have also said that this type of guidance is long overdue. nearly 60 million americans have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine and more than 30 million americans are now fully vaccinated. and while the vaccine rollout has accelerated rapidly in recent days, the timing remains critical. the top health experts in the country say new infection rates have plateaued at a very high level after falling for several weeks. and highly transmissible variants continue to spread throughout the country even as states are starting to loosen restrictions and in some places completely remove any masking requirements. so there is a lot that we re waiting to get some more guidance, to hear some from the covid response team when they begin the briefing any moment now. joining me now is elizabeth cohen and dr. jorge rodriguez, a viral specialist. so elizabeth, this has been long awaited guidance that we ll be hearing. what do you know about the level of detail or how granular t