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ROME — At midnight on NewYear’s Eve, Stefania Giardonipopped a bottle of prosecco andbid good riddance to 2020, whenshe was hospitalized for monthswith the coronavirus and lost herjob. As the Roman sky erupted infireworks, she made no wish —“because last time we madewishes we had this damned pan-demic.”

But 2021 brought her more badnews anyway. She can’t get a doc-

tor’s appointment for her jointpain because hospitals are againpacked with Covid patients. Lock-downs and lack of business forcedher son to shutter his shop forgood. Bank officials have comeseeking unpaid loans. “The New

Year is already a tragedy,” shesaid.

People around the worldcounted down to the end of 2020with relish, pegging their hopeson the idea that the New Yearwould bring vaccines and some-thing that felt like normalcy. Butthe coronavirus keeps no calen-dar. It has kept doing what it does:spreading, killing, sowing grief.

The bad news rolled in duringthe first days of 2021, includingabout a more easily spread vari-ant of the coronavirus that has

Hope for New Year Collides With the PandemicBy JASON HOROWITZ

The almost deserted Navigli area of Milan on Tuesday. Bars and restaurants must close by 6 p.m.ALESSANDRO GRASSANI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

‘Uncertainty’ in MexicoCity. In Rome, ‘It’s

Been Tough.’

Continued on Page A10

WASHINGTON — Federal offi-cials and drugmakers, faced witha slower-than-expected rollout ofthe coronavirus vaccine, are rac-ing to find ways to expand the sup-ply, looking at lowering the re-quired dosage and extractingmore doses from the supplies theyhave.

Just weeks into the vaccine pro-gram, scientists at the NationalInstitutes of Health and the drug-maker Moderna are analyzingdata to see if they can double thesupply of the company’s coronavi-rus vaccine by cutting doses inhalf. The study, though longplanned, is increasingly urgent inthe face of looming shortages asthe country tries to fight off asurging pandemic.

Officials are also rushing to findsupplies of more efficient syringesthat could extract an additionaldose from vials of the Pfizer-BioN-Tech vaccine. That could bolsterthe Pfizer supply by 20 percent.

With more than 355,000 Ameri-cans already dead of Covid-19,nearly 21 million cases reported inthe United States and hospitalsoverflowing, the need to inoculatepeople grows more urgent everyday. The nation is facing twinproblems. At the moment, it hasonly enough vaccine on order tocover 185 million Americans by

Scientists RushTo Try to StretchVaccine SupplyBy SHERYL GAY STOLBERGand SHARON LaFRANIERE

Continued on Page A6

When the coronavirus beganspreading through New York,Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo orderedstate-run hospitals to stop suingpatients over unpaid medical bills,and almost all of the major privatehospitals in the state voluntarilyfollowed suit by suspending theirclaims.

But one chain of hospitalsplowed ahead with thousands oflawsuits: Northwell Health,which is the state’s largest healthsystem and is run by one of Mr.Cuomo’s closest allies.

The nonprofit Northwell suedmore than 2,500 patients last year,records show, a flood of litigationeven as the pandemic has led towidespread job losses and eco-nomic uncertainty.

The Northwell lawsuits eachsought an average of $1,700 in un-paid bills, plus large interest pay-ments. They hit teachers, con-struction workers, grocery storeemployees and others, includingsome who had lost work in thepandemic or gotten sick them-selves.

“My salary was cut in half. I’mnow working only two days aweek. And now I have to deal withthis,” said Carlos Castillo, a hotelworker in New York City who wassued for $4,043 after being hospi-talized with a seizure at Long Is-land Jewish Medical Center,

Hospitals Sued2,500 PatientsAs Virus RagedBy BRIAN M. ROSENTHAL

Continued on Page A5

ATLANTA — In suburban Mari-etta, Brenda White said she wasworried about health care costsand the stability of the economy asshe cast her ballot on Tuesday forthe two Democratic candidates inGeorgia’s Senate runoffs. “My fu-ture depends on who wins,” shesaid as she voted at a governmentbuilding, adding that she believedshe would be better served by theDemocrats.

