When President-elect Joe Biden takes office in January, he’ll come in with a request for Americans: “On the first day I’m inaugurated, I’m going to ask the public for 100 days to mask. Just 100 days to mask—not forever, just 100 days,” Biden said yesterday. “And I think we’ll see a significant reduction” in coronavirus cases.
It’s pretty clear that Biden’s plea is scientifically sound. Experts and studies have repeatedly affirmed that universal masking can reduce viral transmission, thereby preventing COVID-19 illnesses and deaths. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today also strengthened its recommendations on masking, encouraging people to wear them any time they are indoors, except inside their own homes.
But Biden’s request for the country is also significant for another reason: It’s the kind of clear, simple health communication experts have looked for all year long.
Under the Trump Administration, masks became a partisan symbol rather than a public-health tool. President Donald Trump repeatedly questioned their efficacy and resisted wearing one, which trickled down into many of his supporters adopting the same behavior. In a story my colleague Alice Park and I wrote last month, experts said Biden’s biggest challenge would be bridging that divide and convincing the whole country to trust science again—and that happens, in part, by modeling behaviors that work, and consistently following and amplifying the guidance set forth by top scientists.
Simply asking Americans to wear masks won’t magically change anything overnight. After months of partisan disagreement, there are parts of the country “where you could tell people all day long they have to wear masks and they’re not going to do it,” Johns Hopkins University health security scholar Eric Toner told me last month. But the President-elect is taking the right steps. He has said he’ll get publicly vaccinated, which could go a long way toward helping Americans trust that the shots are safe, and has been consistent in his message that mask-wearing works. (In fact, his 100-day masking request is a step down from the plan he originally proposed but did not have the power to enforce: a national mask mandate.) Perhaps most important, he has said clearly that he trusts scientists and plans to keep top experts—like Dr. Anthony Fauci—in influential roles within his administration.
Biden’s is an uphill battle, to be sure. But his commitment to following the science—along with promising advances in vaccine development—should serve as a source of optimism as the country heads into what will hopefully be the pandemic’s final stretch.
Living through the COVID-19 pandemic is hard. TIME's new advice column is here to help, with expert-guided answers to your most pressing coronavirus questions. Need help breaking the news that you won't be home for the holidays? Deciding if that dinner party is safe to attend? Fighting through your quarantine fatigue? Our health reporters will consult experts who can help find a safe and practical solution. Send us your pandemic dilemmas at covidquestions@time.com.
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
Editor’s note: Because of holiday-related delays, COVID-19 data is likely to be a little strange over the next few days. For that reason, we’re temporarily removing the typical maps from The Coronavirus Brief, but we’re still including the numbers as reported, as well as some of the charts.
The Global Situation
More than 65.2 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 1 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 1.5 million people have died. On Dec. 3, there were 690,127 new cases and 12,531 new deaths confirmed globally. Here's how the world as a whole is currently trending:
And here is every country with over 1,000,000 confirmed cases:
On the whole, Asian countries have done a far better job of containing COVID-19 than the U.S. and many European nations. But with a new wave of infections coming, my colleague Michael Zennie reports, things are feeling disconcertingly different. Countries including Japan have been slower to implement lockdown procedures this time around, and people in many Asian countries are feeling pandemic fatigue. Add in winter weather, which forces people into indoor environments where the virus spreads easily, and the continent could be in for a difficult few months.
The U.K. is embarking on an ambitious national vaccination program, after its regulators this week approved the COVID-19 vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech. The goal is to vaccinate every U.K. resident 50 and older within the next few months—a task so great that the government is asking retired health care workers to help administer the shots. (U.K. officials are also allowing trainee doctors, physical therapists and dental workers to give out the jab.) As in the U.S., the U.K. plans to vaccinate several high-priority populations first, including nursing home residents, health care workers and the elderly.
Wang Junzhi, deputy head of a Chinese vaccine development task force, said today that China will have 600 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines ready for distribution this year, the South China Morning Postreports. Wang also teased a “major news announcement” coming in the next couple weeks, though he did not elaborate on what it will be.
The Situation in the U.S.
The U.S. had recorded more than 14.1 million coronavirus cases as of 1 a.m. E.T. today. More than 276,000 people have died. On Dec. 3, there were 217,664 new cases and 2,879 new deaths confirmed in the U.S. Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending:
Pfizer, which for months pledged to produce 100 million doses of its promising COVID-19 vaccine by the end of 2020, has scaled back that estimate to 50 million, a company spokesperson confirmed yesterday. Sourcing the “raw materials” needed to make the shot took longer than expected, according to the spokesperson, but the company is now producing vaccines in large quantities.
Large portions of California are heading back toward lockdown, with hospitals dangerously overstretched by COVID-19. If the available ICU capacity in an area falls below 15%, amenities including outdoor dining, hair salons and playgrounds will close. With more than 200,000 cases reported statewide over the last two weeks, swaths of Central and Southern California are likely days away from new restrictions.
Today is the deadline for U.S. states to submit COVID-19 vaccination orders and distribution plans. But, as Bloomberg News reports, there’s still a huge amount of uncertainty—even with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration likely to authorize at least one vaccine this month. There are still major questions about how many doses each state will receive, how they’ll be stored and distributed and how to prioritize vaccine recipients, assuming supplies are limited.
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of Dec. 4, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
The Housing Market Is Booming—But Not for Everyone
The pandemic has widened disparities of nearly all kinds in the U.S. As TIME’s Emily Barone reports, the real estate market is no different. Houses are selling fast, but millions of Americans also face evictions. Read more here.
Why Shaming People for Holiday Travel Is Counterproductive
Thanksgiving brought with it an onslaught of judgment against people who chose to travel, despite public health warnings. But as pediatrician Dr. Aaron Carroll writes for the New York Times, that shaming is both unproductive and misplaced. Read more here.
The Pandemic Is Destroying Friendships
Different interpretations of COVID-19 guidelines, and different ideas about what’s okay to do during a pandemic, are putting relationships of all kinds to the test. BuzzFeed News spoke to people whose friendships haven’t survived the perils of 2020. Read more here.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com. If you have specific questions you'd like us to answer, please send them to covidquestions@time.com.
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Today's newsletter was written by Jamie Ducharme and edited by Alex Fitzpatrick.
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