Welcome to the Weekend Briefing. We’re covering a dangerous phase of the coronavirus, President Trump’s refusal to concede the election, and lessons from Michael J. Fox. |
 | | Lindsay D'Addato for The New York Times |
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1. The country’s coronavirus death toll is rising fast. |
More than 245,000 people have died from the coronavirus in the U.S., more than in any other country, and the pace is likely to accelerate in the coming weeks. One epidemiologist summed up the crisis in stark terms: “The months ahead are looking quite horrifying.” |
More than 1,000 Americans are dying of the coronavirus every day on average, a 50 percent increase in the past month. By some estimates, the U.S. may soon be on track to reach or exceed the spring peak, when as many as 2,200 people were dying from the coronavirus every day. Here’s the latest map and case count. |
The infection rate continues to shatter records: On Friday, public health officials reported more than 181,000 new cases across the country. It was only eight days earlier that the U.S. reported its first 100,000-case day. |
 | | Andrew Kelly/Reuters |
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Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, which has critically understaffed hospitals and the highest per capita rates for new coronavirus cases and deaths in the U.S., put in place a mask mandate and new limits on indoor dining. |
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico announced the nation’s most sweeping statewide measure of the fall season, issuing a two-week “stay at home” order to begin on Monday; Gov. Kate Brown of Oregon placed the state in a partial lockdown for two weeks starting on Wednesday. |
 | | Pfizer |
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3. Emergency authorization for a coronavirus vaccine may come as soon as next month. Then it’s up to states and cities to inoculate and track as many as 20 million people by year’s end. |
State and local officials say they are billions of dollars short of what will be needed to carry out the federal government’s complex plans. Congress has allocated $10 billion for drug companies to develop a coronavirus vaccine, but localities have received only a fraction of that amount for training, record-keeping and other costs for vaccinating citizens. |
 | | The New York Times |
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4. The election is over. Neither party got all it wanted. |
The election delivered a split decision, ousting President Trump but narrowing the Democratic majority in the House and perhaps preserving the Republican majority in the Senate. The results leave no mandate for the left or the right, but rather a muddled plea to move on from Trump-style chaos. |
Now, the two parties face perhaps the most unsettled and up-for-grabs electoral map the country has seen in a generation. |
The path President-elect Joe Biden took to get back to Washington offers a road map for how he’ll lead the nation. Here are four key elements of how Mr. Biden may approach governing come January. |
 | | Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times |
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5. The divisions that marked President Trump’s tenure show no signs of receding. |
Mr. Trump’s refusal to concede the election has inspired thousands of his supporters nationwide to protest President-elect Joe Biden’s victory as illegitimate. On Saturday, Mr. Trump waved to his supporters protesting the election results in Washington as he drove past them in his motorcade. Many in the crowds of thousands were not wearing masks. |
“My Democratic friends think Biden is going to heal everything and unify everyone,” said a resident of Mason, Texas. “They are deceived.” |
 | | Sai Aung Main/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
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6. It is hard to think of a human rights hero whose global prestige has tarnished so quickly as that of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. |
Yet even as Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi has squandered the moral authority that came with her Nobel Peace Prize, her popularity at home has endured. This week, her political party won yet another landslide in general elections. |
 | | Doug Mills/The New York Times |
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7. The Masters are heading into the last day of a tournament that looks — and sounds — very different from what we’ve come to expect. |
The swell of the tournament’s spectators has long provided a dramatic soundtrack to the Masters’ most memorable finishes at Augusta National Golf Club. But spectators are now barred because of the coronavirus, so golfers will play their final rounds a cappella. |
Dustin Johnson, the No. 1 player in the world, leads the board heading into Sunday. Tiger Woods, the defending champion, above, was knocked out of contention. |
 | | Celeste Sloman for The New York Times |
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8. Michael J. Fox can teach you something about living with uncertainty. |
After undergoing spinal surgery, learning to walk again and then badly fracturing his arm, the actor and activist, who has lived with Parkinson’s disease for nearly three decades, wondered if he had oversold the idea of hope in his first three books. “I thought, what have I been telling people?” he said. “I tell people it’s all going to be OK — and it might suck!” |
 | | Joel Goldberg for The New York Times |
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The days are growing colder and al fresco dining is here to stay, which means a liquid layer is in order. We asked three bartenders to share their favorite recipes for boozy hot chocolate to enjoy during what may turn out to be a long and possibly dark winter. |
Alcohol or not, “the sophistication comes with how geeky you are with the chocolate and how it’s prepared,” one bartender said. |
Even if holiday celebrations will be more subdued than usual, sparkling wine is always a good idea. Our wine critic suggests these three wines, each from a different place and made with different grapes. |
 | | Felix Schmitt/Contact Press Images-Focus |
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10. And finally, a plethora of great reads. |
The husband-and-wife team behind the leading coronavirus vaccine, above. CNN’s next-generation star. Eleven hotels to visit in your dreams. Read these stories and more in The Weekender. Don’t miss a beat and sign up for The Weekender newsletter. |
Your Weekend Briefing is published Sundays at 6:30 a.m. Eastern. |
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