The island took "some of the most dramatic steps of any U.S. jurisdiction to control the virus," and "several U.S. cities and states followed Puerto Rico's lead, imposing curfews and shutting businesses" of their own.

On March 12, one day before the first COVID-19 case was confirmed, the governor declared a state of emergency and activated the Puerto Rico National Guard to help monitor travelers arriving to the Island through its airports and cruise ship docks.

In Section 6 of the bulletin, the citizens of Puerto Rico were put on a curfew allowing them to travel out of their homes from 5AM to 9PM only for essential business such as to buy medicine or seek medical assistance, purchase groceries, or to care for a sick person.

[18] Since 2006, when Washington stopped some special taxes incentives, Puerto Rico entered an economic crisis, lowering its fiscal budgets.

[20] Persistent underfunding, uncertainty and the natural disasters of recent years placed Puerto Rico's health care system in weaker position to face the pandemic.

[23] March 4: A Panamanian doctor and four companions arrive in San Juan, Puerto Rico after traveling to New York, Miami, and Panama.

[11] March 8: A 68-year-old, Italian woman on the cruise ship Costa Luminosa sailing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida is put in isolation in a Puerto Rico hospital after showing symptoms of pneumonia.

[34][35] During the evening of March 13, Vázquez closed all public schools for 14 days and bars cruise ships and ferries from the Dominican Republic from docking at Puerto Rico ports.

[35] March 13: Plans to take people's temperature as they enter Puerto Rico at 7 different points of entry are pending the receipt of 50 no-touch infrared thermometers.

[36] March 15: A fourth case of COVID-19 is confirmed and is an 87-year-old military veteran and California resident who was transferred to the Mayagüez Medical Center by United States Coast Guard helicopter after presenting symptoms on a cruise passing through the Mona Passage.

[6] Vázquez orders all businesses, with the exception of grocers, supermarkets, gas stations, banking institutions, pharmacies, and medical companies to close.

[38] March 16: Vázquez discusses the possibility of declaring martial law should the population not heed the curfew and rules imposed with the state of emergency.

[43] March 21: The first death due to COVID-19 is recorded- the 68-year-old Italian woman who had been on the Costa Luminosa cruise ship from Florida, and who had underlying health issues.

[53] April 21-April 24: The numbers being reported by different agencies in Puerto Rico came into question and on April 21, Orville Disdier Flores, the executive director at the Instituto de Estadísticas de Puerto Rico (PR Statistics Institute)[1], stated that some of the numbers being reported were incorrect, that some cases had been double-counted and that they were working on correcting the errors.

[56] Videos of a party at a private location in Unibón (a barrio of Morovis) showing hundreds of attendees who were not following social distancing protocols nor wearing masks went viral in early September.

[57] On September 8, 2020, three people related to that event were detained at the Luis Muñoz Marín airport in San Juan, two of whom were headed to Baltimore, Maryland.

He stated there weren't the resources for garbage pickup of the many large household items that were being discarded and that he had had to wait five months to finally receive approval for the dumpsite.

[59] On December 5, a woman and her son were stopped from boarding a flight from Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport to Puerto Rico, preventing a potential superspreader event.

The nine-year-old boy had tested positive on November 24, and the quarantine and travel prohibition order arrived just 30 minutes before they boarded the flight.

[67] March 11: Caribbean Business reports that the United States Department of Health and Human Services will be awarding nearly $5.9 million to Puerto Rico to combat COVID-19.

She states that National Guard personnel will be stationed at the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport and the Port of San Juan to screen arriving passengers for symptoms.

[71] March 14: Congressperson González successfully requests the CDC to include Puerto Rico and other Territories of the United States in their digital alert system.

[74] On the same day, a group of Puerto Rican scientists sign and circulate a document asking for Deseda's resignation saying she had shown a lack of competence in the past and was not up to the task of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

[75] March 25: Acting minister of the Puerto Rico Department of Health places Encijar Hassan Ríos, an epidemiologist, in charge of leading the island's COVID-19 task force.

[78] April 8: Governor Vázquez asks the Federal Aviation Administration to stop flights from "hot spots" states to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

[85] March 10: Governor Pedro Pierluisi states the low number of new COVID-19 cases allows for the reopening of schools in some of Puerto Rico's municipalities.

By early March, almost 100 schools (of 858) are allowed to return to in-person learning as long as specific safety protocols are put in place.

[90] July 3: The Department of Sports and Recreation suspended all restrictions on teams practicing, nonetheless the agency requires all players and organizers be vaccinated.

[95] August 19: Pierluisi announced the vaccine mandate for employees and clients would be expanded to cover supermarkets, gasoline stations, casinos, gymnasiums, spas, and day care centers.

[97] August 30: A vaccine mandate for employees and contract workers of the Capitol of Puerto Rico was announced and it would enter into effect on September 17.