WTF Just Happened Today

Friday, December 4, 2020

Subscribe: Get the Daily Update in your inbox for free

1/ Biden will ask all Americans to wear masks for 100 days after he is inaugurated, saying “Just 100 days to mask, not forever. One hundred days.” Biden also asked Dr. Anthony Fauci to stay on as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases – the same position he has held since 1984 across six administrations. Fauci called Biden’s proposal a “good idea.” The CDC, meanwhile, now recommends “universal mask use” outside people’s homes as part of its updated coronavirus guidance. (CNN / Washington Post / Politico / New York Times / Axios / NPR)

• ???? Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”

• Global: Total confirmed cases: ~65,687,000; deaths: ~1,515,000

• U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~14,298,000; deaths: ~279,000

• Source: Johns Hopkins University

• Live Blogs: New York Times / Washington Post / The Guardian / NBC News / ABC News / CNN / CNBC / Wall Street Journal

2/ The U.S. economy added 245,000 jobs in November on a seasonally adjusted basis as the unemployment rate fell to 6.7%, from 6.9% in October. The economy has brought back 12.3 million of the 22 million jobs lost in the first two months of the coronavirus pandemic, but there are still 10.7 million unemployed Americans, compared with 5.8 million in February. Hiring is now so slow that it could take another 40 months for the job market to fully recover from the pandemic. Biden, meanwhile, said the “grim” jobs report shows the economic recovery is stalling and warned of a “dark winter” ahead unless Congress passes a coronavirus relief bill immediately. (CNN / New York Times / CNBC / NPR /