Every morning, it’s just, What’s going on?

[GoodTaste]

I don't understand the phrase "Every morning, it’s just, What’s going on?" In addition to the confusing capitalized What in the middle of the sentence, it sounds to be some regional rather than standard English, which seems to mean "It's just like every morning we keep wondering - What's going on? Crazy!"

What does the phrase mean?

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In what has become a familiar pattern, the COVID-19 vaccine landscape has changed overnight, simultaneously raising hopes that more people may soon get vaccinated and triggering confusion. “It’s crazy,” says immunologist John Moore, a vaccine researcher at Weill Cornell Medicine. “Every morning, it’s just, What’s going on?"


Source: Science Dec.30,2020
‘It’s crazy.’ Upbeat COVID-19 vaccine news from China and U.K. leaves scientists wanting more details

 

[GoesStation]

Your understanding is correct. It's casual English. The writer capitalized "What's" to indicate that it begins a new sentence, conceptually. "It's just" is a casual way to say "I think to myself".

 

[emsr2d2]

Another general (but disliked by most native speakers on this forum) way of saying that opening is "Every morning, we're like/people are like 'What's going on?'" The "like" has the same effect as "we're just". You might also hear both together! "Every day, I'm just like 'What the hell is going on?'"

 

[Tdol]

It's a punctuation issue. You need to punctuate it like emsr2d2 or use italics to separate it off as a quoted sentence within a sentence.

 

[probus]

Another general (but disliked by most native speakers on this forum) way of saying that opening is "Every morning, we're like/people are like 'What's going on?'" The "like" has the same effect as "we're just". You might also hear both together! "Every day, I'm just like 'What the hell is going on?'"

The use of be like as a verb synonymous with said seems now to be firmly entrenched in the spoken language. As an oldster I hate it, and hope it will do a 23-skidoo and vanish like 23-skidoo did. But I can't hope to live to see whether that will happen.:-(