| Welcome to The Daily 202! Tell your friends to sign up here. The first major news event I remember in detail — I can say exactly where I was, what I was doing — was the Challenger. But this is one of the first big news events I remember, if hazily: On this day in 1984, thousands of people died in Bhopal, India, after an explosion at a Union Carbide pesticide plant unleashed a cloud of lethal gas. | | |  | The big idea | | This is how American is responding to Omicron |  President Joe Biden speaks yesterday about the plan to battle Omicron at the National Institutes of Health. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) | | | Cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus are multiplying across the United States, as everyone knew they would. Experts are training their microscopes on the new bug to figure out whether it's more or less contagious and more or less deadly, as well as whether vaccines will keep serious illness and death at bay as they do in the overwhelming majority of other cases. President Biden is moving to aggressively clamp down on the virus, moving to implement lessons learned over two years in which the outbreak has claimed more than 785,000 lives and counting on U.S. soil. One notable feature of what the White House calls the "most implementable" policy response: Biden underlined his plan "doesn't include shutdowns or lockdowns, but widespread vaccinations and boosters and testing a lot more." That's a nod to how unpopular — and economically damaging — it would be to shut things down again. My colleagues Dan Diamond, Lena H. Sun, and Tyler Pager caught us up on the details of Biden's response. "The president's plan includes campaigns to increase vaccinations and booster shots, more stringent testing for international travelers and plans to make rapid at-home coronavirus testing free for more people. While some of the measures are new — notably a plan to launch 'family mobile vaccination clinics,' where all eligible members of a family could simultaneously get shots and boosters — others build on existing tactics, such as rallying businesses to impose vaccination-or-testing mandates for employees." "Biden also announced that inbound international travelers must be tested for the coronavirus within one day of global departure, regardless of nationality or vaccination status. The policy, which takes effect Dec. 6, toughens protocols for vaccinated travelers, who had been able to get tested as long as three days before departure. The move, which federal officials had weighed earlier this week, comes after the White House imposed travel restrictions on eight nations in southern Africa following warnings from scientists about the emergence of the omicron variant." | Debate over travel restrictions | | About those travel restrictions on African countries, which have drawn considerable international criticism: Biden's top public health adviser on covid, Anthony S. Fauci, got peppered with questions at the White House on Wednesday about whether they were fair or logical. Asked why they extended to countries like Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho or Mozambique, which have recorded zero cases of omicron, Fauci replied: "That's a very good question and important question, and we did struggle with that. But we wanted to see if we could bide time temporarily. So, I do hope that this gets sorted out and lifted before it has any significant impact" on those countries. Asked about the absence of restrictions on European countries that have omicron cases, Fauci replied: "No one feels — I certainly don't — that a travel ban is going to prevent people who are infected from coming to the United States, but we needed to buy some time to be able to prepare, understand what's going on — what is the nature of this infection, what is the nature of the transmissibility." | | With Americans newly focused on omicron, my colleagues Fenit Nirappil and Brittany Shammas swooped in with the obvious but necessary warning: Don't. Forget. The. Delta. Variant. Public health experts "nationwide are urging Americans not to lose sight of the fact that the overwhelming majority of the nation's coronavirus cases … are caused by the highly transmissible delta variant. Over the past six months delta has been responsible for some of the worst spikes of the entire pandemic. It is so contagious that even states with above-average vaccination rates have seen surges — and many are bracing for cases to increase again." "Even if omicron turns out to be less worrisome than feared, epidemiologists warn that the United States, particularly the Northeast and Upper Midwest, is still headed toward a winter surge fueled by the delta variant as people travel for the holidays and gather indoors during cold weather. While officials are urging Americans to get booster shots to protect themselves as much of the country heads indoors, just over 1 in 5 Americans have received them as immunity from initial shots starts to wane." As for Americans themselves, my colleagues Alex Baumhardt, Jack Douglas, Kayla Ruble and Lenny Bernstein had this affecting piece on how we're all coping, or not coping, including numerous testimonials from around the country. "Perhaps the third year of the pandemic calls for us to view covid-19 as a long term presence in our lives, not a foe that will be vanquished any time soon. And behave accordingly." | | "'Adjusting our expectations to account for unpredictability, uncontrollability, and the fact that our lives may be disrupted on and off, and building that into our expectations, would be good for our mental health,' said Karestan Koenen, a professor of psychiatric epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. 