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As Thanksgiving approaches,millions of Americans are weigh-ing the risk of pandemic travelagainst the yearning to visitfriends and family. But one groupseems all but certain to be head-ing home in large numbers just intime for turkey and holiday gath-erings: college students.

Since the start of the fall semes-ter, most universities haveplanned to end in-person classesbefore Thanksgiving and requirestudents to finish the term re-motely, partly to avoid an ex-pected wave of cold-weather in-fections. That means that in a cou-ple of weeks, hundreds of thou-sands of students will bestreaming back to hometowns un-til the spring semester begins.

So what are colleges and uni-versities doing to reduce thechances that those students mightcarry the coronavirus with them?

As has been true with so muchof the nation’s pandemic re-sponse, the answer is a patchworkof policies, with a minority ofschools mandating that studentstest negative for the coronavirusbefore they can leave campus —and many more offering littlemore than optional testing and ad-vice.

Indiana University in Bloom-ington — where dozens of frater-nity and sorority houses had toquarantine in September — willopen its weekly surveillance test-ing to all of the 42,000 students liv-ing on or near campus. But thetesting will be voluntary for most.

Pennsylvania State University— where off-campus parties

Experts Warn of ‘Time Bombs’As Students Travel for Holiday

By SHAWN HUBLER Virus Likely to Spreadat Family Gatherings

Continued on Page A6

WILMINGTON, Del. — Corona-virus cases surged to a record onMonday, with the United Statesnow averaging 111,000 cases eachday for the past week, a grim mile-stone amid rising hospitalizationsand deaths that cast a shadow onpositive news about the effective-ness of a potential vaccine.

As the number of infectedAmericans passed 10 million andgovernors struggled to managethe pandemic, President-elect Jo-seph R. Biden Jr. tried on Mondayto use his bully pulpit — the onlytool at his disposal until he re-places President Trump in 72 days— to plead for Americans to setaside the bitterness of the 2020election and wear a mask.

“It doesn’t matter who youvoted for, where you stood before

Election Day,” Mr. Biden said inDelaware after announcing aCovid-19 advisory board chargedwith preparing for quick actiononce he is inaugurated. “It doesn’tmatter your party, your point ofview. We can save tens of thou-sands of lives if everyone wouldjust wear a mask for the next fewmonths. Not Democratic or Re-publican lives — American lives.”

Hours before Mr. Biden’s re-marks, the drug maker Pfizer an-nounced that an early analysis ofits coronavirus vaccine trial sug-gested the vaccine was robustlyeffective in preventing Covid-19, apromising development that sentstock prices soaring. The worldhas waited anxiously for any pos-itive sign that there will be an endto the pandemic that has killedmore than 1.2 million peopleworldwide.

“It’s extraordinary,” Dr. Antho-ny S. Fauci, the government’s topinfectious disease expert, said onCNN. “It is really a big deal.”

Mr. Biden called the develop-ment “excellent news” but cau-tioned that the country was still

BIDEN CALLS FOR UNITED FRONT AS VIRUS RAGESUrges All Americans

to Wear Masks asHospitals Fill Up

By MICHAEL D. SHEAR

President-elect Joseph R. Bi-den Jr. moved to take charge.

AMR ALFIKY/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A7

The drug maker Pfizer an-nounced on Monday that an earlyanalysis of its coronavirus vac-cine trial suggested the vaccinewas robustly effective in prevent-ing Covid-19, a promising develop-ment as the world has waited anx-iously for any positive news abouta pandemic that has killed morethan 1.2 million people.

Pfizer, which developed the vac-cine with the German drug makerBioNTech, released only sparsedetails from its clinical trial, basedon the first formal review of thedata by an outside panel of ex-perts.

The company said that the anal-ysis found that the vaccine wasmore than 90 percent effective inpreventing the disease amongtrial volunteers who had no evi-dence of prior coronavirus infec-tion. If the results hold up, that lev-el of protection would put it on parwith highly effective childhoodvaccines for diseases such asmeasles. No serious safety con-cerns have been observed, thecompany said.

Pfizer plans to ask the Food andDrug Administration for emer-gency authorization of the two-dose vaccine later this month, af-ter it has collected the recom-mended two months of safetydata. By the end of the year it willhave manufactured enough dosesto immunize 15 to 20 million peo-ple, company executives havesaid.

