Bushfires and coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) were dominate features of 2020.• Patients with asthma were significantly affected by the 2019/2020 bushfire season with an increased burden compared to the general population. • Patients with controlled asthma do not appear to be at higher risk of severe COVID-19 infection or death than the general population. • Personalized medicine is proposed as the next era for asthma management, with treatable traits as a strategy to implement personalized medicine into practice. • Patient engagement in personalized medicine strategies is important and needs to be further explored. • Oral corticosteroid (OCS) use in asthma is common and contributes a major burden. OCS stewardship is recommended. • Biologic therapies reduce exacerbations of severe asthma and biomarkers can be used to predict treatment responders. • Epithelia at mucosal and cutaneous surfaces are components in asthma pathogenesis, through airway immunity and inflammation. • Dysregulation of resident microbial communities in the lung, gut and skin microbiome is relevant to asthma pathogenesis, but there are still many unknowns in this field.