Feb. 2:  U.S. bans travel from China.

Feb. 6: First reported U.S. death from COVID-19.

March 2: Consumer panic-buying of groceries and supplies escalates in U.S. Shoppers empty store shelves of toilet paper, household cleaners, bottled water and other items.

March 10: First Walmart store associate tests positive for coronavirus.

March 11: WHO declares COVID-19 a global pandemic.

March 13: President Trump declares coronavirus a national emergency. Top executives of Walmart, Target, CVS Health and Walgreens pledge support at White House press conference.

March 13: Grocery retailers big and small take action to protect workers and customers from COVID-19.

March 16: Two Kroger Co. store associates diagnosed with coronavirus.

March 17: Stop & Shop begins special hours for shoppers 60 and older.

March 17:  Amazon, Whole Foods Market enact temporary wage increase for frontline associates.

March 20: Walmart invests $550 million, Target $300 million in employee pay and benefits amid pandemic.

March 21:  FMI-The Food Industry Association applauds federal classification of food industry employees as “essential workers.”

March 21 & 23: The two largest U.S. supermarket retailers, Albertsons Cos. and The Kroger Co., offer frontline workers extra pay for pandemic efforts.

March 22: First Walmart COVID-19 testing sites launch at two Supercenters.

March 23: Instacart unveils plans to hire 300,000 more personal shoppers.

March 24: Trader Joe’s temporarily shuts six stores due to employee COVID-19 diagnoses.

March 24: C&S Wholesale Grocers partners with foodservice distributors US Foods and Performance Food Group to address supply and job imbalances brought by pandemic.

March 26: Aldi, Lidl, Stop & Shop expand hiring to meet surging demand and increased safety measures due to COVID-19.

March 27: President Trump signs $2 trillion CARES Act coronavirus relief legislation into law.

March 31: Ahold Delhaize USA announces $10 million relief package for communities; Walmart and Sam’s Club begin temperature checks for workers; pandemic forces cancellation of IDDBA 2020.

April 1: Kroger reports 30% comparable sales jump in March from coronavirus-triggered demand.

April 4: Target begins metering shopper traffic in stores to maintain social distancing.

April 4: Publix deploys contactless payment to all stores for added safety from COVID-19.

April 6:  H-E-B stores start selling meals from local restaurants to help small businesses impacted by pandemic.

April 6: Walmart, Kroger, Hy-Vee and Giant Food institute one-way aisles and customer count limits in stores.

April 7:  Albertsons and UFCW partner to attain emergency first responder status for grocery workers (Kroger and Stop & Shop later joined the effort).

April 13: Amazon and Whole Foods limit number of online grocery customers.

April 15: Grocery and beverage store sales rose more than 25% in March despite the largest monthly drop ever for overall U.S. retail sales, the National Retail Federation reported.

April 20: Walmart begins requiring all U.S. employees to wear a face covering. 

April 22: USDA increases monthly SNAP benefits by 40% to help prevent food insecurity.

April 22: Kroger releases “Blueprint for Businesses” COVID-19 action plan.

April 22: Albertsons commits $50 million to hunger relief amid pandemic.

April 23: Publix announces program to buy fresh produce and milk from farmers impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak and donate the products to food banks.

April 24: Kroger expands drive-thru coronavirus testing to more states (and announced more test sites on April 27).

April 24: Instacart plans to hire 250,000 more personal shoppers.

April 27: Tyson Foods CEO warns “the food supply chain is breaking.”

April 28: UFCW reports over 5,000 food industry employees not at work due to coronavirus.

April 28: Online grocery sales jump 37% and orders rise 33% in April from March, Brick Meets Click reports.

April 28: U.S. coronavirus cases reach 1 million.

May 1: Walmart expedites rollout of two-hour Express Delivery to 2,000 stores due to pandemic.

May 4: Costco starts requiring all shoppers to wear face masks.

May 4: Kroger launches COVID-19 testing for frontline employees.

May 6: Big Y Foods freezes prices on over 10,000 products to aid financially pinched customers.

May 7: Ahold Delhaize CEO says Q1 “unlike any we have seen before.”

May 11: Coresight Research projects online grocery sales to grow 40% in 2020.

May 14: UNFI CEO predicts pandemic-induced recession and consumer habits could last 24 months.

May 14: U.S. reports historic increases in food-at-home pricing for April.

May 15: Kroger announces $130 million in “thank you” pay for frontline workers. Extra $2 per hour in “hero pay” ends May 17 after several extensions.

May 20: UFCW says more than 10,000 member grocery workers infected or exposed to COVID-19 and calls for major food retailers to extend hazard pay.

May 27: Inmar Intelligence survey finds 78.7% of consumers shopped online for groceries since the COVID-19 outbreak, up 39% from before the pandemic.

May 28: U.S. coronavirus deaths surpass 100,000 mark

June 10: U.S. COVID-19 cases hit 2 million.

June 12: NPD Group reports 70% of shoppers seeing fewer food shortages.