“This is a historical moment,”said Kathrin Jansen, a senior vicepresident and the head of vaccineresearch and development at Pfi-zer. “This was a devastating situa-tion, a pandemic, and we have em-barked on a path and a goal thatnobody ever has achieved — tocome up with a vaccine within ayear.”

The news comes just days afterJoseph R. Biden Jr. clinched a vic-tory over President Trump in thepresidential election. Mr. Trumphad repeatedly hinted a vaccinewould be ready before ElectionDay, Nov. 3. This fall, Pfizer’s chiefexecutive, Dr. Albert Bourla, fre-quently claimed that the companycould have some indication ofwhether the vaccine worked byOctober, something that did notcome to pass.

Stocks surged on the news. TheS&P 500 gained 1.2 percent Mon-day, ending the day just short of ahigh reached in early September.Shares of companies that stand togain most from the return of nor-mal activity — like airlines andshopping mall operators —

Vaccine Is Over 90%Effective, Pfizer’sEarly Data Says

This article is by Katie Thomas,David Gelles and Carl Zimmer.

Continued on Page A5

MARK ABRAMSON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

KATHRYN GAMBLE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

From top, diners in New York, ballet students in Iowa and a church service in Texas. The nation isaveraging 111,000 new coronavirus cases a day, and over 10 million Americans have been infected.

JOEL ANGEL JUAREZ FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Leading Republicans rallied onMonday around PresidentTrump’s refusal to concede theelection, declining to challengethe false narrative that it was stol-en from him or to recognize Presi-dent-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’svictory even as party divisionsburst into public view.

Senator Mitch McConnell ofKentucky, the top Republican inCongress, threw his support be-hind Mr. Trump in a sharplyworded speech on the Senatefloor. He declared that Mr. Trumpwas “100 percent within hisrights” to turn to the legal systemto challenge the outcome andhammered Democrats for expect-ing the president to concede.

In his first public remarks sinceMr. Biden was declared the win-ner, Mr. McConnell celebrated thesuccess of Republicans who wonelection to the House and the Sen-ate. But in the next breath, hetreated the outcome of the presi-dential election — based on thesame ballots that elected thoseRepublicans — as unknown.

“President Trump is 100 per-cent within his rights to look intoallegations of irregularities andweigh his legal options,” said Mr.McConnell, the majority leader.“Let’s not have any lectures abouthow the president should immedi-ately, cheerfully accept prelimi-nary election results from thesame characters who just spentfour years refusing to accept thevalidity of the last election.”

In Georgia, where the continu-ing vote count showed Mr. Trumplosing the state’s electoral votes,Senators David Perdue and KellyLoeffler — both Republicans nowfacing January runoffs to keeptheir seats — took the extraordi-nary step of calling on the state’stop election official to resign. De-claring Georgia’s handling of theelection an “embarrassment” andciting vague “failures” in an echoof Mr. Trump’s evidence-freecharges of stolen votes, they saidBrad Raffensperger, the Republi-can secretary of state, had failedthe state.

Mr. Raffensperger bluntly re-jected their calls, declaring thesenators’ claims “laughable” andsuggesting that they were merelydisgruntled because Mr. Trumpmight lose and their jobs were onthe line.

The intraparty feuding under-

McConnell ImpugnsResults That GaveG.O.P. Wins, Too

By NICHOLAS FANDOSand EMILY COCHRANE

Continued on Page A19

WASHINGTON — PresidentTrump fired Defense SecretaryMark T. Esper on Monday, upend-ing the military’s leadership at atime when Mr. Trump’s refusal toconcede the election has created arocky and potentially precarioustransition.

Mr. Trump announced the deci-sion on Twitter, writing in anabrupt post that Mr. Esper hadbeen “terminated.”

The president wrote that he wasappointing Christopher C. Miller,whom he described as the “highlyrespected” director of the Na-tional Counterterrorism Center, tobe the acting defense secretary.Mr. Miller will be the fourth offi-cial to lead the Pentagon underMr. Trump.

Two White House officials saidlater on Monday that Mr. Trump

was not finished, and that Christo-pher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director,and Gina Haspel, the C.I.A. direc-tor, could be next in line to be fired.Removing these senior officials —in effect decapitating the nation’snational security bureaucracy —would be without parallel by anoutgoing president who has justlost re-election.

