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DISTRIBUTION A breakdown ofhow many doses each state isexpecting. PAGE A9

AN AIR RESCUE Airlines preparedfor months for their role in thevaccine supply chain. PAGE B1

With coronavirus cases surg-ing, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo ofNew York has shifted his strategysharply away from tackling localclusters and toward protectingthe state’s health system in a bidto avoid a return to the worst daysof spring, when hospitals werestretched to the limit.

The virus statistic that hadtransfixed New Yorkers — therate of tests that come back pos-itive — is no longer the primarydriver of state action, as it waswhen Mr. Cuomo sought to quashviral outbreaks in designated ar-eas. That effort did not stem a ris-ing tide of infections statewide,and the focus now is on hospitalcapacity.

Far from hastening a broad newround of business closings, thegovernor’s shift is likely to delayby weeks a potential return of themost stringent restrictions fromearlier in the year. A rise in thenumber of hospitalizations fol-lows an increase in positive cases,and the state has anticipated sev-eral steps hospitals can take to ex-pand capacity before a shutdownis needed.

Still, there was one area whereMr. Cuomo was taking no chances.On Friday, he ordered a halt to in-door dining in New York Citystarting Monday, saying that theban was necessary to curb thesurging outbreak. But the moveprompted a backlash from thestruggling restaurant industry,one of the city’s economic engines,with owners saying the governorhad not proved that restaurantswere a significant factor inspreading the virus.

After months of low positivetest rates, New York is now in thesame position as other statesamid a worsening national out-break: watching with increased

Cuomo PivotsOn State PlanTo Quell Virus

By J. DAVID GOODMANand JESSE McKINLEY

Continued on Page A6

FIZULI, Azerbaijan — Crossinginto territory that Azerbaijan re-cently recaptured from Armeniais a journey into a devastatedwasteland reminiscent of a WorldWar I battlefield. The road passesmiles of abandoned trenches andbunkers, and village after villageof ruins, the white stones of home-steads scattered, every movableitem — roofs, doors, windowframes — picked clean.

The absence of life is eerie.Wrecked Armenian tanks and

armor lay beside the road and inhilltop positions, testament to thedevastating power of Azerbaijanidrones. Abandoned uniforms andequipment signal a panicked re-treat by Armenian soldiers asAzerbaijani forces seized controlof the district in early November.

Decades after the surroundingterritory was seized by Armenia,the town of Fizuli, once a prosper-ous agricultural settlement ofsome 30,000 people, has become aforest, its ruined public buildingssmothered by trees and under-growth. The fate of the largertown of Aghdam, farther north, is

even more stark, its buildings splitopen to the skies on a desiccatedplain, its main bridge destroyed.

“It’s going to be very hard forme to forgive them,” Elmaddin Sa-farov, 47, an army veteran, said ofthe Armenians, as he gazed at thewreckage of Aghdam, where 17 of

his relatives died.The conflict over Nagorno-Ka-

rabakh, an ethnically Armenianenclave within Azerbaijan, hasbeen one of the world’s most in-tractable territorial disputes. Asix-year war ended in 1994 withArmenia claiming not just Nagor-

no-Karabakh but also greatswaths of surrounding territory,and driving more than 800,000Azerbaijanis into exile.

Azerbaijan regained control ofFizuli and Aghdam, part of the ter-ritory that Armenia had con-

After Azerbaijan War, a Scarcity of Life, Let Alone ForgivenessBy CARLOTTA GALL

and ANTON TROIANOVSKI

Aghdam, a devastated town that Azerbaijan reclaimed from Armenia after a six-week offensive.IVOR PRICKETT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A13

As the Lopez family of Truckee,Calif., gathered to prepare dinneron a recent evening, one subjectdominated the conversation: thecoronavirus vaccine that will soonbe shipped out across the country,giving Americans the first con-crete hope that the pandemic willeventually end.

Enrique Lopez, 46, who runs asnow-removal business, ex-plained how he was trying to per-suade his skeptical employeesthat the vaccine was safe. Hiswife, Brienne, 41, a middle school-teacher, said she was desperatefor the vaccine after a September

bout with Covid-19 sickened herfor weeks. Their two daughtersjust wanted to know if the vaccinewould enable them to return totheir pre-pandemic lives.

