HIGHLIGHT: NEW YORK
New York: Like battle-hardened veterans, hospitals and nursing homes are bracing for a potential resurgence of coronavirus patients, drawing on lessons learned in the spring when the outbreak brought the nation’s largest city to its knees. Those hard-won insights make it far less likely that the city’s hospitals would collapse under a second wave of COVID-19, health care leaders said. Even without a vaccine, doctors are touting increasingly effective coronavirus treatments, three-month supplies of personal protective equipment and contingency staffing plans. Similar preparations are underway at hard-hit nursing homes.
ALABAMA Birmingham: A tradition that bills itself as the nation’s longest-running Veterans Day parade is being canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. The National Veterans Day Parade in Birmingham will be replaced by an online-only event for the first time.
ALASKA Juneau: The leaders of the state House and Senate said they do not have the votes to call the Legislature into special session to extend a disaster declaration for the COVID-19 pandemic and asked Gov. Mike Dunleavy for his help Monday.
ARIZONA Tucson: The most prominent exhibition in the Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Showcase that draws thousands of visitors annually has been canceled for January and February because of the pandemic.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: The state reached a new high for COVID-19 hospitalizations Monday as its coronavirus cases grew by nearly 600.
CALIFORNIA Sacramento: A judge on Monday preliminarily ordered Gov. Gavin Newsom to stop issuing directives related to the coronavirus that might interfere with state law. Sutter County Superior Court Judge Sarah Heckman tentatively ruled that one of the dozens of executive orders Newsom has issued overstepped his authority and was “an unconstitutional exercise of legislative power.”
COLORADO Denver: Gov. Jared Polis proposed a $35 billion state budget Monday for the fiscal year starting next July 1 that he said would restore drastic cuts caused by the pandemic, promote job growth and replenish state reserves.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: The state will reimpose some restrictions on businesses and gatherings, including reducing the capacity in restaurants again, as coronavirus rates increase, Gov. Ned Lamont said Monday.
DELAWARE Wilmington: The average number of daily COVID-19 cases has increased to 111.3, which the state considers to be an indicator of “significant community spread.”
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: D.C. Public Schools will no longer open select elementary schools for in-person learning Nov. 9 and will continue all-virtual learning for students in grades pre-K-12, WUSA-TV reports. The move comes after the Washington Teachers Union urged its members to take a mental health day or call out sick Monday in protest of the DCPS school reopening plan.
FLORIDA Tallahassee: Twenty-eight students and one employee tested positive last week for the coronavirus at Florida State University, according to the university’s dashboard. Florida A&M University’s dashboard showed 11 students self-reporting positive tests for the week ending Oct. 30, along with four employees.
GEORGIA Atlanta: The state is nearing 8,000 deaths from COVID-19 as infections from the novel coronavirus continue to rise. In one good sign, though, the numbers of cases and hospitalizations rose more slowly last week than the week before.
HAWAII Honolulu: A lawyer for U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams pleaded not guilty Monday on behalf of the official who was cited by Honolulu police for being in a closed park during a trip to help the state cope with a spike in coronavirus cases.
IDAHO Boise: The number of voting locations across the state for Tuesday’s election was down about 15% from usual due to the coronavirus, but a huge surge in early voting more than compensated, state election officials said Monday. Some locations were closed or moved to allow for social distancing.
ILLINOIS Springfield: With the entire state scheduled to be under stricter rules on social interaction by Wednesday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday reported another near-record day for new infections of the coronavirus. There were 6,222 new cases reported, the fifth-highest total since the pandemic hit Illinois in February – and the four days with higher numbers have all occurred since Thursday.
INDIANA Terre Haute: School districts’ long-running struggles to find substitute teachers have become more difficult as fears about the coronavirus keep some veteran substitutes away, forcing school staff to fill in more often for absent teachers across the state.
IOWA Des Moines: The number of people being treated for the coronavirus in the state’s hospitals continued to soar Monday, prompting doctors and hospital officials to warn their facilities and staff could be overwhelmed without serious efforts to curtail the virus’s spread.
KANSAS Topeka: The state set another record Monday for its largest number of reported coronavirus cases over seven days, hitting some of its most rural counties hard.
KENTUCKY Frankfort: Coming off its record weekly high for COVID-19 cases, the state reported its worst Monday, with 1,032 new cases, as the governor urged people to “buckle down” and follow guidelines.
LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: An author who has written about the 1918 flu pandemic and the 1927 Mississippi River flood is receiving the state’s annual writing award. John M. Barry has been chosen for the 21st annual Louisiana Writer Award. “The resurgence of interest in ‘The Great Influenza’ since the start of the coronavirus outbreak proves the timeliness, and timelessness, of John’s work,” State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton said.
MAINE Augusta: MaineHousing officials say they are reopening the COVID-19 Rental Relief Program for renters who can’t afford to pay because of the pandemic.
MARYLAND Baltimore: The city’s school system will open 44 schools by mid-November to small groups of students having difficulty learning online, officials announced Monday.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Gov. Charlie Baker announced a series of new measures Monday meant to curb rising COVID-19 cases in the state, including a revised stay-athome advisory, earlier closing times for many businesses and a tougher face-covering mandate.
MICHIGAN Detroit: Some school districts in the metro area are temporarily shutting down in-person learning in response to rising cases of COVID-19 nearby.
MINNESOTA St. Paul: The state added 2,954 new coronavirus cases Monday and nine COVID-19-related deaths, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. Workplace outbreaks are up, including at a wide range of manufacturing plants as well as retail and office locations, Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm told reporters Monday.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: Enrollment in the state’s public universities has stayed fairly even in the past year despite the pandemic, according to figures released Monday by the universities’ board of trustees.
