Common Knowledge
The Avatar Storm
The Avatar Storm started in 1999 and lasted through 2003, after which it ended for reasons that no one understands. The Umbra was left devastated, the upper echelons of mage society are gone, and it will take centuries to fully rebuild, though progress has been made.
The Ascension War
The flareup of the Ascension War in the 1990s has faded. After the Avatar Storm hit, the War flared higher and then retracted as everyone was lacking personnel and will to fight after losing their entire upper eschelons. What happened next varied by region, but Seattle saw brutal guerilla warfare between the Traditions and the Technocracy in 2000s and early 2010s before things settled down into an unofficial truce around 2014. There's no formal agreement, but no one has been given trouble for socializing across lines and the fighting has been kept to isolated incidents with the leadership of both sides willing to look the other way on a lot of things to preserve peace in the city. That said, both sides have their share of Ascension Warriors who want to bring things back to a boil, though they are out of power at the moment.
COVID
COVID is the pandemic that struck in late 2019 and brought the world to a halt. It is being handled in the World of Darkness much as it is in the real world: vaccination drives, people masking if they want extra protection or has any signs of mild respiratory infections, etc. Life has largely returned to normal for most aside from that, and the changes in workplace structure that have resulted, for better or worse.