Democrats and national securi-ty veterans said it was a volatilemove in the uncertain time be-tween administrations, particu-larly by a president who has madeclear that he does not want to giveup power and that he would be re-asserting his waning authorityover the most powerful agenciesof the government.

Trump Fires Esper Amid FearsOf a Purge at Security Agencies

This article is by Helene Cooper,Eric Schmitt and Maggie Ha-berman.

F.B.I. and C.I.A. HeadsCould Be Next to Go

Continued on Page A21

WASHINGTON — President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. makes nosecret of the speed with which heplans to bury “America First” as aguiding principle of the nation’sforeign policy.

He says he will re-enter the Irannuclear deal, assuming the Irani-ans are willing to reverse courseand observe its limits.

He would sign up for anotherfive years of the only survivingnuclear arms treaty with Russiaand double down on Americancommitments to NATO after fouryears of threats from PresidentTrump to withdraw from the alli-ance, which guided the Westthrough the Cold War.

At the same time, Mr. Bidensays he will make Russia “pay aprice” for what he says have beendisruptions and attempts to influ-ence elections — including hisown.

But mostly, Mr. Biden said in astatement to The New YorkTimes, he wants to bring an end toa slogan that came to define aUnited States that built walls andmade working with allies an after-thought — and, in Mr. Biden’sview, undermined any chance offorging a common internationalapproach to fighting a pandemicthat has cost more than 1.2 millionlives.

“Tragically, the one place Don-ald Trump has made ‘AmericaFirst’ is his failed response to thecoronavirus: We’re 4 percent ofthe world’s population, yet havehad 20 percent of the deaths,” Mr.Biden said days before the elec-tion. “On top of Trump embracing

Looking to End ‘America First’And Re-engage With the World

By DAVID E. SANGER Biden’s Strategies on aGlobal Approach

Continued on Page A16

The responses to deadly recent attacksin Austria and France show a complexrelationship with Islam. PAGE A8

INTERNATIONAL A8-10

Europe’s Politics of TerrorismThe ways that our four-legged friendsgrow and age may provide potentiallyuseful similarities with people. PAGE D1

SCIENCE TIMES D1-8

Seeking Answers in Dog Years

With control of the Senate unclear,liberal Democrats are trying to figureout how to achieve policy goals througha Biden White House. PAGE A11

ELECTION 2020 A11-20

Progressives MobilizeMajor indexes climbed steadily on newsof Pfizer’s heartening progress on acoronavirus vaccine and Joseph R.Biden Jr.’s victory. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-6

Markets Heave Sigh of ReliefDave Grohl of the Foo Fighters andNandi Bushell, a 10-year-old prodigy,have spread joy on social media. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-6

One Very Epic Drum Battle

Many of President Trump’s 100-plusrollbacks of environmental regulationscan be reversed, but damage to theclimate may be forever. PAGE A13

Trump’s Climate Legacy

The Israeli prime minister has madecloseness to President Trump central tohis political appeal. Things will changein a Biden administration. PAGE A17

A Comedown for Netanyahu

The United Arab Emirates has loosenedalcohol limits and reduced the sway ofIslamic law over foreigners. PAGE A10

Emirates Overhauls Laws

Some lawyers at firms that have filedelection lawsuits said they feared un-dermining the system. PAGE B1

Trump’s Suits Sow Discomfort

Tiger Woods, despite his back pain, isexpected to contend for a record-tyingsixth Masters victory. PAGE B7

SPORTSTUESDAY B7-9

Defiantly Dominant at AugustaAcousticians monitor the ocean’s mys-terious realms for habitat clues thou-sands of feet below the surface. PAGE D1

Soundscapes of the Deep

A researcher found overlooked evidencethat Alexander Hamilton bought, soldand personally owned slaves. PAGE C1

History’s Eyes on Him, Opened

Bret Stephens PAGE A22EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23

Late Edition

VOL. CLXX . . . . No. 58,873 © 2020 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2020

BARR WADES IN The attorneygeneral freed prosecutors to openvoter fraud inquiries. PAGE A19

Today, partly cloudy after patchyfog, warm, high 72. Tonight, mostlycloudy, mild, low 62. Tomorrow,mostly cloudy, rain later, high 70.Weather map appears on Page B12.

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