The U.S. response to COVID-19 began after China reported a pneumonia cluster in Wuhan, with the first American case detected on January 20, 2020; Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar declared a public health emergency on January 31, and President Trump declared a national emergency on March 13, 2020 after Congress allocated $8.3 billion in funding. Multiple infection waves followed, including a second wave in June 2020, a third surge in late 2020, and record-breaking highs driven by the Delta and Omicron variants in 2021–2022, with daily cases occasionally surpassing 200,000 and peaking at 1.5 million in a single day. Vaccines became available under emergency use in December 2020 (fully approved by the FDA in August 2021) and proved highly protective against severe illness, though vaccine hesitancy and rare side effects left many unvaccinated patients straining hospital capacity. State and local responses included mask mandates, stay-at-home orders, and school closures, while the crisis disproportionately impacted Black and Latino communities and triggered a sharp rise in anti-Asian racism and xenophobia. The pandemic also fueled widespread misinformation and conspiracy theories, exposing critical weaknesses in the U.S. public health system. Ultimately, the U.S. recorded over 103 million confirmed cases and 1.2 million deaths—the most of any country—making it the deadliest disaster in American history, ranking as the third-leading cause of death in 2020, and dropping life expectancy by up to three years for Hispanic and Latino Americans.