Coronavirus updates: 1st vaccines now on the way to all 50 US states

Two main trucks left the Pfizer facility on Sunday morning, the company said.

Last Updated: December 8, 2020, 2:52 PM EST

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.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news developed this week. All times Eastern.
Dec 08, 2020, 2:07 PM EST

Massachusetts enacts new restrictions as cases, hospitalizations rise

Massachusetts will roll back its reopening plans on Sunday as cases and hospitalizations rise in the aftermath of Thanksgiving, Gov. Charlie Baker said.

People wait in line to get a coronavirus test at a COVID testing site outside of Chelsea City Hall in Chelsea, Mass., Dec. 3, 2020.
Boston Globe via Getty Images

A nurse writes a note to communicate with staff outside the room of a Covid-19 positive patient at UMass Memorial Hospital in Worcester, Mass., Dec. 4, 2020.
Allison Dinner/AFP via Getty Images

Capacity will be reduced from 50% to 40% in facilities including offices, gyms, places of worship and retail stores, Baker said.

In offices, people must wear masks when they're not alone, and at gyms, customers must wear masks at all times.

Changes are also coming to Massachusetts restaurants. Customers must wear masks at all times except when eating and drinking, and their time at tables will be capped at 90 minutes.

Dec 08, 2020, 1:51 PM EST

Fauci: 'We have not yet seen the full blunt' of Thanksgiving

Dr. Anthony Fauci and White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx warned Tuesday that the U.S. hasn't yet seen the full impact of Thanksgiving gatherings.

“We have not yet seen the full blunt and the effect of the traveling and the congregating,” Fauci said at The Wall Street Journal's CEO Council summit .“That should be sometime probably next week, or a week and a half.”

A worker registers patients for a COVID-19 test from the back of a van as a patient receives a test at a COVID testing site outside of Chelsea City Hall in Chelsea, Mass., Dec. 3, 2020.
Boston Globe via Getty Images

"Then we're going to enter into the Christmas season, again, with more traveling and with more congregating at family and social gatherings. So we're in for a very challenging period," Fauci continued. "And the only way we're going to counter that is by a consistent uniform implementation and adherence to public health measures."

Fauci also said he’s accepted President-elect Joe Biden’s offer to become his chief medical adviser.

“I've already told the president-elect that I would gladly accept that responsibility. It really is very similar to what I'm doing now,” Fauci said.

ABC News' Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.

Dec 08, 2020, 1:41 PM EST

Michigan-Ohio State football game canceled due to increased cases

The University of Michigan said this Saturday's football game against Ohio State is now canceled due to "an increasing number of positive COVID-19 cases and student-athletes in quarantine over the past week."

"The number of positive tests has continued to trend in an upward direction over the last seven days," said Michigan's Athletic Director, Warde Manuel. "We have not been cleared to participate in practice at this time. Unfortunately, we will not be able to field a team due to COVID-19 positives and the associated quarantining required of close-contact individuals."

ABC News' Josh Hoyos contributed to this report.

Dec 08, 2020, 1:31 PM EST

Nearly 1.5 million US children have had COVID-19

Nearly 1.5 million children in the U.S. have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association said in its weekly report.

A Northeastern student nurse administers a COVID-19 test to a child at a coronavirus testing site in Chelsea Square in Chelsea, MA., Dec. 7, 2020.
Boston Globe via Getty Images

A students adjusts her facemask at St. Joseph Catholic School in La Puente, Calif. on Nov. 16, 2020, where pre-kindergarten to Second Grade students in need of special services returned to the classroom today for in-person instruction.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

During the week ending Dec. 3, there were 123,688 new cases of children with COVID-19, bringing the total number of U.S. children diagnosed to 1,460,905.

ABC News' Eric Strauss contributed to this report.

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