Coronavirus: The country’s coronavirus death toll is rising fast.
More than 245,000 people have died from the coronavirus in the U.S., more than in any other country, and the pace is likely to accelerate in the coming weeks. One epidemiologist summed up the crisis in stark terms: “The months ahead are looking quite horrifying.”
More than 1,000 Americans are dying of the coronavirus every day on average, a 50 percent increase in the past month. By some estimates, the U.S. may soon be on track to reach or exceed the spring peak, when as many as 2,200 people were dying from the coronavirus every day. Here’s the latest map and case count.
The infection rate continues to shatter records: On Friday, public health officials reported more than 181,000 new cases across the country. It was only eight days earlier that the U.S. reported its first 100,000-case day.
Andrew Kelly/Reuters
2. With no direction from the White House on how to respond to worsening outbreaks, even some previously reluctant governors are imposing restrictions.
Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, which has critically understaffed hospitals and the highest per capita rates for new coronavirus cases and deaths in the U.S., put in place a mask mandate and new limits on indoor dining.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico announced the nation’s most sweeping statewide measure of the fall season, issuing a two-week “stay at home” order to begin on Monday; Gov. Kate Brown of Oregon placed the state in a partial lockdown for two weeks starting on Wednesday.
These are the restrictions and mask mandates for all 50 states.
President Trump, in his first public address since losing re-election, made no acknowledgment of the rising coronavirus numbers. President-elect Joe Biden called the federal response to the surge “woefully lacking” and urged Mr. Trump to do more.
Pfizer
3. Emergency authorization for a coronavirus vaccine may come as soon as next month. Then it’s up to states and cities to inoculate and track as many as 20 million people by year’s end.
That could be a problem.
State and local officials say they are billions of dollars short of what will be needed to carry out the federal government’s complex plans. Congress has allocated $10 billion for drug companies to develop a coronavirus vaccine, but localities have received only a fraction of that amount for training, record-keeping and other costs for vaccinating citizens.
Here’s a look at Pfizer’s complicated plans for distribution, whose success hinges on an untested network of governments, companies and health workers.
The New York Times