Here are some significant developments:
- Life expectancy in the United States fell by a full year during the first half of 2020, a staggering decline that reflects the toll of the pandemic as well as a rise in deaths from drug overdoses, heart attacks and diseases that accompanied the outbreak, according to government data released Thursday.
- Lack of access to vaccines from their own country means U.S. diplomats abroad are accepting host government offers of their own supply of U.S.-made vaccines to get inoculated.
- The Department of Homeland Security has seized more than 11 million counterfeit N95 masks meant for front-line workers in recent weeks, including more than 1 million on Wednesday, officials said.
- About 33 percent of service members have declined voluntary coronavirus vaccinations, defense officials said Wednesday, acknowledging that more inoculations would better prepare the military for worldwide missions.
- Nearly 28 million cases have been reported in the United States with 489,000 deaths but the numbers of new cases continues to fall reaching rates now comparable to late October.
