Here's what's happening Tuesday with the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S.:
THREE THINGS TO KNOW TODAY
— State leaders are sounding a different tune in 2021 on decisions over imposing restrictions on businesses during the deadliest period for the pandemic. Governors from both parties are resisting lockdowns amid fears that their battered economies can't endure much more.
— The vaccine rollout is gaining new steam. More states are expanding the line for the COVID-19 shots, and the Trump administration took a step toward increasing supply and adding new age groups.
— American tourists are still flocking to beaches in Mexico and the Caribbean despite the resurgence of the virus and soaring death toll. The Mexican state that's home to Cancun received nearly 1 million tourists at the close of 2020 and start of the new year. Nearly half of them are from the U.S.
THE NUMBERS: The U.S. is averaging 248,000 new cases per day, and about 3,200 deaths. The death toll in the U.S. since the start of the pandemic now stands are more than 377,000.
QUOTABLE: “You come here and it’s a sigh of relief from all the turmoil of the COVID.” —Latron Evans, a firefighter from Mississippi as he enjoyed a beach vacation in Mexico.
ICYMI: Officials in the Florida Keys have enlisted Ernest Hemingway lookalikes to urge people to wear masks. They have released a mask video that was filmed outside a bar where the author drank during his time on the island in the 1930s.
ON THE HORIZON: Congressional officials are keeping an eye on a possible outbreak in the capitol stemming from the violence last week.
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