1. Mother Nature
Firefighters try to suppress flames from a home patio at the Blue Ridge Fire in Yorba Linda, California, (Photo: Robyn Beck, Getty Images)
We have landed on the moon. We have sequenced the genome. We will soon have cars that drive themselves. But for all the progress that humanity has made in science and technology in the past century, we are still squarely at the mercy of nature. Be it wildfires in California, the super cyclone Amphan in the Bay of Bengal or a rapacious virus snuffing out countless lives globally, 2020 served up a giant helping of humble pie to us homo sapiens.
2. Dr. Anthony Fauci
Anthony Fauci, director of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases looks on before a Senate testimony on Sep. 23. (Photo: Graeme Jennings, Getty Images)
Never before has a public health crisis vaulted a single individual to the fore of mainstream consciousness and inspired so much reverence and vitriol simultaneously as it has with Tony Fauci. The 79-year-old immunology expert who has led The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases under Republican and Democratic presidents has found himself in the untenable position of having to convince the public of the benefits of mask-wearing and social distancing while not landing in the crosshairs of the Trump White House. By early December though, he probably breathed a sigh of relief when Trump lost and he was accepted as chief medical adviser to President-Elect Joe Biden.
3. New Zealand’s Prime Minister
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks to the media during a press conference (Photo: Marty Melville, Getty Images)
Countries with female leaders fared much better than those shepherded by their XY counterparts during the Covid-19 pandemic. But if there’s one leader who deserves special recognition, it’s Jacinda Ardern, the 40-year-old prime minister of New Zealand. She held regular Facebook Live chats to update her citizens on how the pandemic was being managed and earned kudos for being a clear communicator.
4. George Floyd
Protesters march at a Black Lives Matter fashion show and protest by fashion designer Jason Christopher Peters on July 12 in New York City. (Photo: Noam Galai, Getty Images)
This is a healthcare publication, so why are we concerned about the death of an unarmed Black man at the hands of a White police officer, while other Brown and White officers did nothing to prevent it? Very simply because a look-back at 2020 is criminally incomplete without acknowledging this seminal moment. On one side is the loss of life at the hands of law enforcement, the worst outcome of systemic racism and something that is happening all too often. On the other, is the spontaneous galvanization of all races and all nationalities calling for justice. At MedCity, we are laser-focused on the health of the human body and mind but once in a while, we have to make room to examine the health of our democracy too. Even the American Medical Association felt compelled to issue a statement urging police reform — something the organization has never done before.
5.The Superspreader-in-Chief
Judge Amy Coney Barrett speaks in the White House Rose Garden in Washington, DC on Sep. 26. Photo: Photo by Olivier Douliery, Getty Images)
History will judge America’s 45th president harshly for myriad reasons but perhaps the biggest indictment of the past four exhausting, tweet-infested years is Donald Trump’s utter failure — nay refusal — to control the Covid-19 pandemic. When 9/11 occurred and nearly 3,000 people were killed, one could feel how stricken George W. Bush was as he sought to comfort the NYC firefighters and the nation at large. By contrast, as Covid-19 deaths climbed 50 times the 9/11 toll in late summer, Trump merely shrugged saying, “It is what it is.” While campaigning for reelection, he held various political events — including the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett — with unmasked supporters that turned out to be superspreader events and cost lives. However, Trump will be remembered for pushing Operation Warp Speed — albeit as a political lifeline — that heralded the arrival of multiple vaccines at record speed.
