The start of 2025 was chaotic and unexpected. With the tense political climate around the world, the stress about the “new” virus and the wildfires in California, things are starting off quite tense, and the online community isn’t doing any favors. Theories about 2025 being just like 2020 have quickly arisen, with creators trying to predict what the rest of the 2025 might look like in short-form videos.
2020 was a very stressful year for most people, and reliving it would be a nightmare.
One of the biggest reasons behind the online superstition that 2025 is going to look like 2020 is that both of the years are WTF years, meaning that the first three days of both years were Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. This odd similarity is a scary coincidence.
But that wasn’t the only similarity between the two years. Both years started with devastating wildfires, which was another very unlikely coincidence that people added to their lists. The unfortunate start of 2025 made people believe that the rest of the year is going to model after 2020 to an even greater degree past the terrible start.
The “new” human metapneumovirus is another source of the online panic concerning the similarities in the WTF years, where many are now claiming that 2025 was going to end with another global pandemic.
But before going around and scaring people, doing a quick Google search and some research will shed some light and assuage fears. Any source with credibility will say that this virus is nothing to worry about to the same scale of COVID-19 and is definitely not new. The HMPV virus has been around since 2001 and is similar to a more commonly known virus in the United States called respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, that causes flu-like symptoms. This virus is also not fatal to people who are not immunocompromised, and the CDC is not worried about the possibility of it becoming a major issue, so the public shouldn’t be either. Unfortunately, this has not helped many online communities from grabbing hold to the buzzword-filled headlines about HMPV and igniting fear among many. Though it is scary given the events of 2020, this virus is occurring because it is the season for it, so it’s not worth all the concern and serves no purpose as an online scare tactic.
The wildfires, while they were a crazy coincidence, also have a reason behind them. The combination of drought-like conditions and the powerful winds were a devastating combination causing the prime conditions for the fires in southern California to spread. While another co-occurrence, it serves no proof towards the idea that the year will turn out in the same way that 2020 did.
Honestly, this side of TikTok is just scaring people for no reason. Let’s not cast negativity into the world and hope that another year like 2020 doesn’t happen again, instead of trying to find parallels between the two years. We need positivity and goodwill more and more, and spreading baseless online theories is doing nobody any good.