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Monday marked the first announcement of preliminary results of Phase 3 trials of Covid-19 vaccines, and we expect many more to follow. These results are long awaited: Mass vaccination will give us the most promising path out of the pandemic — but only if people trust the results enough to get the vaccine. A well-informed public is among the most crucial elements of a successful vaccination program. (Mark Siedner and Paul E. Sax, 11/10)

The next few months in the United States are going to be excruciating: Thousands of Americans will die each week from COVID-19, even as a vaccine begins to get rolled out. During this agonizing period, says Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s public health school, “We all need to keep two seemingly contradictory facts in mind: 1. We are entering the hardest days of the pandemic. The next two months will see a lot of infections and deaths. 2. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Today, that light got a bit brighter.” (11/10)

When the records are plumbed, we will likely find that world leaders received the same advice: An easily transmitted, flu-like virus is not stoppable at a realistic cost in most geographies. We need to find non-magical ways to spare ourselves. The rational priorities were always: Protect the most vulnerable, drill the public on safety protocols, build up the hospitals to receive the wave, and push for a vaccine. That will be the Biden plan too. (Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., 11/10)

The safe, timely and equitable distribution of coronavirus vaccines to the American people will be an undertaking akin to landing a spacecraft on an asteroid. For every day — even every hour — of delay, lives will be lost, people will suffer and economic misery will continue. Sulking in electoral defeat, the Trump administration is willfully prolonging the agony. (Olivia Troye, 11/10)

Excited to see her children and grandchildren, an 80-year-old grandmother traveled halfway across California to visit, eagerly planning all the meals she would cook and share. The family enjoyed elaborate curries and stews, stories and laughs; two weeks later, that woman ended up as a patient in my hospital struggling to breathe. What began as a cough amongst the family ended up as a life-threatening COVID-19 infection for the grandmother. With Thanksgiving and the winter holidays fast approaching, I fear that our hospitals across the nation will be filled with more avoidable stories like this. This year for the holidays, we all need to settle for virtual family gatherings, rather than in-person get-togethers. (Thomas K. Lew, 11/11)

The College Football Playoff has held firm that no matter what develops over the next six weeks or so, its semifinals will take place on Jan. 1 in Pasadena, California, and New Orleans, just as they would in a normal year. The winners of those games will then play in Miami 10 days later for the national championship. But as COVID-19 cases rise exponentially around the country, a winter surge that is presenting even greater challenges to the college football season than we’ve seen at any point, it’s hard to shake the feeling that the CFP is taking a massive risk here. It’s time to start talking about a bubble. (Dan Wolken, 11/10)

As the U.S. heads toward a third peak in the pandemic, rural counties are among the areas most severely affected by Covid-19. While their absolute numbers of cases are still relatively small compared with large cities, case rates and death rates are growing fastest in rural counties. (Nickolas D. Zaller and George Pro, 11/11)

Here is my working definition of a public health expert: someone who is constantly frustrated that people will not act on clear health advice in the interests of their own health. (Joshua Gans, 11/11)