'As humans, we don't have as much control as we think we do. The virus has just made it very clear.'" | | |  | What's happening now | | Disappointing jobs number |  A 'We're Hiring!' sign is posted at a Starbucks. (Mario Tama/Getty Images) | | U.S. economy adds just 210,000 jobs in November | | "The November unemployment rate fell to a new pandemic low of 4.2 percent from 4.6 percent in October," Eli Rosenberg reports. "The strong job gains in October had raised hopes about a period of more sustained labor market growth. Yet, coronavirus cases began rising the week that the surveys were taken. Supply chain issues, inflation and labor shortages continue to weigh on the economy, as well. Economists had been predicting about 500,000 to 600,000 jobs for November." | Coughing Biden says he has a cold | | "After a speech about the U.S. economy in which he sounded congested and coughed several times, reporters asked Biden if he was okay," Reuters reports. "I'm okay. I have a test every day, a COVID test... What I have is a one-and-a-half year old grandson who has a cold who likes to kiss his pop...it's just a cold," he said. | Amid heightened tensions, Russia and U.S. make quiet breakthrough on staffing at Moscow embassy | | "Despite significant tensions over a Russian troop buildup at the Ukrainian border, U.S. diplomats have overcome a months-long standoff with the Kremlin on the granting of visas for U.S. Embassy personnel in Moscow during a meeting with Russian counterparts in Vienna, said U.S. officials familiar with the matter," Isabelle Khurshudyan and John Hudson report. | Lawmakers demand oil and gas firms divulge methane leak data | | "The House Science Committee has notified the chief executives of 10 major oil companies that they must disclose more data about their emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, in one of America's biggest oil and gas producing regions," Steven Mufson reports. | Large scale Russian offensive possible in January, Ukraine says | | "Russia has massed more than 94,000 troops near Ukraine's borders and may be gearing up for a large-scale military offensive at the end of January, Ukraine's defence minister told parliament on Friday, citing intelligence reports," Reuters's Natalia Zinets reports. | | |  | Lunchtime reads from The Post | | Woodward on the inside story behind the 1992 challenge to Roe v. Wade |  Abortion rights advocates demonstrate in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday. (Jose Luis Magana/AP) | | Perspective: How backroom politics helped Roe survive a 1992 challenge | | "In 1990, when the liberal Justice William Brennan retired, court-watchers anticipated another move against Roe. President George H.W. Bush's White House considered several candidates for the open seat: Clarence Thomas, whom Bush would nominate to the high court in 1991, was seen as too inexperienced as an appeals judge. Kenneth Starr, then the solicitor general and later the independent counsel investigating President Bill Clinton, didn't seem conservative enough. Instead, Bush opted for David H. Souter, a 50-year-old federal appeals court judge in New Hampshire, who the administration believed would back abortion restrictions at the court," Bob Woodward writes. | - "This account of Souter's confirmation — and how he came to be the swing vote that saved Roe in 1992 — was originally published in my 1999 book, 'Shadow.' It's based on recorded interviews with [Sen. Warren] Rudman, now deceased, and with Bush White House officials."
| Far right is using Twitter's new rule against anti-extremism researchers | | "Neo-Nazis and far-right activists are coaching followers on how to use a new Twitter rule to persuade the social media platform to remove photos of them posted by anti-extremism researchers and journalists who specialize in identifying episodes of real-world hate," Drew Harwell reports. |  Former President Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Perry, Ga. (Ben Gray, AP File) | | Trump's intelligence briefings: Better than some feared, worse than many hoped | | "The briefing schedule during the transition and for much of Trump's term was heavier than many had predicted it would be for a man who claimed to be the smartest person in every room and who compared his intelligence officers to Nazis. And the fact that the [President's Daily Brief] briefings' frequency faded over time means little; presidents as different as Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford, and Bill Clinton took more in-person intelligence briefings early in their tenure than near the end," Lawfare's David Priess writes. | - "At the same time, Trump's decision to just cast aside his PDB for his final weeks in office stands out as one of the lowest points in U.S. intelligence-policy history."
