One year later: the coronavirus pandemic at UH Many UH students expected remote learning to go on for a couple weeks last March, but the pandemic quickly spiraled out of control. | File photo When COVID-19 officially became a pandemic on March 11, 2020, a year ago Thursday, the UH community had expected life to return to normal relatively quickly. The first positive case of the novel coronavirus was reported in the Houston area on March 4, 2020; alarms across the region began to sound. “While we know this news is concerning, it is not unexpected,” said Dr. Jacquelyn Johnson-Minter, director of Fort Bend County Health and Human Services, at the time.