Exactly one year later, as Joe Biden took the presidential oath of office, he inherited a pandemic that has sickened and killed people — and caused anguish and hardship across the nation — at a scale not seen since the influenza pandemic of 1918.
More than 404,000 people have died — a quarter of them in the past month. Health departments reported more than 4,400 deaths Wednesday, a one-day record. More than 123,000 are hospitalized. The rollout of vaccines has been slow and chaotic. And the virus itself has proved to be a slippery foe, capable of mutating in ways that could make it all the more contagious.
“He’s inheriting a disaster,” Jeffrey Shaman, an epidemiologist at Columbia University, said of Biden.
Despite the bleak picture, infectious-disease experts say there is reason for hope. Vaccines have proved to be safe and effective and offer optimism for an end to the pandemic. ...
State and local leaders have been announcing few new restrictions and in some cases have loosened them, as they shift their focus to vaccinations.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) on Monday asked vaccine providers to use their supplies immediately rather than reserving vaccines for second doses. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) announced Monday a new public-private partnership to vaccinate as many as 45,000 residents daily, drawing on a wide range of groups — from labor unions to Starbucks to the National Guard — to set up mass vaccination sites.
Also on Monday, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) asked Pfizer whether the state could purchase vaccines from the drugmaker, mirroring a similar request by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D). It’s unclear whether Pfizer would sell vaccines to states directly, but the requests show a lack of confidence in the Trump administration’s handling of vaccine distribution.
Many states reimposed restrictions as cases started to rise after Thanksgiving, leaving few other measures to implement. In Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) allowed some parts of the state to reopen activities starting Monday, including partial indoor dining in central and northwest Illinois and museums, casinos and small indoor fitness classes in Chicago. ...
