Friday December 18, 2020 12:00-1:00 ET As the pandemic surges to dangerous, record-breaking levels, we are launching the first in a series of bi-weekly webcast briefings on the CRC this coming Friday at noon. The series will provide timely, accessible updates on the state of the pandemic and public health responses, and will offer opportunities for live Q&A with leading experts from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus topped 300,000 Monday just as the country began dispensing COVID-19 shots in a monumental campaign to conquer the pandemic.

Health care workers around the country rolled up their sleeves for the first COVID-19 shots Monday as hope that an all-out vaccination effort can defeat the coronavirus smacked up against the heartbreaking reality of 300,000 U.S. deaths.

As coronavirus deaths soar across the country, deaths in communities that are home to colleges have risen faster than the rest of the nation.

Over the next six months, the U.S. hopes to distribute enough doses of the coronavirus vaccine to reach the arm of every American.

Reducing the spread of COVID-19 over the next several months — while vaccines are being distributed — has the potential to save more than 100,000 American lives.

Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine candidate offers some protection after the first dose, with nearly full protection after the second dose.

Dr. William Moss, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins University, encouraged anyone who has already tested positive for COVID-19 to get vaccinated once a vaccine becomes available.

With the arrival of December, it's now clear the winter surge of the pandemic is materializing in many of the ways that the country's top scientists and health care leaders feared.

Though the agency has issued all of the recommendations in earlier guidance, the new summary represents the first time the C.D.C. published a multi-pronged list of strategies for states, a sort of battle plan.