In rural Northwest Georgia,Derrick Wall, 49, said he backedthe Republicans because he pre-ferred a divided government inWashington. Mr. Wall, who at-tended President Trump’s rallythe night before in Dalton, said hethought the Republican candi-dates would fare better at the polls

than Mr. Trump did in Novemberbecause they were viewed as lesspolarizing.

At schools, churches and even acomedy club in the Old FourthWard neighborhood, Democraticvoters turned out across metro-politan Atlanta, an area that haslong been a mecca for African-Americans, to support Jon Ossoffand Raphael Warnock — and toregister their opposition to Mr.Trump, for perhaps the last time.In conservative areas dominatedby Mr. Trump’s base of working-class white voters, Republicans

cast their ballots for Kelly Loefflerand David Perdue.

The runoff elections will deter-mine which party controls theSenate and the scope of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s initialpolicy agenda, and they will meas-ure just how much politics havechanged in a Deep South state intransition.

The weather was cold when thepolls opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday, butwarmed up later, and there werefew reports of major problems atpolling sites. Three hours after thepolls closed, both races were closewith more than 80 percent of the

Georgians Vote, Charting Course of the SenateBy JONATHAN MARTINand RICHARD FAUSSET

Among the voters at the East Cobb Church of Christ in Marietta, Ga., was Trenton Campbell, 19, in a SpongeBob SquarePants outfit.CHANG W. LEE/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Turnout Is Crucial in aFinal Referendumon the Trump Era

Continued on Page A19

KENOSHA, Wis. — The topprosecutor in Kenosha, Wis., de-clined to bring charges against thepolice officer who shot and grave-ly wounded Jacob Blake outsidean apartment building in August,an episode that sparked protestsand rioting and made the city aninstant flash point in a summer ofunrest that began with the killingof George Floyd.

The decision not to file chargesagainst the officer, RustenSheskey, was announced on Tues-day afternoon by Michael Grav-eley, the Kenosha County districtattorney. He said that investiga-tors had reviewed 40 hours of vid-eo and hundreds of pages of policereports before making the deci-sion.

The prosecutor said a caseagainst the officer would havebeen very hard to prove, in partbecause it would be difficult toovercome an argument that theofficer was protecting himself. Hesaid Mr. Blake had admitted toholding a knife — even describingswitching it from one hand to an-other as he moved to open a cardoor — and that statements fromofficers and other witnesses indi-cated that Mr. Blake had turnedtoward an officer with the knifeimmediately before he was shot.

The case involved a white offi-cer shooting a Black man, circum-stances which the prosecutor saidmade it especially difficult. “I feelin many ways completely inade-quate for this moment,” said Mr.Graveley, who is white. “I havenever in my life had a momentwhere I had to contend with ex-plicit or implicit bias based on myrace.”

Mr. Blake’s family expressedanguish at the decision not tocharge the officer, saying that vid-eo from the scene made it clearthat Officer Sheskey had acted in-appropriately. “It’s a gut-wrench-ing experience,” Justin Blake, Mr.Blake’s uncle, said during a newsconference in Kenosha after thedecision was announced. “This isbigger, greater than little Jake.This is about all the little Jakes.That’s why the people keep com-ing out and supporting us. Youknow why? Because it could havebeen them.”

The case came during a year ofprotests over police shootings ofBlack people in cities across thecountry. It drew the attention of

Kenosha D.A. Won’t Charge

White Officer

This article is by Robert Chiarito,Julie Bosman and John Eligon.

Continued on Page A20

Vice President Mike Pence toldPresident Trump on Tuesday thathe did not believe he had thepower to block congressional cer-tification of Joseph R. Biden Jr.’svictory in the presidential electiondespite Mr. Trump’s baseless in-sistence that he did, peoplebriefed on the conversation said.

Mr. Pence’s message, deliveredduring his weekly lunch with thepresident, came hours after Mr.Trump further turned up the pub-lic pressure on the vice presidentto do his bidding when Congressconvenes Wednesday in a jointsession to ratify Mr. Biden’s Elec-toral College win.