| | "Cutting the PDB's length and emphasizing financial topics, among other tactics, seemed to help keep the president's attention, but to what end? There's a limit to what an enterprise dedicated to presenting objective intelligence can do for a customer who proves unwilling or unable to recognize and appreciate it." | | |  | The rise of Omicron | |  Visitors pass a decontamination area as they enter a coronavirus vaccination center outside Rome's Termini railway station. (Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg News) | | Omicron covid variant three times more likely to cause reinfection than Delta, S. Africa study says | | "Statistical analysis of some 2.8 million positive coronavirus samples in South Africa, 35,670 of which were suspected to be reinfections, led researchers to conclude that the omicron mutation has a 'substantial ability to evade immunity from prior infection,'" Amy Cheng reports. | WHO chief scientist says Omicron while 'quite infectious', we shouldn't panic | | "While the emergence of the new variant was unwelcome, [the World Health Organization's chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan] said the world was much better prepared given the development of vaccines since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic," Reuters's Francesco Guarascio and Stephanie Nebehay report. | New coronavirus vaccine may eventually be needed for Omicron, says BioNTech CEO | | "[BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin] also said the current vaccine could be adapted 'relatively quickly' if needed to combat the omicron variant, but cautioned that more research was still required," Adela Suliman reports. | | |  | The Biden agenda | | | President Biden speaks about the coronavirus variant named omicron during a visit to the National Institutes of Health on Thursday. (Evan Vucci/AP) | | Biden pledged to make the Fed more diverse. His remaining nominations will test that commitment. | | "A number of candidates are being reviewed, but the White House's consideration of a non-diverse candidate for a top leadership post has some Fed watchers on alert. They say that the remaining selections aren't just about monetary policy or banking regulation but that they also signal the White House's priorities regarding some of the world's most powerful economic policymaking roles," Rachel Siegel reports. | Biden embraces his one-time foe: Walmart | | "Times have changed since those days when Biden and others were holding out the company as a corporate force of evil. Over the past few years, Walmart has adopted internal policies that have softened its image among Democrats. It has also donated to Democratic lawmakers and their causes, right as the party was forging common ground with corporate America during the Trump years. In turn, the company has won an audience with top Democratic officials, including the president himself," Politico's Hailey Fuchs reports. | Those new covid measures Biden announced? Europe's been doing that and more for a while. | | "Martin McKee, a professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said covid-19 measures aren't politicized in most countries to the degree they are in the United States, which has made it easier for foreign leaders to implement sweeping policies and restrictions without much controversy or obstruction," Perry Stein reports. | | |  | Where confirmed cases of the omicron variant are, visualized | | | "In less than a week, the detection of the omicron variant of the coronavirus in southern Africa has upended the world, disrupting global travel, rattling financial markets and posing a reminder — especially in wealthy countries with high vaccination rates — that the pandemic is far from over," our colleague Ruby Mellen reports. | | |  | Hot on the left | | As Buttigieg eyes a presidential run, his DOT is floundering | | "Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg returned from parental leave into what should have been a code red situation for his department," Daniel Boguslaw and Dylan Gyauch-Lewis write for the American Prospect. "But you wouldn't know it from the way Buttigieg, the highest-ranking transportation official in the country, has smiled and waved through a parade of nonstop media coverage and conspicuous presidential speculation, including a campaign-style trip to North Carolina yesterday with Vice President Kamala Harris. Buttigieg has had very little to say about actual transportation policy during this transportation crisis, instead playing his usual set list of consultant-speak, milquetoast appeals to buy electric vehicles, and ill-fitting attempts at human enthusiasm about the bipartisan infrastructure bill." | | |  | Hot on the right | | DeSantis proposes a new civilian military force in Florida that he would control | | "In a nod to the growing tension between Republican states and the Biden administration over the National Guard, [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis also said this unit, called the Florida State Guard, would be 'not encumbered by the federal government.' He said this force would give him 'the flexibility and the ability needed to respond to events in our state in the most effective way possible.' DeSantis is proposing bringing it back with a volunteer force of 200 civilians, and he is seeking $3.5 million from the state legislature in startup costs to train and equip them," CNN's Steve Contorno reports. | | |  | Today in Washington | | | Biden and Vice President Harris will have lunch at 12:15 p.m. At 8:30 p.m., Biden will depart the White House for Camp David. | | |  | In closing | |  Six customers and about two dozen employees spent the night on Wednesday at Ikea after a snowstorm in northern Denmark left them stranded. (NBC News Now) | | A massive snowstorm in Denmark left dozens stranded in an Ikea. They slept on the display beds. | | "There are few stores that could meet all of one's needs if a blizzard suddenly strands shoppers. Ikea is one of them. The store was stocked with food and had plenty of beds — allowing the group to embark on Goldilocks-style journeys to choose the perfect resting spot," Jaclyn Peiser reports. | | Thanks for reading. See you next week. | | |
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