A lookback of 2020, one of the most eventful years in recent memory

Sanjana Gopu, Staff Writer & Abhay Bethur, Staff Writer

Saying 2020 has been full of surprises would be an understatement. Over 80 million people would contract COVID-19 by the end of the year, and millions of more protesters would take to the streets in the name of various causes. Here is a full recap of 2020 by month.

A brief visual look at the past year. Click through the timeline for some quick information.

Graphic by Melissa Liu, Managing Design Editor

January: 

The world was on the brink of war due to rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran after former President Donald Trump ordered the assassination of Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani during an airstrike on Jan. 3. Shortly after, Trump addressed the issue, saying he killed Soleimani to prevent a war. While this was not the ideal start to a new decade, it was minor compared to what was in store for the rest of 2020.

Before the year started, China reported the presence of a new coronavirus strain, COVID-19, to the World Health Organization on Dec. 31. The virus originated from Wuhan, China, and epidemiologists reported that it could have come from an animal sold at the market. Because the virus was spread through simple contact, it spread rapidly throughout China and soon reached other countries. On Jan. 21, the first case of COVID-19 in the U.S. was found in Seattle, and on Jan. 24, Chicago reported a second case. 

On Jan. 26, 41-year-old Los Angeles Lakers player Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna Bryant, and four others died in a helicopter crash near Los Angeles. After his sudden death, many NBA players and fans mourned Bryant on social media, calling him an inspiration to a new generation of basketball players.

February:

February served as the calm before the storm, otherwise known as COVID-19. The first COVID-19 death outside of China occurred on Feb. 1. Towards the end of the month, cases began to rise rapidly, but few countries had mask mandates and stay-at-home orders in place. 

On Feb. 2, President Trump’s executive order to block those who had been in China in the last 14 days from entering the U.S. took effect. The order did not apply to U.S. residents and citizens or their family members.

A day later, technological issues delayed results in the Iowa Democratic caucus. There were inconsistencies in the caucus data reported, and the results had to be manually counted after. The next day, the results projected Pete Buttigieg, former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, as the winner of the caucus with 26.2% of the vote. Many people believed someone had hacked the caucus and President Trump deemed the process an unfair “disaster,” but a spokeswoman for the Democratic Party of Iowa quickly shut down the rumors.

The results of the primaries came out later, on Feb. 11; Vermont Sen. Bernard Sanders won the New Hampshire Democratic primaries, with 25.6% of the vote. Buttigieg came in second with 24.3% of the vote, and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar came in third with 19.7% of the vote.

On Feb. 23, two white men assaulted Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old Black man, while he was jogging and fatally shot him in Brunswick, Ga. One of the men leaked the video of Arbery's murder on social media, where it spread rapidly and caused outrage.

March: 

During Super Tuesday on March 3, Democratic voters in 14 states cast their ballots to choose their presidential candidate. In a surprise victory, former Vice President Biden made a comeback and won 10 of the states, securing his place as the frontrunner in the primaries. 

The WHO officially declared COVID-19 as a pandemic on March 11, and the number of people infected with COVID-19 continued to increase. That same day, President Trump also banned travel from Europe, with U.S. citizens being the only exception. California became the first state to institute a lockdown 8 days later, and other states soon followed. It was a difficult time for the global community as cities continued to shut down, and people became separated from their loved ones and friends.

After years of legal disputes, Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein was finally sentenced to 23 years in prison for the rape and sexual assault of dozens of women on March 11. This verdict was a victory for the #MeToo Movement and rape and sexual assault survivors everywhere.

On March 13, two police officers broke into the apartment of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, in Louisville, Ky. while she was sleeping and fatally shot her.

March 31 marked the end of the most devastating bushfire season Australia has ever seen. By this time, over 40 million acres of land had burned and almost 6,000 buildings were destroyed. One billion animals died, and Australians suffered from smoke and air pollution.

April:

By April 2, 6.6 million Americans had filed for unemployment benefits due to job loss resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The U.S. government deposited the first COVID-19 stimulus checks into Americans’ bank accounts on April 11th. Individuals earning less than $75,000 a year received $1,200, and couples earning less than $150,000 a year received $150,000. Anti-lockdown protests began in Michigan 4 days later, and more continued to spring up in other states, including Illinois and Indiana.

April 8, Sen. Sanders dropped out of the Democratic presidential primaries, clearing the way for Biden to become the Democratic presidential candidate.

