50 ★ States
ALABAMA Montgomery: Halfway through the first quarter, the city’s public school system is preparing to reopen its doors to students for inperson instruction in October, with the plan to send families a survey gauging how many are interested in sending kids back into classrooms.
ALASKA Juneau: Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s decision to expand eligibility has prompted a rush of applications for small-business aid using federal coronavirus relief funds. Under the previous rules, businesses were not eligible if they had received federal Paycheck Protection Program funds and Economic Injury Disaster Loans.
ARIZONA Tempe: Arizona State University has announced that some students living on campus will be moved “to reduce the density in the dorms” after reporting 775 students and 28 faculty members had tested positive for COVID-19 as of Monday.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: The number of active cases at the University of Arkansas’ Fayetteville campus jumped Wednesday to nearly 400.
CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: People experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County are testing positive for the coronavirus at rates far lower than the population at large, a health official said Wednesday, breathing a sigh of relief about the fate of the area’s most vulnerable residents.
COLORADO Durango: A motorcycle rally plans to continue with its events scheduled for Labor Day weekend. Organizers for the Four Corners Motorcycle Rally say it will be scaled down due to coronavirus restrictions.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: Gov. Ned Lamont’s new choice to oversee the state Department of Correction said he believes the agency is better prepared for a possible new surge of coronavirus infections this fall than it was months ago, when the pandemic began and “mistakes” were made. Angel Quiros said some policies – such as isolating inmates who tested positive at the state’s maximumsecurity prison and not allowing them to shower because of ventilation concerns – have been changed.
DELAWARE Wilmington: Latino children in the state have been infected with COVID-19 at a vastly disproportionate rate, an analysis of state data found. From April to June, about 47% to 60% of children diagnosed with the illness were Latino, according to state data. Latinos make up about 16% of the state’s child population.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: The district has seen far fewer tourists than in the pre-coronavirus era, WUSA-TV reports. According to data released by Destination D.C., before the pandemic, the city welcomed about 24.6 million visitors in 2019. Elliott L. Ferguson II, president and CEO of DDC, said he believes only about 11 million domestic visitors will travel to the city in 2020, about 53% fewer than the previous year.
FLORIDA Miami: The Art Basel fair, known for glamorous parties and celebrity sightings, on Wednesday announced the cancellation of this year’s event amid the pandemic.
GEORGIA Atlanta: With more than 3,000 public university students and employees across the state testing positive for COVID-19 since Aug. 1, some schools are taking action to slow the spread of the respiratory illness. Both Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia said they are renting more off-campus rooms to isolate or quarantine students who have been infected or exposed.
IDAHO Boise: The state will remain in the fourth and final stage of reopening during the coronavirus pandemic for at least another two weeks, Gov. Brad Little said Thursday.
ILLINOIS Urbana: The University of Illinois is ramping up enforcement of restrictions on student activity after more than 330 COVID-19 cases in two days on the Urbana-Champaign campus, school officials said Wednesday. Illinois State University in Normal is reporting about 1,025 students have tested positive for the coronavirus since the start of the fall semester, nearly 5% of the student body.
INDIANA Indianapolis: Health officials are warning Hoosiers to take coronavirus precautions seriously over the Labor Day weekend even as new statewide COVID-19 risk ratings show most counties with minimal or moderate virus spread.
IOWA Johnston: As the state sees some of the highest rates of coronavirus cases in the nation, Gov. Kim Reynolds said Wednesday that she will wait to determine whether her move to close bars in six counties slows the virus’s spread before considering additional steps.
KANSAS Wichita: Amid intense pressure, the state’s largest school district has overturned its decision to call off all fall sports and activities because of the pandemic.
KENTUCKY Frankfort: Gov. Andy Beshear signaled Wednesday that he expects to extend his mask mandate again later this month, saying the facial covering requirement is “more important than ever” amid efforts to reopen schools and protect the economy.
LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: Gov. John Bel Edwards is asking a federal judge to order the state’s elections chief to broaden the use of absentee-by-mail voting for the fall elections because of the pandemic.
MAINE Augusta: Democratic Gov. Janet Mills on Wednesday extended a state of emergency for a sixth time and urged Mainers not to let “pandemic fatigue” allow them to become complacent.
MARYLAND Baltimore: The mayor said Wednesday that the city won’t immediately follow some other parts of the state into the third phase of its coronavirus recovery plan. Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young said he anticipates moving Baltimore into the second phase next week, allowing restaurants to expand their indoor dining capacity.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Nearly 150 arts and cultural organizations are sharing in $815,000 worth of grants from the city’s Arts and Culture COVID-19 Fund, the city announced Thursday.
MICHIGAN Detroit: A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday in favor of the state order mandating coronavirus testing for all farmworkers in Michigan.
MINNESOTA Minneapolis: The University of Minnesota announced a four-step plan for students to return to three of its campuses after the school system’s decision to delay move-ins and in-person classes.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: Republican Gov. Tate Reeves on Wednesday defended his practice of referring to the new coronavirus as the “China virus.” At a news conference, Reeves was asked if such language could be used to bully people of Asian descent. “I don’t condone anyone bullying them,” he said. “I don’t condone mask bullying, either.”
MISSOURI Kansas City: More than four months after state Attorney General Eric Schmitt sought to hold China and the Chinese Communist Party accountable for the COVID-19 pandemic, the lawsuit remains stalled in federal court.
