Pandemics

COVID-19 Pandemic Declaration

The moment the world finally stopped pretending this was containable.

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic - the first since 2009. The novel coronavirus, which emerged in Wuhan, China in late 2019, had spread to over 100 countries within three months, forcing governments worldwide to implement lockdowns, mask mandates, and economic shutdowns that would reshape daily life for years.

2020 United States Presidential Election

On November 3, 2020, Americans elected Democrat Joe Biden as president, defeating Republican Donald Trump's bid for reelection. Biden won 306 electoral votes and over 81 million popular votes-the most ever cast for a candidate-while Trump disputed the results for months afterward. The election reshaped voting practices through mass mail-in balloting during the COVID-19 pandemic and exposed severe fissures in how Americans viewed the integrity of their elections.

Wuhan Lockdown Initiates COVID Response

Wuhan Lockdown Initiates COVID Response

On January 23, 2020, Chinese authorities sealed off Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, in response to a rapidly spreading respiratory virus later identified as COVID-19. It was the largest quarantine in modern history and marked the opening move of a pandemic that would reshape global health, economics, and politics for years to come.

Novak Djokovic Deported from Australia

The tennis star's visa cancellation over vaccine refusal became a flashpoint in the anti-vax movement and Australian immigration politics.

Novak Djokovic, the world's top-ranked tennis player, was deported from Australia on January 16, 2022, after the government cancelled his visa over his COVID-19 vaccination status. The decision prevented him from competing in the Australian Open, one of tennis's four Grand Slam tournaments, and marked a rare moment when a player of his caliber was barred from a major competition.