Weekly News Quiz for Students

President Trump revealed the news early Oct. 2, throwing the nation’s leadership into uncertainty and escalating the crisis posed by a pandemic that has now killed more than 209,000 people in the United States and devastated the economy. That evening, Trump was taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for a more thorough evaluation and monitoring. 

Then, after three nights of hospitalization for Covid-19, the president returned to the White House on Monday evening, removing his mask to pose for photos. His physician, Dr. Sean P. Conley, had said earlier in the day that the president was not “out of the woods yet.”

Few people at the outdoor ceremony wore masks or kept their social distance. But experts say the riskier part of the day was a reception inside the White House, where President Trump met with a smaller group of guests.

There, Trump mingled with Judge Barrett, her family, and prominent Republicans in the Oval Office and in the Diplomatic Room. Research has shown that transmission of the virus tends to happen indoors, and gatherings where guests are maskless and in tight quarters can be a recipe for “super-spreader” events.

It is not clear when exactly the attendees who later tested positive were infected, and the White House has said all guests tested negative for the virus before the event. Still, it can take several days after exposure for the virus to be detected by a test.

In a chaotic, 90-minute back-and-forth, the two major party nominees expressed a level of contempt for each other unheard of in modern American politics.

Trump hectored and interrupted Biden nearly every time he spoke, and the former vice president denounced the president as a “clown” and told him to “shut up.”

Trump, trailing in the polls, was plainly trying to be the aggressor. But he interjected so insistently that Biden could scarcely answer the questions posed to him, forcing the moderator, Chris Wallace of Fox News, to repeatedly urge the president to let his opponent speak.

More than H.I.V. More than dysentery. More than malaria, influenza, cholera, and measles—combined.

In the 10 months since a mysterious pneumonia began striking residents of Wuhan, China, Covid-19 has killed more than one million people worldwide as of Sept. 28—an agonizing toll compiled from official counts, yet one that far understates how many have really died. It may already have overtaken tuberculosis and hepatitis as the world’s deadliest infectious disease, and unlike all the other contenders, it is still growing fast.

The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Dallas Stars, 2-0, on Sept. 28, more than two months after they entered the N.H.L. bubble in Toronto, making them the winners of the 2020 Stanley Cup finals.

Major sports leagues have gotten creative while trying to carry out their seasons during the pandemic, with few or no fans in the stands, and some—including the N.H.L.—opting to use a “bubble” that essentially quarantines players, staff, and a few family members from the general public.

New York City completed the reopening of all its public schools on the morning of Oct. 1, a major step in its recovery from having been the global epicenter of the pandemic and a hopeful sign for the country’s unsteady effort to return children to classrooms.

Not long after sunrise, middle and high school principals welcomed students back into their buildings for the first time since March, following elementary school children who had started earlier last week. About half a million students, from 3-year-olds in pre-K programs to high school seniors, will have returned to school by this week.

However, on Oct. 4, Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York announced plans to close schools in nine neighborhoods where the coronavirus testing positivity rates have been higher than 3 percent in the past 7 days. About 200 private schools will close, as well as 100 public schools, officials said.

Japan Airlines said it would retire the phrase “ladies and gentlemen” from in-flight announcements made in English, a symbolic step toward inclusivity in a country where activists have long fought to change gender traditions.

Starting October 1, greetings and announcements in English at the airport and in the cabin would use gender-neutral language such as “all passengers” or “everyone”—or avoid gender-specific phrases altogether. Announcements in Japanese would remain unchanged because gender-specific greetings are not used in the first place.

The announcement on Sept. 28 appeared to be the first for a Japanese carrier, as airlines and subway systems around the world have been phasing out gender-specific language in recent years. (In 2017, British officials said that they would roll out “Hello, everyone” instead of “ladies and gentlemen” on the London Underground.)

Back in 1985, Super Mario Bros. was revelatory. The game, which popularized Nintendo’s first home console, the Nintendo Entertainment System, played like a challenging, dreamlike cartoon that scrolled across a TV screen. Players controlled Mario, a high-jumping plumber, making him run, jump, or sometimes swim through levels filled with giant mushrooms, menacing turtles, and other strange obstacles. It was a tough game, but not too tough to discourage its avid players from giving it another try. 

A sequel followed. And another. And another.

The latest Mario game, Super Mario Bros. 35, which was released on Oct. 1 for the Nintendo Switch, lets 35 people play the original Super Mario Bros. simultaneously, each vying to be the last Mario standing. It’s sort of Super Mario meets Fortnite.