This is the inflection point, almost as big as the day the first vaccine was approved. This is the week a trickle of vaccines becomes a flood. This is the week where you can start to make plans for the summer, to know you can see your friends and families soon.

There's an apocryphal Churchill quote of "America will always do the right thing, after they've tried everything else." We crossed 500,000 deaths in America due to Covid this week. A crushing, awful milestone that's hard to fathom. Our government [at all levels] failed

The US had three days over 2 million doses this week. California had its' first day over 250,000 doses. 11.5% (!!!!) of the US has received their first dose. Our distribution system is finally dialed in; we're just supply limited. The good news

The big news this week: First day with 2 million doses administered!Case count continues to fall dramaticallyB.117 is rearing its ugly head, something to watchJ&J filed for their EUAFDA says that it will likely authorize variant vaccines under a fast

This is one of the best weeks we've had for Covid news in the entire pandemic. Anyone who suggests otherwise is either a clickbait fear monger or a moron. Top news from this week: In the US, our vaccination rate averaged 1.3 million

The holiday surge seems to be waning, signaling an end to the largest wave to date. As a country, we continue to improve the vaccine rollout. Within a few weeks, I suspect the limit will be vaccine availability, not our ability to get shots

A chaotic week when all we wanted was order. Miscommunications about the status of the vaccine stock and how roll out was occurring. Unconscionable failure at all levels of government. That said, it seems our current wave is ebbing, and we're finally making good

Once again, we're at the worst point in the pandemic. Hospitals in California are rationing care and running out of oxygen. Although we made stepwise progress in the vaccine roll out it has not been a good week, our leaders continue to fail us.

A friend texted me this week and asked, "Do you think we've reached the halfway point for US deaths?" After some thought, I responded, "No?" It's heartbreaking to think about another 350,000 people dying of Covid in the next year, but given where

The last week has been the worst for the pandemic by any measure in the US. On average, 2,400+ people died every day of Covid, and that's likely an undercount due to the Christmas holiday. A new, likely more contagious strain has been

And then there were two. This week the FDA issued a EUA for Moderna's mRNA vaccine. Similar to Pfizer, the vaccine was 95% effective. Both Moderna and Pfizer are some of the most effective vaccines we have. As the comic XKCD put it, "Statistics

Today's the day! Vaccine for Covid day! V-C Day! This morning trucks left the Pfizer factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan, packed with the first authorized Covid-19 vaccine. They headed to airports where the doses will be parted out nationwide to first responders starting tomorrow. A

The is the worst it's ever been. There are over 100,000 Americans hospitalized with Covid and no peak in cases in sight. If someone gets Covid today, they're more likely to die than ever despite improvements in treatments. Hospitals are reaching their limits.

The epidemic continues to rage all around us. The US currently has 90,000+ people hospitalized with Covid; during the last wave, we peaked at ~60,000. The upper limit of hospitalizations will likely be dictated by running out of beds. Many states are

Infections are higher than they've ever been, and the rate of new infections is increasing. We set records for hospitalizations and will soon set records on daily deaths. While there was good news on the vaccine front, it won't come fast enough to change

There's the expression that "it's darkest before the dawn," but that's not true. Right before dawn, it's already pretty light. There's even a term for it, The Golden Hour. It is, however, coldest before the dawn. If you've ever spent a night cold and

This week, the country's attention was focused clearly on the election, but Covid didn't slow down. Many states hit all-time highs for new infections and hospitalizations. Sometime this week, there will be over 60,000 people hospitalized with Covid, breaking our previous record. The

This week we set records for the largest number of new daily cases, and next week we'll cross more than 100,000 new daily cases detected. Given our current nationwide test capacity, there are probably 5-10 times as many cases per day as we're

This week's update is a real mixed bag. Digging into the infection spread this week, it's hard to be anything but depressed, knowing what's to come.  The good news this week is that the march towards a vaccine continues to make progress. It appears

A nationwide second wave is starting. Hospitalizations are beginning to trend up, which clearly shows this isn't a result of more testing. If this trend continues on Election Day, doctors and nurses from California and New York might be going to swing states to

Overall the US is not in a great place. California and the Northeast continue to perform well. Still, the south and midwest are reopening even among not good tested and poor trend lines. I fear that the next few weeks will be critical because