Your Daily Roundup for November 16th

Good morning. As the COVID-19 pandemic takes a toll on life in America, our team at Future Majority is tracking the latest updates: 

The U.S. has surpassed 11 million confirmed cases of COVID-19:

In a rapid acceleration of the spread of COVID-19, the U.S. has now exceeded 11 million confirmed cases of the virus. It took only 6 days to add a million cases from 10 to 11 million. It took 10 days to surge from 9 to 10 million and two weeks to go from 8 to 9 million. In other words - the virus is spreading at an exponential rate.

While President Trump continues to focus on the election he lost to President-elect Joe Biden with a series of lawsuits that have all failed, a lack of national strategy to mitigate this public health crisis has led to a patchwork of responses in the states. Governors across the country have taken various measures to control the virus, from closing bars and restaurants to implementing curfews to allowing for only virtual learning for high school and college students.

Moderna’s vaccine has shown early promising results:

The pharmaceutical company Moderna announced that its COVID-19 vaccine was 94.% effective in early results of its large clinical trial that is still underway. Moderna is now the second company after Pfizer to report out early data on the efficacy of its vaccine, which similarly showed strong evidence. While the evidence is promising -- and surprising even to researchers on the case -- it will be months before a vaccine will be produced and made widely available in the U.S. and globally.

The Election Results have produced calls in every state:

The Associated Press has now called the presidential race in all 50 states after declaring Joe Biden the winner of Georgia -- the first Democrat to win since 1992 -- and Donald Trump the winner of North Carolina. The final projected Electoral College tally: 306-232. Joe Biden is closing in on 51% share of the vote to Trump’s 47.3% as remaining votes are counted in a few states.