"The next three to six weeks at minimum ... are our COVID weeks," Dr. Michael Osterholm, a member of Biden's coronavirus advisory board, told CNN. He urged Americans to do their utmost to slow the contagion by limiting social interactions to members of their immediate households, and above all, "No Christmas parties." In California's San Joaquin Valley agricultural region, less than 2% of intensive care unit (ICU) beds remain unoccupied, the California Department of Public Health reported on Thursday. Many Americans, however, have resisted public health directives to wear face coverings in public and avoid large crowds. "It's not going to be like a light switch on and off," said Dr. Mark Mulligan, director of the NYU Langone Health Vaccine Center and a lead investigator for the Pfizer trials.
