Coronavirus: This was one of the most devastating weeks in the U.S. since the coronavirus pandemic began nine months ago.

On Friday, a national single-day record was set, with more than 226,000 new cases. Hospitalizations topped 100,000 — more than double the number at the beginning of November.

Upticks on both coasts have more than offset the progress in the Upper Midwest, where new case numbers have started to fall. Some places in the Northeast are now reporting more cases each day than they were in the spring, in part because testing was limited then. Here’s the latest map and case count.

As the virus has spread, infectious-disease experts have gained a better understanding of who among the nation’s nearly 330 million residents is the most vulnerable: nursing home residents, people with underlying conditions, and lower-income communities.
Juan Arredondo for The New York Times

2. Health care workers and the frailest of the elderly will almost certainly get the first shots of a coronavirus vaccine. Who goes next is up for heated debate.

It’s a question increasingly guided by concerns over the inequities laid bare by the pandemic. Ultimately, states will determine whom to include. Experts have argued that frontline workers — a subset of essential workers who cannot do their jobs from home — are at greater risk of contracting the virus because they interact face to face with others.

And if you’ve already had Covid-19, do you still need a vaccine? We asked experts to weigh in on the latest evidence.

Across the world, mass vaccination campaigns are beginning, or are just about to. Some rely on a vaccine that has completed human trials — and some do not.
The New York Times