MONTANA Helena: Applications for unemployment aid in the state rose for the third consecutive week, even as national numbers are falling, the U.S. Employment and Training Administration said Thursday.
NEBRASKA Omaha: The University of Nebraska at Omaha has quarantined four of its sports teams after 13 athletes tested positive for the coronavirus.
NEVADA Las Vegas: A state coronavirus contact-tracing application called “COVID Trace” that launched last week should work well with a similar tool that Google and Apple are rolling out to alert people who might have been exposed to COVID-19, officials said Wednesday. Julia Peek, deputy Nevada health administrator, said widening the notification net should help reach visitors from states that don’t have similar tracing technology.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: State public health officials provided new guidance this week on when schools should switch teaching models based on community transmission of the coronavirus and its impact on individual schools.
NEW JERSEY Paramus: The federal government has fined the New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home more than $21,000 for mixing up the identity of a veteran who died from COVID-19 during the chaos of the pandemic in April and for shortcomings in infection control.
NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: State Human Services Secretary David Scrase warned Wednesday that COVID-19 infections are far more prevalent in low-income areas of the New Mexico, potentially straining Medicaid health care.
NEW YORK New York: Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he won’t let the city reopen its restaurants for indoor dining until it comes up with a plan to be sure they are following regulations to reduce the coronavirus’ spread. He said the state doesn’t have enough personnel to monitor the city’s 27,000-plus eateries.
NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: The Legislature finalized a plan Thursday to spend $1.1 billion of the state’s remaining COVID-19 relief funds from Washington, including direct cash payments of $335 to nearly 2 million families.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: The state set a near-record Thursday for the number of daily positive coronavirus tests and has increased its per-capita figures for the infection to the highest in the country, according to figures from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
OHIO Columbus: Student coronavirus cases at Ohio State University jumped by nearly 400 since last week, according to data released by the university late Wednesday.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The state reported 909 newly confirmed coronavirus cases Thursday and 14 more deaths due to COVID-19. The White House Coronavirus Task Force continues to recommend instituting a statewide mask mandate, which Gov. Kevin Stitt has said he will not do.
OREGON Salem: The rate of positive coronavirus tests dropped to 4.4%, the lowest it has been in two months, officials from Oregon’s health authority said Wednesday.
PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia: Temple University announced Thursday that the majority of classes will shift online through the end of the fall semester amid rising numbers of coronavirus cases among students.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: Three employees of the contractor that runs Burlingame State Campground are temporarily off the job after one of them tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a statement Wednesday from the Department of Environmental Management.
SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: The state Senate agreed Wednesday to allow all voters to cast absentee ballots because of the COVID-19 pandemic but rejected a proposal by Democrats to allow ballots to be placed in drop boxes. Instead, absentee ballots will still have to be mailed in or dropped off in person at voting offices in each county if the bill is approved by the House and signed by the governor.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: The state has been named the worst in the nation for COVID-19 after a surge in cases in the past week. The state reported 2,152 cases in the past seven days, or 243 cases per 100,000 people. That’s the highest amount of cases per 100 in the nation, according to tracking done by The New York Times.
TENNESSEE Nashville: City officials are bracing for the likelihood they will see more violations of Metro’s public health orders, particularly as they look to expand what residents and businesses are allowed to do during the coronavirus pandemic. Mayor John Cooper said he wants the ability to deputize additional city workers to help enforce those rules.
TEXAS Austin: The state Supreme Court on Wednesday stopped, for now, a plan to send more than 2 million mail-in ballot applications to registered Houston-area voters before the November election.
UTAH Provo: An organization calling itself Utahns for Medical Freedom has filed a referendum to repeal a citywide mandate that would require people to wear facial coverings indoors and outdoors in public areas and at large gatherings during the pandemic. City Recorder Amanda Ercanbrack said the referendum will not appear on this year’s ballot because the deadline has already passed.
VERMONT Rutland: Coronavirus testing clinics are being held in the city over three days as the state responds to an outbreak traced to a Killington lodge. The Wednesdaythrough-Friday testing at the Rutland Regional Medical Center is in addition to the Vermont Health Department’s pop-up clinic that was held Wednesday at the Asa Bloomer state office building.
VIRGINIA Richmond: The Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority brought in $1.2 billion in revenue during the 2020 fiscal year in a nearly $120 million increase from the previous year, even as the coronavirus pandemic left restaurants and bars shuttered for months.
WASHINGTON Seattle: State officials are providing nearly $100 million in rental assistance as a part of the federal coronavirus relief bill. The state Department of Commerce said its program focuses on preventing evictions by paying up to three months of rent to landlords of eligible participants.
WEST VIRGINIA Morgantown: Two days after bars around West Virginia University were allowed to reopen, Gov. Jim Justice shut them down indefinitely Wednesday, citing crowds of unmasked students and an increase in positive coronavirus cases. “Please, kids, we have got to bear down here,” Justice said at a news conference. “You are absolutely running the risk of killing somebody.”
WISCONSIN Milwaukee: Milwaukee County has seen a six-week decline in positive COVID-19 cases, signaling that measures taken by the county and the city could be helping slow the spread of the disease.
WYOMING Cheyenne: The Wyoming Public Defender’s office faces staffing losses that could severely affect its service to residents because of a 10% budget cut.