“I know a lot of people arescared. They don’t know what theside effects are going to be,” saidMr. Lopez, who had seen half hiswork force stricken with the virus.“It’s a risk we have to take. It’s go-

ing to make us safer and go backto normal.”

After months of anticipation,the first vaccine has arrived. Itlands in a country that is both dev-astated by the virus and deeply di-vided over almost everything con-cerning it.

The first Americans will mostlikely receive shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the comingdays, and the government is ex-pected to approve other vaccinesas well. Health officials are work-ing to ease public doubts about thesafety of the injections, emphasiz-ing that large numbers of Ameri-cans — perhaps between 60 to 70percent — must get vaccinated to

A Divided and Distrustful U.S. Awaits VaccinesBy SIMON ROMERO

and MIRIAM JORDANMany Are Eager, but

a Push Is On to WinOver the Wary

Continued on Page A8

A New York Times analysis shows thepandemic’s largely unreported tollacross college athletics. PAGE B7

SPORTSSATURDAY B7-10

Virus Cases by the ThousandsFulfilling a campaign promise, thecountry’s president is backing a bill thatwould legalize the procedure. PAGE A10

INTERNATIONAL A10-13

Argentina’s Abortion Fight

Chloé Lopes Gomesa says she was toldto color her skin for a “Swan Lake” rolewith the Staatsballett Berlin. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-6

Black Dancer, White MakeupAll this year, patients stayed away fromdoctors’ offices in droves, postponingroutine tests and treatments. Maybethere’s a silver lining. PAGE A4

TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-9

Rethinking Routine CareLawmakers overwhelmingly passed amilitary policy bill that strips militarybases of Confederate names, defyingthe president. PAGE A20

NATIONAL A14-23

Veto-Proof Move by Senate

Jimmy Lai’s case was followed by re-ports that Beijing was holding a Bloom-berg News staff member. PAGE A11

Hong Kong Charges Mogul

Brian Kemp became governor with thehelp of the president, but his refusal totry to reverse Georgia’s election hasdrawn his ire. PAGE A19

The Perils of Crossing Trump

Andrew Yang, a former presidentialcandidate, and Max Rose, who lostre-election to Congress, signal they willenter the New York race. PAGE A23

2 Take Steps for Mayoral Run

Several of President-elect Joseph R.Biden’s choices have emphasized cleanenergy and reduced emissions. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-6

A Climate-Forward Cabinet

A pandemic relief program allows noforgiveness of overpayments, evenwhen recipients are not at fault. PAGE B1

Forced to Pay for States’ ErrorsThe annual football showdown will notbe at a neutral site for the first time in77 years. PAGE B10

Army-Navy Classic at Army

The singer FKA twigs has sued ShiaLaBeouf, alleging sexual battery, as-sault and emotional distress. PAGE C1

Actor Is Accused of Abuse

Jamelle Bouie PAGE A24EDITORIAL, OP-ED A24-25

Mr. Trump has said he expectedto prevail in the Supreme Court,after rushing the confirmation ofJustice Amy Coney Barrett in Oc-tober in part in the hope that shewould vote in Mr. Trump’s favor inelection disputes.

“I think this will end up in theSupreme Court,” Mr. Trump saidof the election a few days afterJustice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’sdeath in September. “And I thinkit’s very important that we havenine justices.”

He was right that an electiondispute would end up in the Su-preme Court. But he was quitewrong to think the court, even af-ter he appointed a third of itsmembers, would do his bidding.And with the Electoral College setto meet on Monday, Mr. Trump’sefforts to change the outcome ofthe election will soon be at an end.

Mr. Trump’s campaign did notimmediately issue a statement. Inan appearance on the conserva-

WASHINGTON — The Su-preme Court on Friday rejected alawsuit by Texas that had askedthe court to throw out the electionresults in four battleground statesthat President Trump lost in No-vember, ending any prospect thata brazen attempt to use the courtsto reverse his defeat at the pollswould succeed.

The court, in a brief unsignedorder, said Texas lacked standingto pursue the case, saying it “hasnot demonstrated a judicially cog-nizable interest in the manner inwhich another state conducts itselections.”

The order, coupled with anotherone on Tuesday turning away asimilar request from Pennsylva-nia Republicans, signaled that aconservative court with three jus-tices appointed by Mr. Trump re-fused to be drawn into the extraor-dinary effort by the president andmany prominent members of hisparty to deny his Democratic op-ponent, former Vice President Jo-seph R. Biden Jr., his victory.

