US: Over 11.8M Cases - 256K Dead - 7.1M Recovered
Worldwide: Over 56.7M Cases - 1.3M Dead - 39.5M Recovered

Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 225   Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 145
*Red indicates change in total deaths

CDC Urges Americans Not to Travel for Thanksgiving
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday recommended Americans against traveling for Thanksgiving to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Dr. Henry Walke, CDC's Covid-19 incident manager, said there is "no more important time than now for each and every American to redouble our efforts to watch our distance, wash our hands and, most importantly, wear a mask."

"CDC is recommending against travel during the Thanksgiving period," he said. "For Americans who decide to travel, CDC recommends doing so as safely as possible by following the same recommendations for everyday living."

Walke added that the CDC is concerned "about the transportation hubs." He said he's worried people won't be able to maintain social distancing while waiting in line, for example, to board busses and planes.

"One of our concerns is that as people over the holiday season get together, they may actually be bringing infections with them to that small gathering and not even know it," he said, adding that 30% to 40% of spread is driven by people without symptoms. cnbc.com

Business Insurance for the Next Pandemic
New York retailer asks Congress to approve Pandemic Risk Insurance Act
A New York City gift shop owner testifying on behalf of the National Retail Federation today called on Congress to approve legislation that would help businesses obtain insurance coverage for future pandemics.

Ann Cantrell, owner of Annie's Blue Ribbon General Store in Brooklyn, testified today before the House Financial Services Committee during an online subcommittee hearing on the Pandemic Risk Insurance Act. Developed with input from NRF and sponsored by Representative Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., the legislation is modeled on the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, which was enacted after the attacks of September 11, 2001, made it difficult for businesses to obtain insurance coverage against acts of terrorism.

The new measure would require that insurance companies offer business interruption policies that cover pandemics but would create a federal backstop program that would reimburse insurers when claims related to a pandemic or epidemic exceed $250 million nationwide.

Covered businesses would have to demonstrate that they had suffered significant business interruption with a sharp decline in revenue. Coverage would also be required for large gatherings, ranging from sporting events to concerts to conventions, that are canceled. The program would cover only future pandemics, not claims from the current COVID-19 pandemic, and would be capped at $750 billion. nrf.com

Virus Cases Rise, but Hazard Pay for Retail Workers Doesn't
With coronavirus cases rising across the country, retailers are preparing for another rush from shoppers worried about new lockdowns and pandemic shortages. But many retail workers, heralded as heroes during the first wave of the pandemic, are not being provided with the same level of bonuses and raises this time, even as the health risks for them increase. Even as some companies have announced new hazard pay in recent days, some industry observers say many retailers are not sharing enough of the profits they have earned during the pandemic with their workers, but are instead benefiting shareholders through stock buybacks.

Amazon, which said last month that its quarterly profit had increased nearly 200 percent, ended its $2-an-hour pay raise for workers earlier this year and then provided a pandemic-related bonus in June, but a spokeswoman said no new hazard pay was planned.

Walmart, which reported another big increase in quarterly sales on Tuesday, had paid a series of special cash bonuses, but the company has not raised wages broadly as a way to reward workers during the pandemic.

The grocery chain Kroger offered raises at the start of the pandemic and bonuses through mid-June, but those have ended. Employees nationwide have staged protests outside stores asking Kroger to reinstate the pay, especially given its booming business - sales are soaring, and it recently said its 2021 business results "will be higher than we would have expected prior to the Covid-19 pandemic." This week, the company told workers that they would receive discounts at its fuel centers and a $100 store credit as a "holiday appreciation." nytimes.com

COVID vaccine logistics to start as sprint, turn into marathon
About 40 million doses of two leading COVID-19 vaccines could be available for nationwide distribution by the end of December, with similar amounts metered out each month afterward in a carefully synchronized manner to ensure all jurisdictions have a predictable supply, Operation Warp Speed officials said at a press conference Wednesday.

Vaccine candidates from Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and Moderna (NASDQ: MRNA) are expected to soon be authorized for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after the companies this week said they were effective 95% of the time at preventing coronavirus symptoms.

The federal task force coordinating the nationwide immunization campaign has been working closely with jurisdictions to learn where they want vaccines to be shipped. Distribution is scheduled to begin within 24 hours of FDA authorization.

"The governors and the states will figure out the plan and we are ready to execute as we've been working on for six months, doing numerous tabletop exercises and now extending it into actual rehearsals of how to move the product from fill finish sites to distribution centers down to actual administration sites," Army Gen. Gus F. Perna, chief operations officer of Operation Warp Speed (OWS), said. freightwaves.com

Bribing Anti-Vaxxers?
Economist: Pay people $1,000 to take coronavirus vaccine & avoid 'a lot of angst'
While the initial wave of free vaccines will most likely go to the country's most vulnerable populations, reaching herd immunity to effectively slow the spread of the virus requires that about 70% of the population be vaccinated. How to ensure the U.S. reaches that level?

The idea of paying Americans to take the vaccine has been floated as a way to achieve that 70% goal. Robert Litan, an economist who served in President Clinton's administration, first proposed that the government spend $275 billion to pay Americans $1,000 each to reach 80% herd immunity in August. At that time, the prospect of a more than 90% effective vaccine seemed far fetched. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he would "settle" for a vaccine that is 70% to 75% effective.

Paying people $1,000 to take the coronavirus vaccine is the price of returning to a "normal" post-pandemic life, Litan told Yahoo Finance. yahoo.com

NYC to Close Public Schools Again as Virus Cases Rise
New York City's entire public school system will shut on Thursday, signaling that a second wave of the coronavirus has arrived as the city is still struggling to revive from its devastating spring, when it was a global epicenter of the pandemic. The shutdown was prompted by the city's reaching a 3 percent test positivity rate over a seven-day rolling average, the most conservative threshold of any big school district in the country. Schools in the nation's largest system, with 1.1 million students and 1,800 schools, have been open for in-person instruction for just under eight weeks.

It was a major disappointment for Mayor Bill de Blasio, who was the first big-city mayor in the country to reopen school buildings. Moving to all-remote instruction will disrupt the education of many of the roughly 300,000 children who have been attending in-person classes and create child care problems for parents who count on their children being at school for at least part of the week. nytimes.com

As U.S. Reaches 250,000 Deaths From COVID-19, A Long Winter Is Coming

L.A. officials are unsure how or why COVID cases are skyrocketing. It's a huge handicap

Washington bar refuses to shutdown, holds dine-in peaceful protest

Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine shows robust immune response among older adults