MISSOURI Springfield: Mercy Hospital is reopening an outdoor mobile respiratory unit as it tries to respond to high numbers of COVID-19 cases just as the flu season begins.
MONTANA Great Falls: Gov. Steve Bullock said Monday that hospitals in Great Falls, Shelby and Glasgow are among five facilities to get help from nursing teams provided by the federal government as Montana posted 757 new COVID-19 cases.
NEBRASKA Omaha: The surge in COVID-19 cases has led to recordhigh hospitalizations that are straining the state’s health care system, officials said Monday. Nebraska’s largest hospitals have started limiting elective surgeries as they work to cope with the increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations, said Dr. Bill Lydiatt, chief medical officer for Methodist Health System’s two hospitals in Omaha.
NEVADA Carson City: An employee working in Gov. Steve Sisolak’s office in the capital tested positive for the coronavirus, sending staff members who came into close contact home to work remotely for the second time in a month.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: This year’s open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act starts Sunday, with an official predicting a lot of new people shopping for health insurance because they’ve lost their jobs and coverage.
NEW JERSEY Trenton: Certain workers who missed texts, emails and calls from the state Department of Labor will have a second chance to certify for $300 a week in extra federal unemployment benefits, the agency said Monday. The state will be in touch “as soon as new guidance is available,” the agency said.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: The state marked another daily high Monday, at 380, for the number of patients hospitalized as a result of COVID-19 infections.
NORTH CAROLINA Asheville: The decrease in driving amid the pandemic and the elimination of coal burning at Duke Energy’s power plant get credit for the state’s cleaner air, said Mike Abraczinskas, director of the Department of Environmental Quality’s N.C. Division of Air Quality. “Without a doubt, we’re seeing the best air quality that we have ever measured in the history of our program,” he said of the Division of Air Quality, in its 51st year.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: A handful of cities are involved in the emerging science of testing wastewater for the coronavirus. North Dakota’s Department of Environmental Quality is heading the testing in Bismarck, Fargo, West Fargo, Mandan and Williston with plans to expand it to other communities.
OHIO Marion: The centennial of President Warren G. Harding’s election was marked Monday in his home county with a modest radio tribute rather than the grand museum and homestead reopening envisioned before the pandemic. Harding, a Republican, was elected Nov. 2, 1920, on a platform of restoring normalcy after World War I and the 1918 influenza pandemic.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Hundreds of new state laws usually take effect every year, but this year there were only about 60 because legislators were not able to meet as much due to the pandemic. All new laws took effect Sunday. One to modernize court proceedings was propelled by the pandemic. Another is aimed at preventing porch piracy, which happens more frequently because of increased online shopping.
OREGON Salem: Over three days – Saturday, Sunday and Monday – the Oregon Health Authority reported more than 1,600 new confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state. The rise in case numbers, transmission and positivity rate has been occurring in Oregon since mid-September.
PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia: A colonial-themed restaurant on the site of a 1773 tavern in Philadelphia’s Old City has closed due to decreased business stemming from the pandemic. The Philadelphia Business Journal reports City Tavern’s last day of operations was Saturday.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: The Providence Teachers Union has sued the school district and state Education Department to force the temporary closure of a middle school where dozens of staff members are out due to coronavirus-related concerns.
SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: New coronavirus cases leaped in the state in the week ending Saturday, rising 18.7% as 7,271 cases were reported.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: The mayor said Monday that he’s against a proposed ordinance that would require residents to wear face coverings because of the coronavirus. Mayor Paul TenHaken said while he believes wearing masks is important, health care professionals have told him they don’t see the need for a mandate, and it would be difficult to enforce, KELO-TV reports.
TENNESSEE Nashville: Mayor John Cooper announced Monday that the Metro Public Health Department amended Phase 3 of its reopening plan, increasing capacity at bars and restaurants. Bars and restaurants may now operate with socially distanced tables for up to 100 patrons per floor and 100 patrons outdoors.
TEXAS El Paso: The city’s hospitals reached a record number of COVID-19 patients Monday as intensive care units hit overcapacity, officials said. As of Tuesday morning, there were 998 people hospitalized for COVID-19, including 293 in intensive care and 175 on ventilators, city-county public health officials said. The record number of intensive care patients is higher than the 234 staffed ICU beds the county lists as being available.
UTAH Park City: The Summit County clerk’s office was under quarantine Monday after the staff was exposed to the coronavirus, but officials said it likely wouldn’t delay the announcement of election results. The official ballot count will still be available Nov. 17 as planned.
VERMONT Brattleboro: The nonprofit organization that puts on an annual cow parade and festival in the city each summer has suspended all its programs because of lost income from the COVID-19 pandemic. “Our income depends on the parade and festival,” Orly Munzing, founder of Strolling of the Heifers, told the Brattleboro Reformer.
VIRGINIA Richmond: A Christmas parade that typically draws 100,000 people to the city will be a televisedonly event this year amid coronavirus safety concerns. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports the Dominion Energy Christmas Parade will be broadcast Dec. 5 and rebroadcast on Christmas Day.
WASHINGTON Seattle: More than half the residents of a work-release facility have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the state Department of Corrections. The outbreak at Bishop Lewis Work Release on Seattle’s First Hill has spiked since two cases were identified Oct. 16, The Seattle Times reports.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: The state began the week with a record spike in confirmed coronavirus cases as Gov. Jim Justice continued his aggressive push for residents to get tested. Health officials reported 2,245 new cases for the seven days ending Sunday – a 46% increase from the previous week and a 30% jump from the prior record set two weeks ago.
WISCONSIN Madison: State education officials say enrollment at public schools has dropped by 3% this year, adding more misery to funding problems created by the coronavirus.
WYOMING Cheyenne: Gov. Mark Gardon plans to isolate himself for more than a week after possibly being exposed to the coronavirus.