bats, rats and snakes are still flying off the shelves at an Indonesian market known for its wildlife offerings despite a government request to take them off the menu over coronavirus fears.

Glenn gives the latest coronavirus numbers, updating YOU on everything needed to know as Americans and officials monitor China's new COVID-19 virus:

Daily Stats as of 5:30 AM CT (from John's Hopkins)

• Total Confirmed Cases Worldwide: 1,284,805 (up over 250,000 from 1,030,324 Friday)
• Total Confirmed Deaths Worldwide: 70,328 (up 16,100 from 54,226 Friday)
• Total Confirmed Recovered Worldwide: 271,782 (up from 219,896 Friday)
• 5% of Active Cases are considered serious (requiring hospitalization) Steady from 5% Friday, but down from 19% high back in February
• Note that about 11% of US Confirmed Cases require Hospitalization, roughly on par with Italy at 12% requiring hospitalization but lower than Spain, where 17% of patients require hospitalization.
• US has 336,851 Confirmed Cases and 9,620 Deaths, up from 245,380 cases and 6,095 cases Friday
• The US currently has 309,254 Active Cases of COVID-19, with about 1% of the US Population tested

• The pathogen that causes COVID-19 is gone within three hours from surfaces like printing and tissue paper, but can last for days on banknotes, stainless steel and plastic, researchers from University of Hong Kong find.
• The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 can adhere to the outer layer of a cotton surgical face mask for a week, according to a study by researchers from the University of Hong Kong (HKU).
• "This is exactly why it is very important if you are wearing a surgical mask you don't touch the outside of the mask," Dr. Peiris, research lead, said.
• "Because you can contaminate your hands and if you touch your eyes you could be transferring the virus to your eyes."
• In the instance where the public or health care workers must be forced to reuse masks due to short supply, the study recommends using surgical gloves and frequently washing hands immediately after using facemasks.

• USA Today researchers Fact Check Daily Wire article from last week that the Obama Administration failed to replenish the National Stockpile of N-95 masks after using for Swine Flu (2009) and Hurricane & Flooding clean up operations (2012).
• The article notes available funds were used not to replenish masks: "With limited resources, officials in charge of the stockpile tend to focus on buying lifesaving drugs from small biotechnology firms that would, in the absence of a government buyer, have no other market for their products, experts said.
• Masks and other protective equipment are in normal times widely available and thus may not have been prioritized for purchase, they said."
• Overall, USA today flags the Daily Wire story as True, lending credence to the Trump claim that the stockpile program was 'in a shambles' when his Administration took over.

• In the summer of 2005, President George W. Bush was on vacation at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, when he began flipping through an advance copy of a new book about the 1918 flu pandemic. He couldn't put it down.
• When he returned to Washington, he called his top homeland security adviser into the Oval Office and gave her historian John M. Barry's "The Great Influenza," which told the chilling tale of the mysterious plague that "would kill more people than any other disease in human history."
• "You've got to read this," Fran Townsend remembers the president telling her. "He said, 'Look, this happens every 100 years. We need a national strategy.'"
• Thus was born the nation's most comprehensive pandemic plan -- a playbook that included diagrams for a global early warning system, funding to develop new, rapid vaccine technology, and a robust national stockpile of critical supplies, such as face masks and ventilators, Townsend said.
• The effort was intense over the ensuing three years, including exercises where cabinet officials gamed out their responses, but it was not sustained.
• Large swaths of the ambitious plan were either not fully realized due to lack of funding from Congress, or were entirely shelved as the 2008 financial crisis took hold.

• Production of Corona beer is being temporarily suspended in Mexico because of the coronavirus pandemic.
• Grupo Modelo, the company that makes the beer, posted the announcement on Twitter, stating that it's halting production and marketing of its beer because the Mexican government has shuttered non-essential businesses.
• This week, the Mexican government announced the suspension of non-essential activities in the public and private sectors until April 30 in an effort to curb the spread of the virus. The country has more than 1,500 cases and 50 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins, but researchers fear the actual number of infected and dead could be much higher than reported as almost no testing has occurred in Mexico.
• Grupo Modelo stated it is ready to enact a plan to "guarantee the supply of beer" if the Mexican government decides to include breweries as essential, according to a statement.

• Both Japan & Hong Kong saw new waves of COVID-19 cases as travel and work restrictions were lifted about 10 days ago.
• Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to declare a state of emergency over the coronavirus pandemic, a government official said on Monday, as a recent surge in infections sweeps Tokyo and other major cities.
• The news comes after Japan officially moved the 2020 Olympics to 2021.
• In Japan, An Emergency eclaration, the first of its kind in that Nation, would restrict individual rights and allowing prefectural governors to call for specific limitations on people's activities.
• It has been made necessary by a rapid nationwide spike in cases that poses significant risks to lives and the economy, an official said.
• In Hong Kong, officials report they may have to impose strict lockdown with people told to stay home, government adviser says, amid warnings of third wave of infections swamped hospitals over the weekend.
• The Government put Hong Kong residents on notice for hardline approach to coronavirus seen in countries including Italy and Britain.
• Epidemiologist Dr. Kwok-yung of The Hong Kong Medical University warns of a third wave of infections as mainland Chinese had resumed work with some traveling to Hong Kong last week.
• Dr. Kwok-yung recommends reinstating the travel restrictions from Mainland China.

• The US Surgeon General said this week is going to be the "hardest and the saddest" for "most Americans' lives," describing the upcoming grim period of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States.
• "This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment, only it's not going to be localized, it's going to be happening all over the country and I want America to understand that," Vice Admiral Jerome Adams said on "Fox News Sunday."
• Adams continued: "I want Americans to understand that as hard as this week is going to be, there is a light at the end of the tunnel."
• Doctors are expecting peaks in Death Rates to occur in some of the hardest-hit areas, including New York, Louisianna, and Chicago.
• Washington State, one of the earliest hit states, experienced a peak in cases and deaths nearly two weeks ago, and now new cases and deaths have declined for 2 weeks straight.