VIRUS TODAY: Health experts warn against holiday gatherings
Here’s what’s happening Friday with the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S.:
THREE THINGS TO KNOW TODAY
— With some Americans now paying the price for what they did over Thanksgiving, health officials are warning people — begging them, even — not to make the same mistake during the Christmas and New Year’s season.
— Gov. Andrew Cuomo has ended indoor dining indefinitely in New York City as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations climb. As of Monday, only takeout orders and outdoor dining will be allowed in one of the world’s great cuisine capitals.
— The head of the Food and Drug Administration says his agency has told Pfizer that it “will rapidly work” to grant emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine following a positive recommendation by government advisers.
THE NUMBERS: Deaths in the U.S. have climbed to almost 2,260 per day on average, about equal to the peak seen in mid-April. New cases are running at about 195,000 a day, based on a two-week rolling average, a 16% increase from the day before Thanksgiving, according to an Associated Press analysis.
QUOTABLE: “The social and economic impact of the pandemic is enormous and growing. No vaccine can undo the damage that has already been done." — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, speaking Friday as the world faces its biggest recession in eight decades amid a rise in extreme poverty and a threat of famine.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: The pandemic is a “wake-up call” for governments to invest more in health care, said Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines.
ON THE HORIZON: Drugmakers GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi said Friday that their potential COVID-19 vaccine won’t be ready until late next year because they need to improve its...
