On January 31, 2020, then Secretary of the US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar formally declared a public health emergency (PHE) in the US due to confirmed cases of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-n-CoV, which became known as COVID-19). At that time, we did not yet know how this new disease would impact our healthcare system or daily life. In the press release announcing the PHE declaration, Secretary Azar noted that “the risk to the American public remains low at this time.”