Your Daily Roundup for November 23rd

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 12 million cases of COVID-19:

As the virus soars, the U.S. hit two more grim milestones: Total cases have now surpassed 12 million and the country reported nearly 200,000 new cases in a single day on Friday. With many expected to defy CDC recommendations to stay home over Thanksgiving this week, the virus will only surge further.

As it went from 10 million to 11 million cases, the U.S. added a million more in just six days -- a staggering proliferation of the disease. Over 1,000 hospitals across all 50 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico report critical shortages on staff as frontline workers implore Americans to stay home and stop the spread.

The voters decided (20 days ago) but the Trump campaign legal team continues its dangerous misinformation effort:

Despite a pandemic, unprecedented voter suppression and misinformation and disinformation online, voters turned out in record numbers in the 2020 Election to put their stamp on democracy. In Michigan, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris carried the state by over 155,000 votes -- 15 times the margin of victory that President Trump earned over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016. But President Trump, who still has refused to concede the race, is waging an all-out legal and misinformation battle to overturn the will of the voters in key states, including Michigan. Today, all eyes are on Michigan as the Michigan State Board of Canvassers meets about certifying their election results. Pennsylvania, which Biden carried and has, too, been the subject of failed legal disputes by Trump, will certify their results today. This comes after Georgia, a state Biden narrowly won by over 12,000 votes, certified its results after a hand recount last week. 

More positive news on the vaccine front:

Though public health experts caution that we as a nation are months away from the wide and equitable availability of a COVID-19 vaccine, AstraZeneca became the third pharmaceutical company today to announce that based on early analysis of its late-stage clinical trial its vaccine was protective against COVID-19. The company, which is developing the vaccine with the University of Oxford, demonstrated that its vaccine was 70.4% effective in preventing the contraction of COVID-19. After Pfizer and Moderna, which both produced results that showed the virus was 95% effective and safe, it is the latest positive development that there will be safe and effective vaccines to prevent the spread of the pandemic.