The Biden administration is releasing a “roadmap” for maintaining government defenses against infectious diseases, just as President-elect Donald Trump pledges to dismantle some of them.

The first U.S. bird flu death has been reported.

A pig at an Oregon farm was found to have bird flu.

The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 has hit 1 million, less than 2 1/2 years into the outbreak.

“The idea of 200,000 deaths is really very sobering, in some respects stunning,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious-disease expert, said on CNN. But the real toll is thought to be much higher, in part because many COVID-19 deaths were probably ascribed to other causes, especially early on, before widespread testing. Trump said it was “a shame” the U.S. reached that number but argued the toll could have been much worse. Only 10 countries rank higher in COVID-19 deaths per capita. The death toll from COVID-19 during the same period was put at about 150,000 by Johns Hopkins.

Des Moines Public Schools custodian Tracy Harris cleans chairs in a classroom at Brubaker Elementary School, Wednesday, July 8, 2020, in Des Moines, Iowa. Getting children back to school safely could mean keeping high-risk spots like bars and gyms closed. That's the latest thinking from some public health experts. But getting children back to school safely could mean keeping high-risk spots like bars and gyms closed. Public health experts hope the conversation can stay focused on the mechanics of opening schools.