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--:-- Shamita Basu: Hey there. Before we jump into today's show, we have a humble request for you. We're working on our final episode of the year, and we want you to be a part of it. So who's your hero of the year? Someone who's gone above and beyond during this extraordinarily difficult time. You can nominate someone famous and well-known, or someone from your personal life. Just use your phone to record a voice memo. Tell us your name, where you're from, and a little bit about the hero in your life and what they did to make this year a little bit better for you. And please try to keep it under two minutes. You can send it to us at AppleNewsToday at Apple.com. Again, that's AppleNewsToday, all one word, at Apple.com. And we might share your voicemail on the show. Thanks.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Tuesday, December 15th. I'm Shamita Basu. And I'm Duarte Giraldino. This is Apple News Today. Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: We the people voted. Faith in our institutions held. The integrity of our elections remains intact. And now it's time to turn the page, as we've done throughout our history, to unite and to heal. That was President-elect Joe Biden addressing the nation after the Electoral College formally cast its votes.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Biden kept his speech short. He spoke mostly about uniting the country, but he did acknowledge how President Trump challenged the results.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: In America, politicians don't take power. People grant power to them. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell finally acknowledged Biden's win today from the Senate floor. The Electoral College has spoken. So today I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And the Washington Post reports some additional Republicans who hadn't acknowledged Biden's victory before began to change their language. Republican Senators Roy Blunt and Mike Braun were among the very few who mentioned Biden by name, saying the constitutional process has played out.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And it wasn't just President Trump that got his walking papers yesterday after the Electoral College confirmed Biden's win. Attorney General Bill Barr is also out. Ever since Barr said the Justice Department didn't find any evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, the two men have had a rough relationship, according to The Washington Post.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And by the way, the president didn't just say Barr was out. He also tweeted out Barr's resignation letter. There have been rumors that Trump might fire Barr for weeks now. But yesterday on Twitter, the president did not call it a firing. He said they had a very nice meeting and called their relationship a good one.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine is starting to make the rounds in the U.S. Moderna's is expected soon. And public health officials are optimistic that in 2021, life could get back to normal. But for countries in the developing world, it could take a lot longer. Getting people vaccinated in lower-income countries, in some cases, may take two to five years. That's according to The Wall Street Journal.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It looks at the vaccination timeline in the Philippines. The country is going through one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in Southeast Asia. And it's looking at a long road of technical and logistical challenges to reach mass vaccination. About 110 million people live in the Philippines, and the country's health officials estimate they'll need to vaccinate anywhere from 60 to 70 million people to almost eliminate the spread of the virus.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: But so far, after negotiating with many pharmaceutical firms, the Philippine government signed a contract that only guarantees enough shots for a little more than 1% of its people. The Philippines is facing the same challenges as a lot of other developing nations. There's the financial problem, paying for something that's in limited supply. But there's also on-the-ground logistics. The Philippines is made up of thousands of small islands. Transportation is difficult enough for routine vaccine campaigns, like for the measles. And some COVID vaccines have special refrigeration requirements.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And even if you're fortunate enough to live in one of the world's wealthier countries, The fact that some countries will have to wait much longer to get the vaccine threatens everyone rich and poor alike. Some health experts tell the Journal as long as the virus is still able to circulate in pockets of the world that have been vaccinated global trade and travel cannot really return to normal.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Mass transit in just about every city in the country is in a state of crisis. Ridership is way down because of the pandemic. Public transit systems are woefully in debt. And many local officials say without substantial congressional funding, the future of our commuting lives could be at stake.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: Vice reporter Aaron Gordon breaks down just how dire this situation is becoming. He's been covering transportation for years. And back in March, Congress gave transit agencies $25 billion as part of the CARES Act. That money did help, But it ran out fast. A survey by the American Public Transportation Association found 61 percent of transit agencies are going to have to cut back on service. And more than half will have to lay off staff unless Washington provides a lot more money.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: And Gordon talks about what some of these cuts could look like. For example, in New York City, there was a proposal to cut subway and bus service by 40 percent. And, you know, Duarte, in a past life, I was a reporter who focused on commuting issues in New York City. And the truth is, mass transit affects so many people. Something like 8 million people use public transportation in New York City every single day. So cutting service like this would be devastating. Plus, thousands of transit workers would lose their jobs.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The New York Daily News reports the transit agency can only avoid these cuts if Congress kicks in more aid. And it's not just New York. San Francisco's transit agency plans to lay off more than one in five workers and significantly cut service. Denver is running at 60 percent capacity, and Atlanta cut 110 bus routes down to just 40. Now, Congress is still negotiating a possible stimulus package, which could give public transit agencies up to $15 billion in funding. But Gordon reports a lot of people in the transportation sector say that not going to be enough.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Not to mention a third of all commuters who rely on public transit work in essential industries like health care, social services, and grocery stores. Without service, how are these essential workers going to do their jobs?
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--:-- Shamita Basu: More than 300,000 people in this country have died from COVID-19. USA Today helps us take a moment to pause and to reflect on the scale of this loss. Each person had loved ones that they left behind. Families, friends, neighbors, co-workers, partners, people who miss them every day.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Patricia Dowd. She was the first person in the United States to die from COVID-19. She was in her home in California on February 6th when she took her last breath. She was just 57 years old.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Every day since then, we've watched the number of deaths climb up and up. More American deaths than in the Korean War, than the Vietnam War, than World War I, than all three wars combined. This month, there have been several days where we lost as many people in 24 hours as we did on 9-11.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: If it's tough for you to wrap your mind around the scale, losing 300,000 people is like wiping out the entire city of Cincinnati or St. Louis or Pittsburgh.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Yesterday, President-elect Biden acknowledged how hard this holiday season is going to be with so many people missing. My heart goes out to each of you in this dark winter of the pandemic. About to spend the holidays and the new year with a black hole in your hearts, without the ones you loved at your side.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The way things are going right now, one American dies from COVID-19 roughly every 36 seconds. That means just in the time since you started listening to this show, 15 people in America have died.
