A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel on Thursday recommended the approval of Moderna's coronavirus vaccine for emergency use in a 20-0 vote with one abstention.
Why it matters: This clears the way for the FDA to give the vaccine emergency authorization as soon as Friday, per the New York Times. The backing gives a boost to efforts to ramp up the country's immunization campaign.
San Francisco will enforce a travel quarantine effective Friday as California struggles to combat rising COVID-19 deaths and hospitalization rates.
Driving the news: Anyone “traveling, moving or returning to San Francisco from anywhere outside the Bay Area” will have to remain isolated for 10 days, Mayor London Breed announced on Thursday. The order will remain in place through at least Jan. 4.
An estimated 81,000 people died from a drug overdose between June 2019 and May 2020, the highest number ever recorded in a 12-month period, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released on Thursday.
Why it matters: The provisional data suggests the pandemic accelerated overdose deaths.
There were nearly 12,000 more deaths than expected among young adults between March and July, according to new research published Wednesday in JAMA.
Why it matters: Only 38% of deaths in this age group were attributed directly to COVID-19, which suggests that COVID-19–related mortality may have been under-detected.
States that voted for PresidentTrump tend to have high coronavirus caseloads compared to how much COVID content they read online, while the opposite is true of states that voted for President-elect Biden, according to exclusive data from social media management platform SocialFlow.
Why it matters: The trend highlights a widespread rejection of coronavirus news and information in states that supported Trump, even in areas where the virus has gotten particularly deadly.
The U.S. spent $3.8 trillion on health care last year, accounting for about 18% of the entire American economy, according to new federal data.
Why it matters: The U.S. has by far the most expensive health care system in the world, and every year it eats up a little more — from the federal government, states, employers and individuals.
The pace of new coronavirus infections leveled off over the past week, but the nationwide caseload is still dangerously high.
The big picture: Throughout the fall, new cases skyrocketed to record levels. It's good news that they're no longer skyrocketing, but holding steady at record or near-record highs is nothing to cheer about.
Interior Secretary David Bernhardt tested positive for COVID-19 Wednesday, but is "asymptomatic and will continue to work on behalf of the American people while in quarantine," his spokesperson Nicholas Goodwin said in an email.
The big picture: Bernhardt is following CDC guidelines, including identifying close contacts, per a statement. He spent the past two days in meetings with other Trump administration officials and last week attended a portrait unveiling for former secretary Ryan Zinke, along with several GOP senators, reports the Washington Post, which notes that Interior attorney Daniel Jorjani and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director Aurelia Skipwith also tested positive for the virus last month.
The U.S. Army announced in a statement Wednesday it will issue camouflage-print official Combat Cloth Face Coverings to new soldiers in the second quarter of 2021.
The big picture: The Army has largely been providing disposable or reusable, solid color face masks or other cloth coverings to soldiers to prevent against COVID-19, per the statement. 94,644 military members have tested positive for the coronavirus, with 878 hospitalized and 14 losing their lives to the virus, Department of Defense figures show.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) says in a new television ad he was wrong to not wear a mask at a September White House event and he ended up in the ICU with COVID-19 because of his decision.
What they're saying: "This message isn't for everyone. It's for all those people who refuse to wear a mask. You know lying in isolation in ICU for seven days I thought about how wrong I was to remove my mask at the White House," Christie says in the ad.
President-elect Biden plans to take the COVID-19 vaccine in public and he could receive a dose as early as next week, his transition team confirmed to Axios Wednesday.
Details: "I don't want to get ahead of the line, but I want to make sure we demonstrate to the American people that it is safe to take," Biden told reporters in Wilmington, Delaware, Wednesday. "When I do it, I'll do it publicly, so you can all witness my getting it done."
Pfizer vaccine vials contain extra doses that could boost America's supply by up to 40%, the Food and Drug Administration announced on Wednesday.
Driving the news: The U.S. has 100 million dosesof the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to inoculate 50 million people but declined to buy more doses earlier this year. The vaccine is first being administrated to frontline health care workers and nursing home residents and staff.
