The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the U.S. reached a new peak of 73,014 on Monday, per the COVID Tracking Project.

Driving the news: Governors in several states announced new restrictions to combat the wave of rapid COVID-19 spread, with fears that the numbers will continue to accelerate as people gather for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Hurricane Iota is slamming Nicaragua as a Category 5 storm and is "expected to make landfall very soon with extreme winds and life-threatening storm surge and flash flooding impact," per the National Hurricane Center.

Why it matters: The first Category 5 hurricane of this year's record-setting Atlantic hurricane season was bringing "catastrophic winds life-threatening storm surge, and torrential rainfall" over Central America, as the Western Eyewall of the storm moved over Nicaragua, the NHC said.

Nearly 90,000 sexual abuse claims were submitted against the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) ahead of a Monday deadline in the organization's bankruptcy case.

Why it matters: The number of sex abuse cases is still likely underreported. Paul Mones, a lawyer who has been working on Boy Scouts cases for nearly two decades, told Axios he expects the total number of reported cases to be "closer" to 100,000. He's calling for a congressional inquiry into the scandal.

The vaccine breakthroughs from Pfizer and Moderna are incredible news, for a small sliver of the world.

The big picture: Wealthy countries like the U.S. have secured their access to those vaccines and others and are increasingly confident they'll begin mass vaccination this spring. But according to research from Duke University's Global Health Institute, there likely won't be enough doses to cover the entire global population until 2024.

Los Angeles-based private equity firm Shamrock Capital is the mystery buyer of Taylor Swift's master recordings for her first six albums.

Between the lines: Swift has been feuding with music magnate Braun since he acquired her former record label, Big Machine, and its assets last year. It's unclear if this new transaction will satisfy Swift, who did not participate.

Tesla will join the S&P 500, the index's committee said on Monday.

Why it matters: After years of ineligibility, one of the most valuable U.S. companies by market cap (and the most valuable automaker in the world) is joining the main benchmark of the stock market as its biggest new member ever.

Moderna has joined Pfizer in approaching the vaccine finish line, with a vaccine candidate the company says was 94.5% effective at preventing infection. Pfizer's candidate, announced last week, was over 90%.

Why it matters: There could be two U.S. vaccines in distribution before the New Year. This is a reason for Americans to buckle down for one last stretch to help save lives.

Airbnb on Monday filed for a $1 billion initial public offering, which is expected to price in December.

Financials: Airbnb reports nearly a $700 million net loss on $2.5 billion in revenue for the first nine months of 2020, versus a $322 million net loss on $3.7 billion in revenue for the year earlier period. But it also reports $219 million in profits for the third quarter of 2020, as bookings rebounded.

The number of hate crime murders hit a record high in 2019, while overall hate crime incidents rose by nearly 3% last year, according to the FBI's annual hate crime report, published on Monday.

The big picture: The data coincides with a growing number of white nationalist hate groups, which rose by 55% between 2017 and 2019, per the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) watchdog group.

1. Vaccine: Moderna says its vaccine candidate is nearly 95% effective — Coronavirus sparks competition in the vaccine market.
2. Health: Health care workers at a breaking point — U.S. reports 1 million cases in 6 days — Fauci says transition delay harmful to public health.
3. States: The coronavirus is now a rural threat — Washington state announces new measures to combat "raging" pandemic —Michigan imposes restrictions on schools and restaurants as cases surge.
4. Politics: Biden adviser: "We do not need" a nationwide shelter-in-place order.
5. 🎧 Podcast: Moderna's chief medical officer on its blockbuster vaccine news.

Moderna Therapeutics today reported a 94.5% efficacy for its COVID-19 vaccine, which doesn't need to be stored at the same ultra-cold temperatures as does a similar vaccine developed by Pfizer. It also said short-term safety concerns, such as headaches and injection site soreness, self-resolved within days, and that it could have 20 million doses available by year-end.

Axios Re:Cap speaks with Moderna chief medical officer Tal Zaks about the new data, distribution, politics, and how it was preparing for this moment even before COVID-19 was discovered.

Airbnb will flip its IPO filing on Monday afternoon, setting itself up to go public before year-end. [Update: It filed]

Why it matters: This would cap off a resilient rebound for a company that many left for dead after the pandemic hit. As a source close to the company tells me: "Everyone knows Airbnb had a good Q3, but people may be surprised by just how good it was."

America is facing its worst rate of new coronavirus infections — and widespread sickness is expected to be compounded by economic pain from the necessary lockdown measures, much like we saw earlier this year.

Why it matters: What's different now is the lack of near-term hope for stimulus as the country tries to control the virus — at a time when economists say it's critical to mitigate fallout for the unemployed, businesses and municipalities.

Moderna said Monday that its coronavirus vaccine candidate is 94.5% effective in fighting the virus, per an initial analysis released by the company.

Why it matters: The Moderna vaccine — alongside Pfizer's similarly effective candidate — provides another dash of hope that the pandemic currently raging across the world could be tamed by next year.

Silicon Valley's platforms are relieved to see Election Day slip into the past and feel they did a much better job than in 2016 at deflecting foreign meddling and disinformation, even as critics continue to point out new failures and President Trump's refusal to concede has laid new challenges in their path.

Driving the news: With online polarization deepening after a close election, the CEOs of Facebook and Twitter will face hostile Senate questioning Tuesday from both sides of the aisle.

President-elect Joe Biden will face constraints of both politics and time when it comes to pursuing his aggressive climate-change agenda.

Driving the news: Biden will enter a White House after four years of President Trump rolling back climate policies and time running out to substantively address the problem.

The largest free trade area in the world came into existence over the weekend — and the U.S. was not even invited.

Why it matters: For the first time in living memory, the hegemon at the center of a major global free trade agreement is not the U.S.

Thanksgiving will be a big test for colleges with students on campus.

The big picture: Some schools, including the University of South Carolina, Syracuse University and Emory University, plan to end in-person instruction ahead of the holiday, while others are asking students not to go home.

This wave of coronavirus infections is hitting rural areas especially hard. While big cities have more total cases, rural areas are seeing more cases per capita — and they're at greater risk of running out of hospital capacity as cases pile up.

Why it matters: What started as an urban problem in the spring is now everyone's problem.

NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Shannon Walker, Victor Glover and Japan's Soichi Noguchi are on their way to the International Space Station.

Why it matters: The crewed launch marks the second time SpaceX has launched people to orbit for NASA and the mission is expected to be the first of many regular flights like this to the space station.

The U.S. recorded more than 1 million new COVID-19 cases in six days as the country surpassed 11 million infections Sunday, Johns Hopkins data shows.

The big picture: Cases, hospitalizations, and deaths from the coronavirus are accelerating across the country, as more governors and local officials announce new measures to try and curb the pandemic's spread.