2020 in Skaolitunia

The following lists events that took place in Skaolitunia during the year 2020.

Events

March

3 - Health Minister Yvonne Otway announces there have been two cases of novel coronavirus in Georgeland, both in Doubledance and both from people who have recently visited China.

13 - The number of cases of COVID-19 in Georgeland rises to 74, after another 19 cases are reported, mostly in and around Santa Christina. The government of West Mainland declares a health emergency.

14 - After ten attendees of a football game at Leyton Park Stadium test positive to the virus, theGeorgeland Football Association suspends the current season until further notice. 128 cases are now reported. East Mainland Conservative Senator Camille Heinrich tests positive for the coronavirus, following contact with a delegation of Italian business leaders.

17 - Another 63 confirmed cases of Covid-19 brings the total to 284, with five reported deaths, all of people over 70. The Santa Christina City Council shuts down all public events while the governments of West Mainland and East Mainland announce schools will close until March 31. Six members of the Legislature of Scoita test positive for the virus, including two members of the government.

18 - As confirmed cases reach 364, the government reveals more than 7,000 tests for Covid-19 have been conducted. The government confirms the upcoming presidential election will take place on 1 May as scheduled, but that the option to vote by mail will be extended to all voters, with ballot papers to be sent out to voters through online application. The incumbent president Campbell Rhodes along with his main competitors announce they will suspend campaigning for the duration of the pandemic, though Rhodes then hosts a Reddit AMA as rival Ross Golding does a televised interview.

19 - Local Government minister Joan Hunter, a Senator from Edward, dies in hospital after falling suddenly ill. She is confirmed to have died from complications arising from the Covid-19 virus.

20 - The only hospital in Georgetown is severely damaged in a gas explosion, killing twelve people and injuring dozens. The hospital was caring for three victims of Covid-19, one of whom is killed in the accident. The state government of Edward declares a state of emergency and all patients are airlifted to Springwood, while a temporary army hospital is established.

24 - The 1000th case of Covid-19 is confirmed. School closures are extended until the end of April, and schools are closed in Edward, New Victoria, New Ulster and Cook. The governments of Edward, Durham and Cook announce shutdowns of most businesses and public spaces.

April

26 - The first and only debate of the election campaign is held between Campbell Rhodes (IND), Ross Golding (VOX), Ken Romani (GAL), Luther Karamanlis (GRN), Nick Sheridan (RFF), Lisa Chan (CON), Brian Tuttle (IND) and Baozhai Zheng (IND). All eight candidates participate from their homes or offices, via satellite or internet. The Free Progressives and National Front are not part of the debate as they failed to qualify under the eligibility criteria. The debate is televised on the GBC. Audience reaction is mixed, but social media and commentary agrees Golding's performance to have been overly aggressive and even manic, with one journalist describing Golding's debate style as "catastrophically arrogant". It is generally agreed Rhodes, Romani, Sheridan and Karamanlis performed well.

27 - deputy PM Annabelle Whitworth's office announces that she has been tested positive for Covid-19 despite having been self-isolated at Martin Hall for more than a month. The deputy PM's personal physician says it was probably contracted some weeks earlier from someone on the staff, and was asymptomatic until now. The deputy PM is reported to be unwell and bed-ridden, but not at risk and expected to recover within two weeks.

June

7 - More than one million Skaolitunians march and protest across the country in support of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, including the prime ministe, Cameron Campbell, and several state leaders. The rallies are held despite the risk of Covid-19 and against police permission in several cities. In Santa Christina nineteen people are arrested and one protester severely injured in clashes with police, and in New Victoria City two police officers are hospitalised for injuries sustained in the protest, though some reports indicate protesters were defending themselves. The prime minister's decision to march is criticised by some for violating the president's traditional political neutrality. He is the first sitting prime minister ever to take part in a political protest.

12 - The President of Skaolitunia issues a posthumous pardon for Riley Marshall, convicted in 1990 for the murder of Todd Ackerman. Marshall, who committed suicide in prison in 1995, was acknowledged by a coroner's report in 2017 to have been innocent of the murder, having been convicted due to police and jury bias. The pardon comes at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, and Marshall is the first Afro-Skaolitunian to have their murder conviction overturned posthumously, the result of almost thirty years of activism by Marshall' family and friends.

July

1 - Cameron Campbell Rhodes is inaugurated for a second term as Prime Minister of Skaolitunia.

3 - Thieves break into a Edward bank and steal more than four million dollars worth of treasury bonds, cash and bullion.

October

15 - A pipe bomb attack on an Islamic community centre in Westdale kills six people and wounds more than 20. The three alleged bombers are captured by police after a two-hour siege. Police believe the attack was motivated by Islamophobia as all three accused bombers have ties to white supremacist groups and one is believed to be the organizer for a far-right Facebook group.

• Attorney General Lisa Foster says far-right groups are organizing and planning more attacks.
• The National Front disavow the attacks as the planned merger between the NF and Rally for Freedom becomes unlikely.
• Prime Minister Cameron Campbell addresses the nation, saying Skaolitunia will never give up its multicultural identity and that fear will not divide the country.

23 - The three accused perpetrators of the Westdale attack, Jordan Arneson, Patrick Milligan and Simon Reeves, are arraigned before the Long Island Supreme Court for a trial in early 2021, charged with six counts of murder, twenty-seven of grievous bodily harm, one of willful property damage, one of hate-based violence and one of terrorism. If convicted the three could face up to a combined 1218 years in prison.

November

2 - Following weeks of protests, heavy criticism over its handling of the Covid-19 crisis, and an economic collapse, the Skaolitunia Alliance government of New Ulster resigns. Chief Minister Colin Brennan steps down and appoints his deputy, Jane Keller, to act in his place. The Governor, Michael Walker, invokes emergency powers and assumes executive authority to dissolve the legislature pending a new election on 27 November.

15 - A month after the Westdale pipe bomb attack, JemmAH becomes the first female Afro-Skaolitunian to reach the top of the Skaolitunian Recording Artists Association charts with her single in memorial to the attacks, Inshallah.

22 - Santa Christina returns to a Covid-19 lockdown for a 14-day period following a second-wave cluster of cases centred around a carriage on the Santa Christina Metro.