A Recap of 2020 So Far

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Hello all! It's me, Wes, writing to you from the friendly confines of my bedroom, again. I would first like to say that recently I've been diving into some Sherlock Holmes, specifically A Study In Scarlett. See, I could write a blog post about it (it is an absolute classic), but that would be a bit boring in my opinion. Rather, I want to write a post about 2020 (that was inspired by Emily's recent blog post).

Every month in 2020 so far has seen the occurrence of bad event/s. Normally, bad events happen and we move on, however, 2020 has seen a string of might I say horrible events happen back to back. This, unsurprisingly, has been made into a meme by people which has added to the aura of sucky-ness, so I want to take a look into every month so far and point out some notable sucky things that have happened. Grab some popcorn cause this is going to be a long post.

January

  • Jan. 3rd - The world sees tensions between two nuclear-capable countries (the US and Iran) reach a boiling point after the US kills one of Iran's top generals in a missile strike.
  • Jan. 4th - Australian bushfire death tolls reach 23 as the Australian PM calls on his country's national defense force.
  • Jan. 4th - Massive amounts of rain in Jakarta cause floods and landslides, resulting in the deaths of 53 people.
  • Jan. 5th - Iran pulls out of the 2015 nuclear deal.
  • Jan. 7th - A 6.4 magnitude earthquake hits Puerto Rico, which resulted in one death and massive amounts of property damage. Despite being a territory of the US, Puerto Rico saw a lackluster response from the US which has since been heavily criticized.
  • Jan. 8th - Iran launches retaliatory missile strikes on military bases in the Middle East that had a US military presence because of the killing of their general.
  • Jan. 8th - As a result of the rising tensions between the US and Iran, a commercial airliner is shot down after having just taken off from Tehran, killing all 176 on the flight.
  • Jan. 12th - A volcanic eruption in the Philippines results in the immediate evacuations of the people who lived near it.
  • Jan. 22nd - China locks down Wuhan because of the emergence of a new viral infection.
  • Jan. 25th - Massive amounts of rain, this time in the Minas Gerais state of Brazil, cause floods and landslides which result in the death of at least 30.
  • Jan. 26th - Kobe Bryant dies in a helicopter crash because of foggy conditions.
  • Jan. 29th - The number of COVID-19 cases exceeds that of SARS.
  • Jan. 31st - The UK formally withdraws from the EU.
February
  • Feb. 1st - Somalia declares a national emergency as it experiences the largest locust swarm it has seen in 25 years.
  • Feb. 3rd - COVID-19 is discovered on the Diamond Princess (a cruise ship) and results in the quarantine of the entire ship in Japan. The effort has since been heavily criticized and what started as a few cases on the ship has now led to hundreds as well as a couple of deaths.
  • Feb. 6th - Antarctica reaches a record high temperature (64.9 Fahrenheit)
  • Feb. 6th - The first COVID-19 related death in the US (only confirmed on April. 21st by the CDC).
  • Feb. 8th - A gunman opens fire in a shopping center in Thailand, resulting in the deaths of 29 people and 57 injured. The gunman was found and shot dead a day later.
  • Feb. 9th - The number of deaths from COVID-19 exceeds that of SARS.
  • Militants attack people in Auno, Nigeria, leading to the deaths of 30 people and the kidnapping of many women and children.
  • Feb. 10th - A storm known as Storm Ciara hits Scotland, resulting in the deaths of 18 people. 
  • Feb. 13th - A fire in a US-run orphanage in Haiti kills 15 children.
  • Feb. 13th - NOAA reveals that January 2020 was the hottest January in recorded history.
  • Feb. 14th - 800,000 plus people are displaced as pro-government Syrian forces attack one of the last rebel-held strongholds.
  • Feb. 18th - The locus swarm that assaulted Somalia now reaches South Sudan.
  • Feb. 19th - A gunman in Germany opens fire in a bar in Hanau, resulting in the deaths of 9 people in a racially motivated attack.
  • Feb. 23rd - Italy sees 152 COVID-19 cases and 3 related deaths as Europe sees its first major outbreak.
  • Feb. 23rd - Violent protest hit Delhi because of India's controversial new citizenship laws resulting in the cumulative deaths of 38 people.\
  • Feb. 25th - Within 5 days, 147 murders occur in Brazil despite the army patrolling.
  • Feb. 26th - The holy sites of Mecca and Medina are no-longer accessible to foreign pilgrims because of COVID-19 fears.
  • Feb. 25th - The Middle East sees its first COVID-19 hotspot, Iran (with 95 cases and 11 deaths).