May:

On May 25, a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man after he pinned Floyd to the ground and pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck, cutting off his windpipe. Floyd’s tragic death, along with those of Taylor and Arbery, paved the way for the enduring conversation regarding systemic racism and police brutality that followed. On social media, there were massive calls to achieve justice for victims of police brutality, and an estimated 15 to 26 million Americans would protest for racial equality over the next few months. 

Protests also occurred in several other countries, and in the UK, police brutality became an especially prominent issue as a video of a police officer killing Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old Black man, in 2011, resurfaced. Increasing numbers of people began to criticize the criminal justice system because of its racism and previous leaders who were racist. 

June:

The Yemen Humanitarian Crisis, which began in 2015 due to the Arab Spring, acquired much more help and attention as people realized the health system in Yemen was on the brink of collapse, and COVID-19 was worsening the already devastating crisis by stripping Yemen of operational hospitals and causing an extreme scarcity in medicine, staff, and equipment. UNICEF reported that the number of malnourished children in Yemen could reach 2.4 million by the end of 2020.

More than 8 million people, half of them children, were dependent on UNICEF, but due to COVID-19, the agency had not been able to provide as much aid as they had before the pandemic. Yemen faced two outbreaks, cholera and COVID-19. While the crisis continues, the media attention and conversation it received during this month soon died out.

Black Lives Matter protesters took to the streets across the U.S. in cities like New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, and on June 6, the protests reached a peak in the U.S. with 0.5 million people on the streets in over 500 locations.

July: 

This was another month filled with deaths and foreign troubles. The pandemic was spreading rapidly, forcing people to continue quarantining at home. Sports began to restart with the NBA, NHL, and the MLB starting up their seasons again with numerous safety precautions. 

In a referendum, Russians voted for constitutional changes that would allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to remain in power until 2036.

On July 17, Georgia Rep. John Lewis died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 80. Lewis, who had served Georgia’s 5th Congressional District since 1987, was a major civil rights activist and a former Freedom Rider. He helped organize the March on Washington in 1964 and led a march from Selma, Ala. to Montgomery in 1965 in protest of African American voter suppression, leaving a powerful legacy of social justice behind. 

In July, Moderna published phase I and phase II data from its COVID-19 clinical trials, which showed promise despite side effects in a few test subjects. The company was experimenting with a new vaccine technology that involves the use of mRNA.

August: 

On Aug. 4, improperly stored ammonium nitrate caused a massive explosion in the port of Beirut, Lebanon, killing 220 people and injuring many more.

On Aug. 11, Biden announced his running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, making her the first-ever woman of color to be on the ticket. On Aug. 18, the Democratic Party officially nominated Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate at the DNC.

Five days later, a police officer in Kenosha, Wis. shot Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, seven times in the back while Blake was opening his car door. Although he was seriously injured and paralyzed from the waist down, Blake survived. His shooting incited another wave of Black Lives Matter protests, and on Aug. 26, the NBA even postponed all games, sending a powerful message to the nation.

The day after, Hurricane Laura, a Category 4 hurricane, hit Louisiana and Texas, causing 77 deaths and $19 billion worth of damage. The hurricane left over 200,000 people in Louisiana without access to clean drinking water, and 1.5 million people received orders to evacuate the area.

Right after Hurricane Laura hit, and people started to settle down, iconic Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman died at age 43 in his Los Angeles home after fighting colon cancer for nearly four years. He left behind a rich movie legacy starring in many cultural hits, and friends and fans alike paid tribute on social media.

On the same day, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the longest-serving prime minister in Japanese history, stepped down due to health issues. His departure marked the end of an era in Japanese politics, and Yoshihide Suga succeeded him. 

September: 

The global COVID-19 death toll exceeded 1 million on Sept. 29 That evening, President Trump and Biden had their first presidential debate in Cleveland. It was widely regarded as a disaster because it quickly dissolved into a shouting match.

In early September, wildfires broke out across California due to a combination of a record-breaking heatwave and powerful winds that spread the fires rapidly. The wildfires would continue to burn until the end of the year, claiming over 30 lives, destroying almost 9,000 buildings, and burning over 4 million acres of land, double the acreage burned in 2018.

