Yesterday, the President-elect introduced three objectives for his first 100 days in office. First, he'll ask all Americans to voluntarily wear masks (and will enforce mask-wearing where he can under the law, like in federal buildings and on interstate planes, trains and buses). Second, he promised 100 million vaccines would be administered, and third, he committed to reopening most schools in the country.
On top of all that, he introduced many key nominees and appointees for his health care team—tough jobs in the throes of a worsening pandemic, but crucial ones to meet the moment. "They're going to be ready on day one to spare not a single effort to get this pandemic under control so we can get back to work, get back to our lives, get back to our loved ones," Biden said.
Here's more about Biden's health picks:
Xavier Becerra for health secretary: Currently California's attorney general, Becerra, if confirmed, would lead the Department of Health and Human Services and would be the first Latino to do so. He does not have much health care and management experience, the Associated Press reports, but he's a fierce defender of the Affordable Care Act and has fought against the Trump administration's efforts to overturn it.
Dr. Vivek Murthy for surgeon general: Murthy served as surgeon general under President Obama and Biden wants him back in the job. In November, he was named co-chair of Biden's COVID-19 advisory board.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a position that doesn't require Senate confirmation: Walensky is chief of Massachusetts General Hospital's Division of Infectious Diseases and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "Government service was never part of my plan," she said. "But every doctor knows that when a patient is coding"—or requiring emergency attention—"your plans don't matter. You answer the code. And when the nation is coding—if you are called to serve, you serve."
Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith as COVID-19 equity task force chair: Nunez-Smith, an associate professor of internal medicine, public health and management at Yale University, was appointed by Biden to lead a new White House task force on health equity. Her appointment comes as COVID-19 disproportionately ravages marginalized populations. In November, Nunez-Smith was named co-chair of Biden's COVID-19 advisory board.
Dr. Anthony Fauci as chief medical advisor for COVID-19: Fauci, by now a household name, has served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984. He will remain in that role and will also serve as Biden's chief medical advisor for COVID-19. "Almost before I asked, he said yes," Biden said.
Jeffrey Zients as coronavirus response coordinator: Zients will become the Biden Administration's COVID-19 czar and lead the government's pandemic response. He served as head of President Obama's National Economic Council and is the co-chair of Biden's transition team. Zients helped fix technical problems with Healthcare.gov under the Obama administration, CNN reports; after leaving, he served on Facebook's board of directors, invested in a deli business and served as CEO of the holding company Cranemere.
Living through the COVID-19 pandemic is hard. TIME's new advice column is here to help. Trying to decide if that dinner party is safe to attend? Fighting through your quarantine fatigue? Our health reporters will consult experts who can help find a safe and practical solution. Send us your pandemic dilemmas at covidquestions@time.com, and we will choose some to answer in a new column on TIME.com.
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
Vaccine Tracker
After two of the first thousands of people who received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in the U.K. Tuesday developed allergic reactions, the U.K. regulatory agency for medicines warned that people with a "significant" history of allergic reactions to vaccines, medicine or food should not be given the shot, my colleague Billy Perrigo reports. It should also not be administered where resuscitation facilities are not available, the advice says. Both of the affected vaccine recipients had histories of allergic reactions and have since recovered.
A Chinese COVID-19 vaccine is effective both at preventing illness due to infection, and preventing infection itself, the United Arab Emirates' Ministry of Health and Prevention said today. The agency said that it has reviewed interim Phase 3 trial data from drugmaker Sinopharm CNBG and that it shows "100% effectiveness in preventing moderate and severe cases of the disease" without serious safety issues, and 86% effectiveness against infection, (though the trial data has not been made publicly available). The UAE granted the vaccine emergency use authorization in September for front line workers.
The U.S. Department of Defense expects to receive about 44,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine early next week, said Thomas McCaffery, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, according to CNN. The vaccine will be "voluntary for everyone," said Army Lt. Gen. Ronald Place, the Defense Health Agency director; the doses will go to members of the military in the U.S., Europe and Asia, with senior leaders and health care providers given priority.