  • Feb 27th - Because of COVID-19, the Dow Jones Index falls a historic amount.
March
  • Mar. 3rd - Powerful storms and multiple tornadoes hit Tennessee, resulting in the deaths of at least 25.
  • Mar. 3rd - Heavy rain and resulting landslides result in the death of 18 people in the coastal areas of Brazil.
  • Mar. 8th - Italy locks down its northern regions as COVID-19 spread rampantly.
  • Mar. 8th - COVID-19 cases in the US exceed 500 and deaths exceed 20.
  • Mar. 9th - Italy locks down the entire country as COVID-19 cases exceed 10,000 and deaths exceed 600.
  • Mar. 11th - WHO declares COVID-19 a pandemic as cases exceed 121,000 and deaths exceed 4,000.
  • Mar. 11th - The NBA officially announces the 2020-2021 season will be postponed due to COVID-19 fears.
  • Mar. 12th - The NHL officially announces the stopping of the 2019-2020 season due to COVID-19 fears.
  • Mar. 12th - The NCAA officially announces March Madness is canceled due to COVID-19 fears.
  • Mar. 16th - France is locked down and the first shelter-in-place orders find themselves in San Francisco and surrounding countries.
  • Mar. 16th - The MLB officially announces the delay of the regular season and the cancellation of the rest of Spring Training due to COVID-19 fears.
  • Mar. 19th - Italy's death toll exceeds 3,000.
  • Mar. 19th - Stay-at-home orders are given to all of California.
  • Mar. 21st - Italy's death toll exceeds 12,000 as Italy records approximately 800 daily deaths.
  • Mar. 22nd - Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says that COVID-19 is an American-made conspiracy theory. 
  • Mar. 23rd - New York COVID-19 cases exceed 20,000 (with a spike of 5,000 cases in one day) as deaths exceed 150.
  • Mar. 24th - The 2020 Summer Olympics (hosted by Japan) are postponed until 2021 due to COVID-19 fears.
  • Mar. 25th - Prince Charles of the UK tests positive for COVID-19
  • Mar. 26th - American becomes the country with the most COVID-19 cases.
  • Mar. 26th - Unemployment rates reach a record high in the US (3.3 million).
  • Mar. 27th - Boris Johnson announces he has COVID-19.
  • Mar. 30th - 75% of Americans have some sort of stay-at-home order.
April
  • Apr. 1st - Donald Trump announces the US Strategic National Stockpile is almost depleted because of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated need for medical equipment.
  • Apr. 2nd - 6.6 million Americans file for unemployment.
  • Apr. 2nd - COVID-19 cases exceed 1 million worldwide.
  • Apr. 2nd - Spain announces a death toll exceeding 10,000.
  • Apr. 3rd -  Cyclone Harold hits a ferry and 27 on the ferry are suspected dead.
  • Apr. 5th - Boris Johnson is admitted to a hospital because of his COVID-19.
  • Apr. 6th - The US COVID-10 death toll exceeds 10,000 in a period of 6 weeks.
  • Apr. 6th - Cyclone Harold reaches Vanatau, resulting in the death of 2 and the destruction of thousands of homes.
  • Apr. 11th - Brazil becomes the first country to have more than 1,000 from COVID-19.
  • Apr. 12th - 40 tornadoes strike in the US from Texas to South Carolina as a result of a huge storm system.
  • Apr. 16th - A scientific journal claims that the western US is already experiencing a "multi-decade megadrought".
  • Apr. 16th - Within 4 weeks 22 million Americans file for unemployment.
  • Apr. 17th - African cases of COVID-19 reach 19,000 as WHO warns it could become the next COVID-19 hotspot.
  • Apr. 18th - Canada sees its worst mass shooting as a gunman in Nova Scotia kills 18 people, including an RCMP officer.
  • Apr. 19th - US COVID-19 death toll exceeds 40,000.
  • Apr. 19th - UK COVID-19 death toll exceeds 16,000 in hospitals.
  • Apr. 19th - Turkey surpasses Iran in COVID-19 cases as it sees over 86,000 people infected.
  • Apr. 21st - New mortality figures add an additional 25,000 deaths (spread across 11 countries) due to COVID-19,
  • Apr. 27th - COVID-19 cases surpass 3 million internationally with over 200,000 deaths.
  • Apr. 28th - COVID-19 cases surpass 1 million in the US with over 58,000 deaths (more than US military deaths during the Vietnam War).
  • Apr. 29th - The GDP of the US falls 4.8%, the largest fall since the 2008 recession.
  • Apr. 29th - UK COVID-19 death toll exceeds 26,000.
  • Apr. 29th - A fire in a Korean warehouse results in the death of 38.
  • Apr. 30th - Europe sees its economy decline by 3.8% in 3 months.
So yes, 2020 has been brutal. This list I've made points out the negatives of 2020, but don't forget that there are positives. Especially now, we have to hope that things will get better, and they will. I hope this list was able to point out the absurdity of the human condition and our world. So until next time, stay safe and I wish you the best for you and your family.