“The Vice President has thepower to reject fraudulently cho-sen electors,” Mr. Trump wrote onTwitter on Tuesday morning, aninaccurate assertion that mis-characterized Mr. Pence’s largelyformal and constitutionally pre-scribed role of presiding over theHouse and Senate as they receiveand certify the electoral votes con-veyed by the states and announc-ing the outcome.

Mr. Pence does not have the uni-lateral power to alter the resultssent by the states to Congress.

More Republican senatorscame out on Tuesday against at-tempts to undermine the results,including Tim Scott of South Car-olina and James M. Inhofe of Okla-homa, who said he viewed chal-lenging any state’s certification as“a violation of my oath of office.”

In a process that is likely to goon for many hours, Mr. Pence willpreside on Wednesday over a rollcall of the states. If at least onesenator and one House memberobject to the results from a state,they can force a debate of up totwo hours about those results.Each chamber will then vote sepa-rately on whether to certify thatstate’s results.

For results to be overturned,

both the House and the Senatewould have to agree to do so. Be-cause the House is controlled bythe Democrats, there is no realis-tic possibility of any state’s out-come being rejected. In addition,many if not most Senate Republi-cans appear likely to join all Dem-ocrats in rejecting challenges tothe results.

The House and Senate are ex-pected to debate objections to theresults in at least three states —Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylva-nia, all of which went to Mr. Biden— but ultimately to certify Mr. Bi-den’s 306-to-232 Electoral Collegevictory.

Lawmakers anticipated possi-

ble objections for up to three morestates — Michigan, Nevada andWisconsin — although it was notclear whether they would drawthe required backing from a mem-ber of both the House and the Sen-ate.

When the results from all of thestates have been considered, Mr.Pence, who as vice president alsoserves as presiding officer of theSenate, will be called on to readout the Electoral College votes for

PENCE SAID TO TELLTRUMP THAT VOTES

CAN’T BE BLOCKEDCaught Between Constitutional Duty and

Public Pressure From President

By MAGGIE HABERMAN and ANNIE KARNI

The president claims the vicepresident can reject electors.

ANNA MONEYMAKER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A13

Workers in every link of the food chainexplain how they survived 2020. Above,Antonia Rios Hernandez, who pickedtomatoes and cucumbers. PAGE D6

FOOD D1-10

Keeping Us FedThrough the last week, the state hasaveraged over 8,000 cases a day, morethan double its summer peak. PAGE A6

TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-8, 24

Winter in Arizona Looks Dire

American intelligence agencies issued ajoint statement saying that Russia wasthe “likely” source behind a breachuncovered a month ago. PAGE A14

NATIONAL A12-21

U.S. Links Hacking to Russia

“Bridgerton” departs from the homo-geneous casting of most period drama,imagining a 19th-century Britain withBlack royalty and aristocrats. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-6

Diversity, and Escapism TooThe administration has amended therules that it uses to enforce expandedcivil rights protections. PAGE A21

Rollback of Civil Rights Law

The small Arab country has been underblockade since 2017, when it was ac-cused of aiding terrorism. PAGE A10

Gulf States Ease Up on Qatar

Jamelle Bouie PAGE A23

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23Tanya Roberts, a star of “Charlie’sAngels,” the spy film “A View to a Kill”and “That ’70s Show,” was 65. PAGE B12

OBITUARIES B11-12

An Angel and a Bond Sidekick

With votes being counted lateTuesday, get the latest news

and results at nytimes.com.

ONLINE: ELECTION UPDATES

The show will be held March 14 in LosAngeles because Covid-19 is currentlyspreading rapidly there. PAGE A24

Grammy Awards Postponed

DeVonta Smith of Alabama became thefirst wideout to get the top collegefootball individual award sinceDesmond Howard in 1991. PAGE B10

SPORTSWEDNESDAY B8-10

Rare Receiver Wins Heisman

Dozens of activists and officials weredetained under a security law imposedafter protests last year, above. PAGE A9

INTERNATIONAL A9-11

More Hong Kong Arrests

Late Edition

VOL. CLXX . . . No. 58,930 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2021

Today, a mix of sunshine and clouds,a chilly wind, high 41. Tonight,mostly clear, low 32. Tomorrow,plenty of sunshine, less wind, high43. Weather map is on Page A24.

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