June 12: FMI/Hartman Group study finds 78% of U.S. consumers have changed where they shop and 89% have changed how they shop for food.

June 23: National Grocers Association (NGA) calls on federal government to address national shortage of coins due to drop in cash transactions amid pandemic.

June 26: UFCW reports over 11,500 infections/exposures to COVID-19 and more than 80 deaths from the virus among grocery store workers.

July 2: Kroger unveils emergency home COVID-19 test kits for associates.

July 5: Target raises starting wage to $15 as part of extended pay and benefits package.

July 7: U.S. reaches 3 million COVID cases and announces withdrawal from WHO.

July 15-16: Walmart, Kroger, Albertsons, Target, Publix and other large grocery retailers announce face mask requirements for shoppers.

July 22: FMI and NGA support tax relief bill for essential workers.

July 29: FMI and NGA back business liability protection as part of congressional pandemic relief.

Aug. 7: Acosta study finds 53% of U.S. consumers will stockpile groceries and supplies again in the event of another pandemic lockdown.

Aug. 9: U.S. coronavirus cases top 5 million.

Aug. 14: Walmart announces it will begin easing COVID-related restrictions on store hours.

Aug. 25: Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA) cancels annual trade show in favor of virtual event for February 2021.

Sept. 2: UFCW launches new national campaign to restore COVID-19 hazard pay.

Sept. 9: Albertsons plans to roll out at-home coronavirus test kits.

Sept. 16: Six months into pandemic, grocery customer spending rose from $310 to $330 per month, and shopping trips have fallen almost 11%, Catalina reports.

Sept. 18: Mercatus/Incisiv study projects that online grocery will more than double its share of the U.S. grocery market to 21.5% of sales by 2025.

Oct. 2: Amazon reports that almost 20,000 of its frontline workers, including from Whole Foods Market, have been infected with COVID-19.

Oct. 9: FMI study reveals that food retailers’ online sales jumped more than 300% on average in the first several months of the pandemic.

Oct. 20: Lidl plans to install hospital-grade air filtration in all of its U.S. stores by the end of 2020.

Oct. 21: Whole Foods starts offering free grocery pickup at all stores for Amazon Prime members.

Oct. 21: Shopper satisfaction with supermarkets fell during the first six months of the pandemic, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) finds.

Oct. 28: Kroger becomes first U.S. retailer to offer COVID-19 rapid antibody testing to consumers.

Nov. 6: Trader Joe’s reports 1,250 positive COVID-19 cases out of its 53,000 associates over the eight months through Oct. 31, an infection rate of about 2.4%. 

Nov. 9: U.S. passes 10 million mark in COVID-19 cases.

Nov. 13: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) partners with chain pharmacies to expand COVID vaccine access.

Nov. 18: U.S. deaths from coronavirus reach 250,000.

Nov. 25: Albertsons begins deploying a contactless temperature check and health screening solution for associates and vendors. 

Dec. 1: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) panel recommends supermarket pharmacy staff be among the nation’s first group of COVID-19 vaccine recipients, with food industry workers following in the next phase.

Dec. 4: Hy-Vee plans to hire 1,000 pharmacy technicians as it prepares to expand coronavirus testing and administer COVID-19 vaccinations.

Dec. 8: U.S. exceeds 15 million coronavirus infections.

Dec. 11: FDA grants emergency use authorization (EUA) to two-dose Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

Dec. 18: Moderna two-dose COVID-19 vaccine receives EUA from FDA.

Dec. 22: Kroger Health announces first COVID vaccinations and plans to hire 1,000 more health care personnel to support vaccine effort.

Dec. 24: Walmart and Albertsons report administering their first coronavirus shots.

Jan. 1: Coronavirus cases surpass 20 million in U.S.

Jan. 4-6: H-E-B and Hy-Vee, along with ShopRite and Publix, start providing COVID-19 vaccines.

Jan. 19-20: Aldi and Lidl offer workers incentives, including pay, to get coronavirus shots.

Jan. 22: Walmart says it expects to provide 10 million to 13 million COVID-19 vaccine doses per month at full capacity, depending on supply.

Jan. 23: U.S. COVID-19 cases climb past 25 million

Feb. 3: President Joe Biden announces Federal Retail Pharmacy Program for COVID-19 Vaccination, which will supply vaccines directly to pharmacies nationwide.

Feb. 5: Kroger offers $100 to all associates who receive full doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. 

Feb. 12: Publix tops 300,000 mark in administered COVID-19 vaccinations.

Feb. 22: FMI holds “Supermarket Employee Day” industry event to recognize efforts of frontline grocery workers.

Feb. 22: U.S. passes 500,000 total deaths from COVID-19.

Feb. 27:  Johnson & Johnson/Janssen single-dose COVID-19 vaccine authorized by FDA for emergency use.

March 2: President Biden announces U.S. will have enough COVID vaccinations for all adults by the end of May after Johnson & Johnson and Merck agree to collaborate to manufacture J&J’s Janssen vaccine.

March 4: U.S. coronavirus cases stand at over 28.8 million, with more than 520,000 deaths.