The Global Situation
More than 67.5 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 1 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 1.5 million people have died. On Dec. 7, there were 517,473 new cases and 8,477 new deaths confirmed globally.
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
And here is every country with over 1 million confirmed cases:
While speaking with lawmakers today, German Chancellor Angela Merkel pleaded with citizens to keep their social circles small over the holidays, and asked local leaders to implement stricter measures, the New York Timesreports. "I'm sorry, from the bottom of my heart, I am really sorry," she said in Parliament. "But if the price we pay is 590 deaths a day then I have to say this is not acceptable." As other European countries like Belgium and France enforce tighter restrictions, German states have resisted, hampering a strong national response and enabling a recent surge in infections. More than 1.2 million people in Germany have contracted the coronavirus so far.
All of the passengers of the Quantum of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean cruise ship that left Singapore on Dec. 7 for an out-and-back voyage, tested negative for COVID-19 before they embarked. But once on board, an 83-year-old man developed diarrhea and tested positive, the Straits Timesreports. The "cruise to nowhere" returned to port today, a day early; close contacts of the passenger will be sent to a government quarantine facility.
Iran plans to import 42 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from abroad, a spokesperson for the Iranian Food and Drug Administration said yesterday, according to CNN. Tehran pre-ordered nearly 17 million shots through COVAX, a World Health Organization-led group seeking to increase access to COVID-19 vaccines around the world, and it's trying to strike deals with four countries to order more doses once they're approved in Iran. The international vaccines will be reserved for vulnerable groups, including health care workers, the infirm and the elderly, while a domestically-produced vaccine will be used for the general public.
The Situation in the U.S.
The U.S. had recorded nearly 15 million coronavirus cases as of 1 a.m. E.T. today. More than 283,000 people have died. On Dec. 7, there were 192,299 new cases and 1,404 new deaths confirmed in the U.S.
Yesterday, hospitalizations in the U.S. hit at a record high: 104,600 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19. Hospitals have become so flooded with these patients that children's hospitals in places like St. Louis and Buffalo are taking the rare step of accepting adults, the New York Times reports. However, hospitalizations are also rising among children, so there's less room to spare than might otherwise be the case.
A study published today in the journal Nature Communications finds that men with COVID-19 are nearly three times more likely to require admission to intensive care than women, and are 1.3 times more likely to die from the illness than women. Both sexes were equally likely to become infected. Differences in immune responses may be one reason for the outcome disparities, say the researchers, who analyzed more than 3 million global COVID-19 cases.
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of Dec. 9, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
How to Tell Your Kids Why the Holidays Are Different This Year
This usually festive month will be different than normal, and it can be tough to explain that to your children. My colleague Belinda Luscombe polled experts on how to talk with kids about scaled-down celebrations, and how to make the holidays happy in a year when so much wasn't. Read more here.
Remembering a Couple Who Died from COVID-19 at the Same Time
Patricia and LD McWaters, a couple for nearly 50 years, did everything together to the very end, dying of COVID-19 at exactly the same minute on Nov. 24 in Jackson, Michigan. Both fell ill after dining in a restaurant. Before LD died, "he said, ‘I don’t think people understand just how terrible this really is,'" his daughter told my colleague Jasmine Aguilera. Read more here.
Remote Learning Is Failing U.S. Kids, Study Finds
By the end of the school year, students in the U.S. will be up to nine months behind in math because of the pandemic, and students of color up to 12 months behind, a report this week found. My colleague Katie Reilly collected other data supporting this unfortunate learning loss, and the results are clear: remote learning is not always comparable to in-person instruction. Read more here.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com. If you have specific questions you'd like us to answer, please send them to covidquestions@time.com.
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Today's newsletter was written by Mandy Oaklander and edited by Alex Fitzpatrick.
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