It was the latest and most sig-nificant setback for Mr. Trump in alitigation campaign that was re-jected by courts at every turn.

Texas’ lawsuit, filed directly inthe Supreme Court, challengedelection procedures in four states:Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvaniaand Wisconsin. It asked the courtto bar those states from castingtheir electoral votes for Mr. Bidenand to shift the selection of elec-tors to the states’ legislatures.That would have required the jus-tices to throw out millions of votes.

JUSTICES DENY BID BY TEXAS TO SUBVERT VOTERefusal to Nullify Biden Victories in 4 StatesBlocks Trump’s Search for Relief in Courts

By ADAM LIPTAK

In a brief unsigned order Friday, the Supreme Court said Texas lacked standing to pursue the case.ANNA MONEYMAKER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A18

The Food and Drug Administra-tion authorized Pfizer’s Covid-19vaccine for emergency use on Fri-day, clearing the way for millionsof highly vulnerable people to be-gin receiving the vaccine withindays.

The authorization is a historicturning point in a pandemic thathas taken more than 290,000 livesin the United States. With the deci-sion, the United States becomesthe sixth country — in addition toBritain, Bahrain, Canada, SaudiArabia and Mexico — to clear thevaccine. Other authorizations, in-cluding by the European Union,are expected within weeks.

The F.D.A.’s decision followedan extraordinary sequence ofevents on Friday morning whenthe White House chief of staff,Mark Meadows, told the F.D.A.commissioner, Dr. Stephen Hahn,to consider looking for his next jobif he didn’t get the emergency ap-proval done on Friday, accordingto a senior administration officialwho spoke on condition of ano-nymity because he was not autho-rized to discuss the matter. Dr.Hahn then ordered vaccine regu-lators at the agency to do it by theend of the day.

The authorization set off a com-plicated coordination effort fromPfizer, private shipping compa-nies, state and local health offi-cials, the military, hospitals andpharmacy chains to get the firstweek’s batch of about three mil-lion doses to health care workersand nursing home residents asquickly as possible, all while keep-ing the vaccine at ultracold tem-peratures.

Pfizer has a deal with the U.S.government to supply 100 million

Pfizer VaccineGets Clearance

By the F.D.A.

About 3 Million DosesReady for Shipping

This article is by Katie Thomas,Sharon LaFraniere, Noah Weiland,Abby Goodnough and Maggie Ha-berman.

Continued on Page A8

State prosecutors in Manhattanhave interviewed several employ-ees of President Trump’s bankand insurance broker in recentweeks, according to people withknowledge of the matter, signifi-cantly escalating an investigationinto the president that he is pow-erless to stop.

The interviews with people whowork for the lender, DeutscheBank, and the insurance broker-age, Aon, are the latest indicationthat once Mr. Trump leaves office,he still faces the potential threat ofcriminal charges that would be be-yond the reach of federal pardons.

It remains unclear whether theoffice of the Manhattan district at-torney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., will ul-timately bring charges. The pros-ecutors have been fighting incourt for more than a year to ob-tain Mr. Trump’s personal and cor-porate tax returns, which theyhave called central to their inves-tigation. The issue now rests withthe Supreme Court.

But lately, Mr. Vance’s office hasstepped up its efforts, issuing newsubpoenas and questioning wit-nesses, including some before agrand jury, according to the peo-ple with knowledge of the matter,who requested anonymity be-cause of the sensitive nature of theinvestigation.

The grand jury appears to beserving an investigative function,allowing prosecutors to authenti-cate documents and pursue otherleads, rather than considering anycharges.

When Mr. Trump returns to pri-vate life in January, he will lose theprotection from criminal prosecu-tion that his office has affordedhim. While The New York Timeshas reported that he discussedgranting pre-emptive pardons tohis eldest children before leavingoffice — and has claimed that he

New York D.A.Is Stepping UpTrump InquiryThis article is by William K. Rash-

baum, Ben Protess and David Enrich.

Continued on Page A20

SHIFTING MAP Suburban votersswung to Democrats and flippedthe Blue Wall states. PAGE A14

Late Edition

VOL. CLXX . . . . No. 58,905 © 2020 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2020

Today, mostly cloudy, morning fog,periodic light rain. High 54. Tonight,mostly cloudy, mild. Low 42. Tomor-row, mild, some sunshine. High 57.Weather map appears on Page A22.

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