A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 71.5 million people and killed over 1.6 million worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Here's how the news developed this week. All times Eastern.
Dec 11, 2020, 3:11 PM EST
White House suggests FDA chief's job on line if vaccine isn't authorized by end of day
In a Friday phone call, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows suggested to FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn that his job could be on the line if his agency doesn't authorize emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine by the end of the day, sources familiar with the matter said.
Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn speaks during a media briefing in the James Brady Briefing Room of the White House, Dec. 1, 2020.
Alex Brandon/AP
"We don’t comment on private conversations, but the chief regularly requests updates on progress toward a vaccine," a White House official told ABC News.
Vaccine authorization by the FDA is expected imminently, as early as today.
ABC News’ Katherine Faulders and John Santucci contributed to this report.
Dec 11, 2020, 2:54 PM EST
Fauci says he’ll get vaccinated publicly
Dr. Anthony Fauci told The New York Times that he'll “get vaccinated publicly, in the public space, so that people can see me getting vaccinated,” as soon as “the vaccine becomes available to me.”
A healthcare worker at LAC USC Medical Center tests a person at a drive through testing center during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease in Los Angeles, Dec. 10, 2020.
Mike Blake/Reuters
Former Presidents Barack Obama, George Bush and Bill Clinton have all offered to get vaccinated on camera.
The Food and Drug Administration as early as today could authorize emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
People wait inside vehicles at a drive-through COVID-19 testing site at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Dec. 10, 2020.
Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images
Dec 11, 2020, 2:38 PM EST
California reports more record highs
California reported 35,468 new cases on Friday and 12,940 hospitalizations, both record highs.
San Diego Ballet School students wear protective masks backstage during a performance of "The Nutcracker", presented by the San Diego Ballet in a drive-in performance at a parking lot, as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues in San Diego, Calif., Dec. 5, 2020.
Bing Guan/Reuters
Gov. Gavin Newsom has issued stay-at-home orders to regions if their intensive care unit capacity falls below 15%. The San Joaquin Valley, Southern California and the Greater Sacramento region all have fallen below that threshold, while the Bay Area and Northern California have not.
Hospital beds are set up in the practice facility at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, Calif., that is ready to receive patients as needed on Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020.
California Office of Emergency Services via AP
ABC News’ Matt Fuhrman contributed to this report.
Dec 11, 2020, 1:11 PM EST
US sets records for new cases, deaths, hospitalizations
The U.S. has set new records for the most deaths in one week, the highest number of new cases in a week and the most Americans hospitalized in one week, according to ABC News’ analysis of COVID Tracking Project data.
In the past seven days, the U.S. has reported more than 1.4 million COVID-19 cases -- roughly equivalent to 142 Americans testing positive for the virus every minute.
Daily case numbers have been on the rise for nearly three months, increasing nationally by 480% since mid-September.
Jane Wilkens takes a self-administered spit test at a COVID-19 testing facility in the Stillwater Armory National Guard Center on Dec. 10, 2020, in Stillwater, Minn.
Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
The U.S. broke a hospitalization record again on Thursday, surpassing 107,000 patients, a 6.5% rise from a week earlier. Fifteen states have reported record numbers since Sunday.
Medical staff perform a procedure in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at the United Memorial Medical Center on Dec. 10, 2020, in Houston.
Go Nakamura/Getty Images
With the U.S. is now averaging over 2,300 new coronavirus related deaths a day, more Americans are dying from COVID-19 every day than ever before.
“We are in the timeframe now that probably for the next 60 to 90 days we're going to have more deaths per day than we had at 9/11 or we had at Pearl Harbor,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield said Thursday at an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations.
In the 9/ll attacks, almost 3,000 Americans died, and more than 2,400 were killed when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941.
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.