On Sept. 18, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away at the age of 87 due to health complications from pancreatic cancer. Known for her passionate dissents in numerous cases, Ginsburg was a major advocate for gender equality and women’s’ rights. Crowds of people gathered at the steps of the Supreme Court building to mourn her death, and on social media, many speculated about what the Supreme Court vacancy would mean for the country.

On Sept. 26, President Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett to fill Ginsburg’s place on the Supreme Court. Barrett had served as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit since 2017, been a law professor at Notre Dame Law School, and worked for several law firms in the past.

October: 

On Oct. 2, President Trump announced via Twitter that he had tested positive for COVID-19 and he was promptly hospitalized at the Walter Reed Medical Hospital. Three days later, he would return to the White House.

The presidential election race between Biden and President Trump began heating up, as the two had their second debate in Nashville on Oct. 22. This debate went much more smoothly than the first because the debate commission adopted new rules. The candidates answered questions about managing the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare, minimum wage, racial inequality, and climate change.

Many Americans were unhappy with Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court because as a conservative in many areas, she was the ideological opposite of Ginsburg. They feared Barrett would shift the Supreme Court to the right and were especially concerned that the Supreme Court might repeal the Affordable Care Act and overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that established a woman’s right to abortion. Throughout October, thousands of people protested her nomination outside the Supreme Court building and elsewhere.

From Oct. 12-15, the Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings for Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court. Democratic senators criticized the hurried nature of Barrett’s nomination as an attempt by the Republican Party to choose a justice against the will of the American people since election day was in two weeks. They thoroughly questioned her on her past writing and decisions in cases related to racial discrimination, healthcare, and gun control. On Oct. 26, the Senate confirmed Barrett as a Supreme Court justice by a 52-48 vote.

November: 

In November, the long-awaited elections finally took place. Campaigning was at a high, as presidential and congressional candidates held rallies across the nation.

Due to COVID-19, many voters voted early and used mail-in ballots, despite President Trump’s frequent comments that these ballots could contribute to voter fraud. By the end of election day on Nov. 3, 67% of eligible voters in the US had voted in the 2020 election, the highest turnout in modern history. By Nov. 7, most major media outlets had projected Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election. Biden received 306 out of 538 electoral votes and won 51.4% of the popular vote, beating President Trump by over 7 million votes. Harris became the first Black and South Asian woman to be elected vice president.

The Democrats won the House of Representatives, but the results of Senate races were undecided because in both of Georgia’s Senate elections, no candidate received over 50% of the vote. Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock would later run against Republican candidates David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, respectively, in the runoffs in January 2021.

In Delaware, Sarah McBride became the first openly transgender state senator in the U.S. and the highest-ranking transgender government official. McBride, a former spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, hoped her victory inspired LGBTQA+ people to continue fighting for equal rights.

Dozens of protests took place across the nation as Trump supporters refused to accept the results of the presidential election. On Nov. 14, thousands of Trump supporters, including white nationalists and members of the Proud Boys, gathered in Washington D.C., and counter-protestors arrived soon after. Violence broke out between the two groups, causing the police to arrest 10 people. 

December: 

In the aftermath of the election, President Trump still refused to concede the election to President-elect Biden and often tweeted about how rigged the election was, frequently using the phrase “STOP THE COUNT!”

President Trump and other Republican officials sought to invalidate the election results through legal action. Texas brought a case to the Supreme Court that sought to invalidate results in four key states: Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan,  but on Dec. 11, the court rejected the lawsuit in a three-sentence order.

On Dec. 14, the Electoral College officially affirmed President-elect Biden’s victory, with Vice President Mike Pence presiding over the session and announcing the result.

Meanwhile, President-elect Biden and Harris began vetting potential nominees for his Cabinet.

On Dec. 11, the FDA authorized the use of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, and on Dec. 18, it authorized the use of Moderna’s vaccine as well, giving the world hope that the virus might soon start to fade away. The Pfizer vaccine, which is 94.1% effective, has 2 doses that will be delivered, with a 21-day separation in between. The Moderna vaccine, which is 94.5% effective, will also be delivered in two doses, with a month-long separation in between. The vaccine was first delivered to people in the medical field or people at high risk.

2020 was a year that started off with worries of another potential war and continuously went downhill with COVID-19. There was so much more that happened this year that one article couldn’t fit everything that happened.  The year had the shocking murder of George Floyd which incited protests that should change the country for the better and ended with the 2020 Presidential elections which were tense times for America. Overall this was a year that had some high moments and some very low moments. 

Onto a better 2021!