1:33 pm UTC Dec. 27, 2020
A once-in-a-lifetime pandemic reverberated through 2020 and changed the world in profound ways.
Efforts to stop the virus ground us to a halt. The disease killed thousands of Arizonans and more than 1 million people worldwide. It sickened millions more. The fallout from lockdowns, layoffs and limited travel shocked the economy.
COVID-19 spread and spread and spread. The Arizona Republic has followed the virus' spread, how it affected our health and livelihoods, the scientific discoveries it inspired and the heated debates it encouraged throughout the year.
During the summer, Arizona became one of the world's hotspots for the disease. Moves to shut down places where people could gather in groups and pushes for more personal responsibility put the state in decline only for cases to surge again, beating the summer spikes, in December.