Cheers,
Wes Lu

Comments

  1. Vraj P.May 2, 2020 at 4:02 PM

    This was a very informative post. Of course, most of the events are related to coronavirus, whether that be directly or indirectly, but you also talked about many more bad events than the ones I had heard about, such as the many natural disasters. I also liked how you included Brexit. Overall, good job!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Elle_The_MagnificentMay 8, 2020 at 8:59 AM

    Wow, that, wow. I can't believe how much time we've spent in 2020 and how much has actually happened. This year has felt like forever but maybe a week and a half at the same time. It's a bit scary to read the list as it kinda starts to feel as if there is no hope, but I think things will eventually get better, maybe after our life time due to the economic crisis this has caused but that's not necessarily important. The response to COVID-19 has been criticized and I'm not a fan of all of it, but it is a super tricky situation, so yeah. Nice post, I have been thoroughly reality checked.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ZevMay 9, 2020 at 3:46 PM

    I support anyone who writes a non book review blog post, and I genuinely found this post interesting. You may, however, want to go delete your comment on Jack's post scolding him for having a post not related to literature. I'd also like to know your sources for this information, because without them it just seems like a list copy and pasted from the internet. Still, I really enjoyed this post. Somehow I completely forgot about everything that happened in January.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Gus MillerMay 10, 2020 at 3:46 PM

    A very interesting post. I had already realized how messed up 2020 has been so far, but this post served as a wake-up call. As I read through this list, I definitely noticed that everything seemed to be getting gradually worse and worse, especially because of how much COVID-19 has impacted society. I'm not sure if all of this information is 100% accurate (it's hard to believe that Italy's death toll increased by 9,000 in two days), but you did a good job summing up our current situation. This post definitely makes one wonder how we'll get ourselves out of this mess.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Cpt. Jack SparrowMay 11, 2020 at 4:33 PM

    "You seem physically unable to write blog posts about books, which is the main reason of these blogs. With this recent resurgence of non-book related posts, we really have to ask ourselves when enough is enough. Let's get back to our humble roots of writing actual blog posts that are at least somewhat related to books"
    -Wesley Lu, February 28, 2020. Although this comment seems very incriminating, you did acknowledge that there would be a time when you wrote a non-book review, so I guess that time is now. This is a very comprehensive list, and I would have shortened it down a bit if I were you. Other than that, I love that you have joined me in my pursuit of non-book review blogs. Many bolognas to you!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lili TiouririneMay 13, 2020 at 11:52 AM

    Wowza, the year has gone by so fast now that I think about it but man so much has happened. While reading the first paragraph I was just about to say this has a similar idea to Emily's blog post which I also read. I like how this is very informative and (like Gus said two comments above mine) it serves as a wake up call. On the news all you seem to hear about is COVID-19 (mainly in the US), but the truth is there's lots of other stuff going on in the world too and this post shined a light on that. I appreciate the time it must have took you to write this post since you must've done quite a lot of research to find these events. Nice job!

    ReplyDelete

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