The Year 2020 in a Nutshell Trivia Quiz

Answer: Wuhan

Although there were notable warning signs in the last months of 2019, mid-January marked the earliest attempts to isolate and stem the otherwise unanticipated spread of an unknown virus. Affecting nearly sixty million residents in Hebei Province, these initial lockdowns lasted until early April, though much of China would be on and off with lockdowns for years.

At the time, the lockdown was somewhat unprecedented and did affect China's economy, especially its stock market, quite severely. It wouldn't be long, however, before much of the world followed suit. Within the next couple of months, similar lockdowns would commence in regions of Italy and Iran. Only a week after Wuhan's lockdowns, the World Health Organization would note that the virus could be classified as an outbreak of international concern. They would give the virus, a novel coronavirus, the name of COVID-19 on February 11.

Answer: Brexit

In 2016, the United Kingdom held the Brexit Referendum and the people of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland voted, 51.9% to 48.1%, for the nation to leave the European Union, a process which would ultimately take four years to untangle, ending with the withdrawal on January 31, 2020.

The idea of Brexit was a divisive one, and one which would have massive effects on the UK's economy, political, and social standing as it would establish new laws and protocol pertaining to travel and trade. Brexit effectively put an end to freedom of movement through the nations of the EU and led to a significant increase in cost of living over the years to follow. Economists theorized that the long-term effects of the separation would be negative for the UK, damaging virtually all industries in some way.

Answer: A pandemic

With the world watching as parts of China and the nation of Italy closed their borders, the World Health Organization formally designated the ongoing event as an international pandemic. The rest of the world closed like clockwork shortly thereafter, with many nations putting out guidelines for mandatory lockdown, personal protective protocol, and social distancing that would persist in various forms until 2023. By the end of the pandemic, it was estimated that up to more than thirty million people, worldwide, died of the disease, a novel coronavirus for which there was no cure. Vaccines wouldn't roll out in significant numbers until late 2021.

Because of the unprecedented scale of this event, it's unsurprising that the world's economy struggled in a way unseen in modern history. Social interactions were relegated to unconventional means (like online conferencing and outdoor, distanced, masked encounters), many countries faced supply shortages, and mental health and child education and development metrics plummeted.

Answer: George Floyd

In the midst of a greater political divide ongoing through the late 2010s and early 2020s and the increased isolation and uncertainty brought on by COVID-19 lockdowns, the May 25 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota seemed to act as a tipping point for a number of major concerns not just in the United States, but the rest of the world as well. On this day, Floyd was arrested, held in custody over an alleged use of counterfeit money, and held at gunpoint, on the ground, with an officer kneeling on his neck for nine minutes. It was later ruled that his resulting death was a homicide.

The reaction to George Floyd's death allowed the messages against systemic racism, the deaths and consequences for those afflicted by it, and the historic rise of police brutality to come to the forefront in a new way. Despite pandemic lockdowns, protests emerged throughout the United States, sparking a vicious cycle in which police, armed in riot gear, subsequently pushed back against the crowds. At the same time, the Black Lives Matter movement was spread across the globe. In the American South, a renewed effort to remove Confederate monuments commenced. Calls to defund and reform police forces rang loud and clear.

The three incorrect answers to this question, sadly, are also black victims of police-affiliated racial violence, and they are far from the only victims whose names became part of public consciousness at this time.

Answer: Hong Kong

In the midst of all other strife occurring around the world, the National People's Congress of China passed legislation declaring that the Special Administrative Region would have new rules against suspected secession which would, in turn, limit civil liberties for those living in Hong Kong. Considering Hong Kong's history and standing in the world market, this was seen by many to be an attempt at quelling democracy for the region, and naturally it led to significant protests despite COVID-19 lockdowns still being in effect.

The international reaction to this legislation was severe, especially due to Hong Kong's prominence as a Southeast Asian financial centre. While some countries preferred neutrality, others criticized China for breaking their adherence to the 'one country, two systems' structure that had allowed Hong Kong to grow so rapidly.

Answer: Beirut

The story behind this event actually begins in 2013 when the "MS Rhosus" was commissioned to ship ammonium nitrate from the nation of Georgia to Mozambique, passing from the Black Sea to the Indian Ocean coast of Africa. The ship was forced to make a stop in Beirut, Lebanon, to deal with mechanical issues and it was there that it remained, abandoned for a multitude of issues, and with that, the Port of Beirut came into possession of 2,750 tonnes of the volatile substance, which they stored there near the water.

On August 4, 2020, the city of Beirut was not only rocked, but decimated by the blast that resulted from the improper storing of the ammonium nitrate. After a fire broke out in the warehouse containing the substance, it not only set off a series of small explosions inside, but a massive blast equivalent to a 3.3-magnitude earthquake. The explosion destroyed a massive portion of the Lebanese capital, killing hundreds and causing more than $15,000,000,000 in damages.

Answer: Polio

In a year shaded by public health issues, 2020 saw at least some reprieve on the medical front when, on August 25, the World Health Organization declared that wild polio had been completely eradicated in Africa due to ongoing efforts worldwide. As of 2016, the only remaining cases in the continent were in Nigeria.

The effort to eradicate polio, which would make it the second such human disease to do so after smallpox, was an initiative undertaken by the WHO in 1988. By the time 2020 closed out, there would be less than two hundred cases worldwide, and in the years proceeding, there would be only a dozen wild cases recorded (solely in Afghanistan and Pakistan).

Answer: Shinzo Abe

Taking office as the Prime Minister of Japan for one year in late 2016 and then being re-elected for a non-consecutive series of terms in 2012, Shinzo Abe became the longest-serving head of state for the nation of Japan by the time his tenure came to an end. After seeing the nation of Japan through the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Shinzo Abe announced that he would be stepping down from the position of his own accord, citing that his ill health (due to colitis) was interfering with his role. He would be succeeded by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga.

Two years later, on July 8, 2022, Shinzo Abe would be assassinated in Nara City by a perpetrator who opposed the former Prime Minister's ties to the Unification Church. He would be buried in Shiba Park, Tokyo.

Answer: Ruth Bader Ginsburg

An associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was nominated to her esteemed position by then-President Bill Clinton, and while she wasn't the first woman to be seated in the Supreme Court (she was the second), her list of achievements and her general demeanour towards the law made her one of the court's most notable and recognized figures, especially in her later years.

The last two decades of Ginsburg's life were marked with numerous health problems including a 1999 cancer diagnosis. Notably, in her final years, Ginsburg remained on the Supreme Court until her passing on September 18, 2020, sparking a last-minute controversy when Donald Trump rushed a replacement justice, his third, to take her seat within days of the 2020 U.S. Presidential elections (despite high public disapproval-- the Senate blocked Barack Obama from filling a vacancy on the Supreme Court late in his own presidency).

Answer: A landscaping center

On November 3, 2020, the people of the United States cast their votes-- despite the ongoing pandemic-- in record numbers to elect Joe Biden the 46th U.S. President, marking a shift from the four years of Republican leadership seen under Donald Trump that led into the complications of 2020.

On November 7, campaign advisor and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani called a press conference to be held at a Four Seasons location outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When the press arrived, however, they discovered that it was not at a hotel and conference center, but at Four Seasons Total Landscaping, located in an industrial park. Moments before Giuliani waxed on about fraud amongst Pennsylvania voters, pollsters declared Pennsylvania a Biden win, making the press event a non-starter before it even began.