Talk:Timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic

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This article has been mentioned by a media organization:

Omer Benjakob (February 9, 2020). "On Wikipedia, a fight is raging over coronavirus disinformation". Wired (magazine). Retrieved February 9, 2020. Since its creation, the main article has undergone more than 6,500 edits by over 1,200 editors. So large was the deluge of facts and figures relating to the virus that less than two weeks after opening, the main article was forked off to create one devoted to listing the cases of "Wuhan coronavirus outbreak by country and territory". A few days later another article was opened, displaying a timeline of the outbreak.

Section sizes

Section size for Timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic (11 sections)
Section name	Byte count	Section total
(Top)	3,533	3,533
Worldwide timelines by month and year	5,651	5,651
Timeline by country	241	11,185
Africa	1,054	1,054
Americas	1,984	1,984
Asia	3,267	3,267
Europe	3,481	3,481
Oceania	1,158	1,158
Worldwide cases by month and year	1,297	1,297
References	28	28
External links	325	325
Total	22,019	22,019

History section had no citations at all - removed

I removed the "History" section in this article, for several reasons:

There were zero citations/sources
"Timeline" articles typically have minimal prose and instead relies on bare facts about dates & sequences, presented in a list format
This article is about medical issues, which have a higher sourcing standard.
There are already articles on the history topic, such as History of COVID-19 vaccine development or History of coronavirus or COVID-19#History.

There may be a need for a dedicated article on History of COVID pandemic, but if so, the article should be separate from the timeline article. And whoever wants to write such an article should provide citations. For example, they could start with the contents of the well-sourced section at COVID-19#History.

Noleander (talk) 16:02, 28 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Hi @Noleander:, it looks like an anonymous user has reinserted the unsourced History section. I agree that it should be removed since it has no citations and the content is covered in other articles. Will keep an eye on the page and revert if necessary. Andykatib (talk) 02:27, 3 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

and once again anonymous user use this article to spread misinformation. @Andykatib can you, please, look at it. Best regards Ckreo (talk) 13:51, 11 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Hi @Ckreo:, I have added a citation tag for the statement about the US government saying that COVID-19 originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Will find a source tomorrow. Andykatib (talk) 13:55, 11 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Merge the 2023 timelines together

There is a serious lack of information in each months articles and a lot of the information doesn't seem to be that noteworthy and may need to be removed anyway. As a result, merging the articles together and not creating new ones seems the most logical step, though input is appreciated. AndrewRG10 (talk) 07:42, 6 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Stopping timelines in 2024

Hi @AndrewRG10:, @Crossroads:, @Keith1611:, @Fixer88:, @David Fuchs:, @Noleander:, @Tenryuu:. I am thinking that we should discontinue the COVID-19 timeline pages from 1 January 2024 onwards since the World Health Organization no longer considers it a pandemic and most places have ended COVID-19 restrictions. In addition to the declining interest (with most entries focusing on Malaysian and NZ COVID-19 reports) and media coverage, I don't think that Wikipedia is a database for collecting statistics and reports. I think it's good to have this conversation with 2024 round the corner. Let me know what you think about this proposal. Andykatib 04:51, 6 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Happy New Year, @AndrewRG10:, @Crossroads:, @Keith1611:, @Fixer88:, @David Fuchs:, @Noleander:, @Tenryuu:. Not sure whether we should continue the COVID-19 timelines for 2024 given that WHO no longer considers it a pandemic. There are still COVID-19 cases and Governments do publish transmission data but Wikipedia is not a database for collecting statistics and reports. Since we are approaching 1 January 2024, I thought it would be good to make a decision. Andykatib 22:41, 31 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Van Kerkhove recent comments

I'm adding this here rather than at the 2023 or 2024 subpages because it spans both years. For consideration:

I passed on putting this on the main pandemic article in light of the "undue" discussions, but figured that I should mention this here. On December 31 Maria Van Kerkhove stated in an X thread "It's marked by reduced impact compared to the peak of #COVID19 a few years ago, but it's still a global health threat and it's still a pandemic...." (secondary source 1 secondary source 2). Now her account states "Opinions my own" as expected, but it's unclear whether she was stating an opinion or acting on behalf of the WHO. Notably, in a press conference 10 days later, she did not say the statement directly; however, in another one held two days after that (today local time as I write this), she stated "It's year five in the pandemic, but there's still a lot we don't know about it." (Secondary source press release). Again, though, it's a personal interview, so opinion and official capacity are blurred again. Mapsax (talk) 02:02, 13 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

[end excerpt]

This is reinforced by this editorial by a notable scientist, though I realize that the editorial itself couldn't be used as a source. Mapsax (talk) 00:53, 18 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

[Self-reply] Possibly more evidence: doi:10.1126/science.adl0867 dated February 22, 2024, "More than 4 years into the global COVID-19 pandemic", though Topol is also the coauthor of that. Mapsax (talk) 01:50, 1 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]