The 2020 Shutdown: 5 Years Ago
The 2020 Shutdown: 5 Years Ago
Published March 17, 2025
For more insights and data storytelling on how the world is searching, follow us on Twitter @GoogleTrends and Instagram @googletrends. All data is correct at the time of writing.
It's been five years since the COVID-19 shutdown where masking and sheltering in place became our new normal. This newsletter we look back on some of the trends of that era that are still reflected in search today
Jenny Lee
Lead Data Analyst
With Sabrina Elfarra
Top Trends
Search interest in "longest time in space" is at a five year high, and astronauts return was a breakout-related search in the past week
Wisconsin is the top state searching "hazy" in the past day, and "why is it hazy in michigan" and "why is it hazy in wisconsin" were two of the top-trending questions
"spring allergy symptoms" search interest spiked +180% in the past week, and "when do spring allergies start" was a breakout-related search
"pds tornado warning" search interest is at an all time high, and "what is pds warning" was the top-trending related search in the past week
MAP: search interest in "tornado" is concentrated in Southern states, while the rest of the US searched for "storm" in the past week
Entertainment
Search interest in "electric state cast" rose +400% in the past day, and Anthony Mackie was a breakout related search
Actress, Melora Hardin spiked +1,290% in the past day, and Michael Landon was the top-related search
Search interest in "kids movies in theaters" rose +110% over the weekend, and Captain America: Brave New World was the top-trending related topic
Lifestyle
Search interest in "how long to cook corned beef" spiked +180% in the past day, and "how long to boil cabbage" was a top-related search
"St Patrick's Day parade" search interest is at a five year high in the US, and Rhode Island is the top state searching in the past day
The top trending St. Patrick's Day drinks over the past week are the grasshopper cocktail, jello shots and green punch
MAP: Uniquely searched St. Patrick's Day green foods
Sports
"villarreal real madrid" was the top-trending sports search in the US in the past day, and search interest in Villarreal CF is at an all time high
"creighton vs st john's prediction" was the top-trending "prediction" search in the past week, and St John's Red Storm men's basketball search interest is at an all-time high
Formula 1 search interest is at a five year high in the US, and Isack Hadjar spiked +250% in the past day
Find more daily top Trends here >>
Daily Quiz
Which was searched more in 2020:
Rose garden or vegetable garden?
COVID-19: 5 years ago
"face mask" is still the top-searched mask, and spiked over 10x more than other top mask searches in 2020, including "ski mask" and "eye mask"
sourdough bread search interest gained momentum in 2020, spiking over 150% from March 2020 to April 2020. Search interest in the topic hit an all-time high in 2025
"free virtual museum tours" was the top-trending "virtual" search in March 2020, and "virtual coin flip" which spiked to its highest in 2020 is now one of the top-trending "virtual" searches in the past month
Tiger King was the top trending TV Show worldwide in 2020, and it was the only time in the past 10 years where "tiger sanctuary" was searched more than "elephant sanctuary"
"Virtual workout" hit its highest in 2020, and the residual effects have lingered for years. "virtual workout" was searched over 80% more in January 2025 than January 2020
In 2020, the top searched "... at home" was for "covid test" but in 2025 so far, it's "flu test"
MAP: COVID is still one of the top-related "symptoms" searches, even in comparison to prominent health issues like pneumonia and measles
Searches that hit all-time highs in 2020
Top searched "...at home"
In 2020, US
COVID tests
Workouts
Home jobs
Fun things
Harry Potter
Top trending recipes
2020, US
Sourdough bread
Whipped coffee
Disney churro
Dole Whip
DoubleTree cookie
Top trending songs
2020, US
WAP
The Box
Godzilla
GOOBA
Break My Stride
GRAPH: search interest in "flight" and "concert" hit their lowest points ever in 2020, and even the "NBA finals" had its lowest level of search interest in its six preceding years.
GRAPH: search interest in "trip to Europe" was higher than "trip to National Park" until 2020. In the past month "trip to National Park" was searched +15% more
GRAPH: March 2020 was the only month where "school closure" was searched more than "snow day"
Daily Quiz answer
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Methodology
All data is based on the U.S. unless otherwise stated
All data is accurate the time of writing
Notes
Breakout: search terms had a tremendous increase, in some cases because these terms are new and had few (if any) prior searches
Top or Most Searched: search terms that rank highest by search volume for a given timeframe and location
Trending Searches: search terms that had the highest spike in traffic over a given time period as compared with the previous equivalent period
For more information about our methodology and how to interpret the data, please read our FAQs and learn more here
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