Driving the news: Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a three-week stay-at-home order on Thursday that would go into effect in regions with less than 15% ICU capacity.
Russia began distributing its coronavirus vaccine on Saturday, making Sputnik V available at 70 different locations around Moscow.
Driving the news: The immunization effort comes days after Russian President Vladimir Putin directed officials to begin large-scale vaccination against the virus, despite widespread criticism from scientists worldwide over the Sputnik V vaccine's safety and effectiveness.
World Health Organization officials warned Friday that although it's rare, recent data suggests some people may become reinfected with the coronavirus as their antibody response diminishes, CNBC reports.
Driving the news: Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies program, said data has emerged that suggests "protection may not be lifelong" for people who have had the coronavirus, and "therefore we may see reinfections begin to occur."
The number of Americans who say they plan to get vaccinated for the coronavirus increased between September and November, according to a Pew Research Center study published this week.
The big picture: As vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna await emergency approval, NIAID director Anthony Fauci said this week he expects the general population to have access to the vaccines U.S regulators are considering by April. Fauci noted that if the "overwhelming majority" of Americans embraced coronavirus immunization by the end of the second quarter.
A dim, gloomy scene seems increasingly set for Joe Biden's debut as president.
The state of play: He'll address — virtually — a virus-weary nation, with record-high daily coronavirus deaths, a flu season near its peak, restaurants and small businesses shuttered by wintertime sickness and spread.
New Mexico hospitals may soon move to "crisis standards of care," allowing providers to ration care depending on a patient's likelihood of survival, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) said in a Washington Post interview.
The state of play: "New Mexico has consistently won praise among public health experts for its aggressive approach to combating the virus," the Post writes. But hospitals across the state have been operating at or near capacity recently, with many close to running out of ICU and regular beds, the Santa Fe New Mexican reports.
Iran's coronavirus death toll has topped 50,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Why it matters: The grim milestone comes two weeks after the country imposed restrictions in its major cities, which aimed to slow the spread of the virus and daily death toll.
The Trump administration is extending federal student loan relief, which includes a pause on payments and interest accrual, through Jan. 31, the Department of Education announced Friday.
Why it matters: Payments have been paused since March due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the relief was set to expire on Dec. 31 . The relief measures, which also include the suspension of collections of defaulted federal student loans, have helped mitigate some of the pandemic's negative consequences for millions of borrowers.
The big picture: California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a three-week stay-at-home order on Thursday that would go into effect in regions with less than 15% ICU capacity. Despite the Bay Area’s current 25.3% ICU capacity, health officials from Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Santa Clara, San Francisco and the city of Berkeley are moving ahead with a shelter-in-place mandate in the hopes of reducing risk.
Next year is "going to be catastrophic" in terms of worldwide humanitarian crises, World Food Program executive director David Beasley warned on Friday, per Reuters.
Driving the news: The stark outlook comes as many countries contend with not only the coronavirus pandemic, but also possible famine, economic instability, conflict and other humanitarian crises. A record 235 million people will need humanitarian assistance and protection next year, a nearly 40% increase from 2020, the UN projected earlier this week
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is reviewing two emergency use authorization requests for COVID-19 vaccines, with an outside advisory committee scheduled to meet next Thursday to review data from Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.
Axios Re:Cap digs in with former FDA commissioner Rob Califf about the EUA process, the science and who should make the final call.
The CDC is urging “universal face mask use” for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began, citing recent case spikes as the U.S. has entered a phase of “high-level transmission” before winter officially begins.
Why it matters: Daily COVID-related deaths across the U.S. hit a new record on Wednesday. Face coverings have been shown to increase protection of the wearer and those around them, despite some Americans' reluctance to use them.
On the Season 3 finale of “Axios on HBO," Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar discusses how history will remember the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic, and claims the Trump administration has "saved hundreds of thousands, if not millions of lives." To date, COVID-19 has claimed 276,980 lives in the U.S.
Catch the full interview on Monday, Dec. 7 at 11 p.m. ET/PT on all HBO platforms.
The government's top infectious-disease expert Anthony Fauci said Friday that he "absolutely" will accept the offer from President-elect Joe Biden to serve as his chief medical adviser, telling NBC's "Today" that he said yes "right on the spot."
Why it matters: President Trump had a contentious relationship with Fauci, who has been forced during the pandemic to correct many of the president's false claims about the coronavirus. Biden, meanwhile, has emphasized the importance of "listening to the scientists" throughout his campaign and transition.
President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris sat down with CNN on Thursday for their first joint interview since the election.
The big picture: In the hour-long segment, the twosome laid out plans for responding to the pandemic, jump-starting the economy and managing the transition of power, among other priorities.
GOP Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah) told CNN Thursday that President Trump's lack of leadership during the coronavirus pandemic is "a great human tragedy."
Driving the news: Trump has largely stayed silent on the country's worsening pandemic in recent weeks, even as the U.S. experienced a record daily death toll and hospitalizations surpassed 100,000 for the first time. Instead, the president has focused much of his public commentary on pushing baseless claims of widespread election fraud.
Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government's top infectious-disease expert, on Thursday walked back his earlier comments criticizing British regulators over their recent approval the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
What he's saying: "I have a great deal of confidence in what the U.K. does both scientifically and from a regulator standpoint," Dr Fauci told the BBC on Thursday after saying earlier in the day that U.K. regulators "rushed" their approval of the vaccine.
