German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday the country will go into a strict lockdown, shutting down all nonessential stores, services and schools until Jan. 10, CNN reports.
Driving the news: Europe's case count and death toll continue to climb. Germany hit a record number of daily deaths last week — 598 — which led to Merkel pleading with the nation to stay home and limit interactions over the holidays.
Some states expect to make cuts to essential parts of their budgets — like education, transportation and health care — in order to pay for coronavirus vaccine distribution, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Why it matters: States say they need billions that they don't have to set up vaccination clinics, ensure storage capacity, organize community outreach and hire medical workers.
The first U.S. batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine left a Pfizer facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on Sunday, per CNN, days after the FDA issued an emergency use authorization for the inoculation.
Driving the news: UPS and FedEx will deliver 2.9 million doses of the vaccine to about 150 locations in all 50 states by Monday and to another 450 sites between Tuesday and Wednesday, said Army Gen. Gustave Perna, who is with Operation Warp Speed.
A CDC panel voted 11 to 0 to recommend Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate for people 16 years and older on Saturday.
Why it matters: The recommendation moves the U.S. one step closer to immunizing Americans after the virus has killed more than 296,000 people in the country.
People used emergency lodging across the U.S. more than 1 million times in 2020, over four times the annual average during the past decade, the American Red Cross said.
Why it matters: The figure is a testament to how the COVID-19 pandemic, active wildfires, a relentless hurricane season and other natural disasters wracked the country this year.
The Biogen conference held in Boston in late February has been linked to more than 333,000 coronavirus cases, a new study in the journal Science says, calling the two-day function a "superspreader event."
Why it matters: The study estimates that the conference was behind 1.9% of all U.S. cases since the pandemic got underway, spreading to 29 states. It illustrates how a single-site event with attendees who traveled from afar can spur a national outbreak.
Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine, which was authorized for emergency use on Friday night, is expected to arrive throughout the U.S. by Monday to administer to health care workers, U.S. officials said Saturday.
Why it matters: The administration green-lighting shipments and distribution this weekend comes as the U.S. topped more than 3,000 deaths a day — more than 9/11 or D-Day.
South Korea on Saturday reported its highest daily COVID-19 case count since the pandemic got underway, with 950 new cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
By the numbers: South Korea has a total of 41,736 coronavirus accumulated cases and 578 confirmed deaths, and the number of daily cases has been increasing since November.
The Food and Drug Administration has issued an emergency use authorization for Pfizer-BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine, the agency announced on Friday night.
Why it matters: It's a major milestone in the U.S. fight against COVID-19, clearing the way for the initial rollout of a vaccine that has been found to be 95% effective with no serious side effects.
Public schools would have to spend between $55 and $442 per student on average to implement COVID-19 safety precautions for in-person classes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calculated on Friday.
Why it matters: Schools have already spent millions to re-open and close — hitting many districts with pandemic-strained budgets particularly hard.
