50 ★ States
ALABAMA Birmingham: The new coronavirus is spreading so quickly through the state that COVID-19 is rampant, and there’s little hope of real improvement until weeks after the holidays, health officials said Wednesday. “It’s out of control,” said Dr. Donald Williamson, president of the Alabama Hospital Association.
ALASKA Anchorage: A coronavirus outbreak at a state prison has doubled in a week. The Goose Creek Correctional Center reported 204 inmates tested positive by Wednesday.
ARIZONA Phoenix: Gov. Doug Ducey on Wednesday warned that coronavirus cases are increasing at an alarming rate but stopped short of implementing any major new restrictions or imposing a statewide mask mandate, despite pressure from Democratic state and local officials.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: Nearly 300 doctors from around the state urged Gov. Asa Hutchinson onWednesday to impose new restrictions as the state’s hospitalizations from the coronavirus hit a new record level.
CALIFORNIA Sacramento: Gov. Gavin Newsom said this week that he made a “bad mistake” by attending a birthday dinner amid a spike in coronavirus cases and promised to “own it” and move forward. But photos obtained by Fox 11 in Los Angeles show the governor in the company of multiple lobbyists and raise questions about how truthful he was in claiming the dinner was outdoors.
COLORADO Denver: Ski areas in counties that are listed at Level Red, or “severe risk,” will be allowed to keep their lifts turning when new restrictions take effect Friday, according to state health officials.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: An increase in demand for coronavirus testing in advance of Thanksgiving has led to hourslong lines across the state as providers scramble to add capacity and hire new workers. Capt. Dave Pytlik, a spokesperson for the Connecticut National Guard, said it has deployed about 50 Guard soldiers and airmen to help at testing sites.
DELAWARE Wilmington: Non-profits and advocates are rushing to set up emergency shelter space as a difficult year for the state’s homeless is expected to turn into an even harder winter. Statewide, most emergency shelters have operated at about halfcapacity since the pandemic began, to allow for sufficient distance between beds.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: D.C. Public Schools celebrated the return of some students to 25 elementary schools Wednesday, but the Washington Teachers’ Union declined to sign the tentative agreement to return to in-person instruction, WUSA-TV reports.
FLORIDA St. Petersburg: Five Florida mayors on Wednesday said they were extremely concerned about the rising number of coronavirus cases in the state and begged Gov. Ron DeSantis to change his approach to the virus in hopes of slowing the spread.
GEORGIA Atlanta: At least three school districts in the state are ceasing in-person instruction until after Thanksgiving because of coronavirus spread among teachers and students, while at least nine other districts have closed at least one school. Unlike in some other states, the vast majority of Georgia districts have been offering in-person instruction.
HAWAII Honolulu: The state Department of Health has created a contact tracing team that will perform its duties in languages such as Samoan, Marshallese and Chuukese. The new Pacific Islanders Outreach Team will also host online educational seminars about the coronavirus in a viewer’s native language, KITV-TV reports.
IDAHO Boise: The mayor says local police will begin enforcing mask orders starting next week in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
ILLINOIS Springfield: The number of new coronavirus infections reported in the state Wednesday fell below 10,000 for the first time in 13 days, but an analysis of data by the Associated Press shows exponential spread in the past 12 weeks and prompted the governor to say too many people still consider the pandemic a “hoax.”
INDIANA Indianapolis: Almost 1 in 6 of Indiana’s coronavirus infections during the pandemic has been confirmed in just the past week.
IOWA Cedar Rapids: As the state’s coronavirus outbreak worsens, officials are collecting information on individual hospitals’ capacity, staffing and resources – but they won’t share it with the public. Last week, Gov. Kim Reynolds suggested it was hospital staffing shortages, not available bed space, causing some hospitals to reach capacity. The data could bolster or refute her assertion.
KANSAS Topeka: Gov. Laura Kelly issued a new mask mandate Wednesday after the state again reported another record seven-day increase in new coronavirus cases. State law still allows Kansas’ 105 counties to opt out of such an order.
KENTUCKY Frankfort: Three agencies that support prevention of abuse and domestic violence are receiving $1.4 million from the state’s portion of federal coronavirus relief funds, officials said.
LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: The state sales tax won’t be charged on most purchases Friday and Saturday, under a one-time sales tax holiday aimed at helping people struggling with the pandemic and recovering from hurricanes Laura and Delta.
MAINE Portland: With COVID-19 surging at the same time as flu season, contact tracers with the Maine Center for Disease Control will only investigate coronavirus infections based on a positive lab test.
MARYLAND Annapolis: Gov. Larry Hogan has signed an executive order that would allow more than 1,000 inmates to be eligible for early release in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Gov. Charlie Baker on Wednesday urged residents to refrain from gathering with extended family and friends at Thanksgiving, saying casual indoor gatherings are helping fuel the new surge in cases in Massachusetts.
MICHIGAN Detroit: The state now ranks sixth nationally in coronavirus cases and fifth for COVID-19related deaths, said Sarah LyonCallo, director of the Bureau of Epidemiology and Population Health at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. In the past week alone, the state amassed 48,521 new confirmed cases – a number it took Michigan more than two months to reach at the start of the pandemic, state data shows.
MINNESOTA Minneapolis: More than 900 staff members in the Mayo Clinic Health System in the Midwest have been diagnosed with COVID-19 over the past two weeks as the coronavirus continues to surge across the region, officials said.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs tweeted Wednesday that roughly 60% of the state’s residents are in at least one of the vulnerable COVID-19 groups, which include such health issues as diabetes, heart disease, obesity and other systemic health issues.
MISSOURI Columbia: Republican Gov. Mike Parson on Thursday extended Missouri’s state of emergency through March as hospital staff struggled to keep up with a rise in coronavirus cases.
MONTANA Kalispell: Five Flathead County businesses have filed counterclaims against the state after being accused of violating public health orders by disregarding social distancing and mask mandates, The Daily Inter Lake reports.
NEBRASKA Omaha: Dr. James Lawler, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, said the pandemic has reached its most dangerous point since it began. “I’ve been in masscasualty situations in combat zones in Afghanistan, I’ve been in Ebola treatment centers in very austere conditions, and I have never been as frightened about the status of the health system as I am about the status of our health care system in Nebraska right now,” Lawler said.
NEVADA Reno: The number of coronavirus hospitalizations in the state has spiked to its highest since the start of the pandemic, as an autumn surge continues to rewrite the record book. In Reno, the Renown Regional Medical Center has set up two floors of supplemental hospital beds in a parking structure.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: Some holiday traditions are sticking around during the pandemic, like Concord’s Christmas Parade, with social distancing and mask-wearing encouraged. The Saturday event also will be streaming live this year on thegranitechannel.com.
Atlantic City:
NEW JERSEY Gov. Phil Murphy signed a measure Wednesday expanding charitable groups’ ability to sell raffle tickets online based around sporting events after lawmakers addressed concerns that the original bill was too close to internet gambling. Last month the Democratic governor conditionally vetoed a bill aimed at helping fundraising amid the pandemic.
NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: State officials said they were “tightening” the definition of essential businesses to exclude some large retailers that sell some essential supplies as the state reported a record-high number of COVID-19 cases for the second day in a row Wednesday.
NEW YORK New York: The day after he announced that schools would close to in-person learning, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday that other businesses will likely shut down within a week or two as well to curb the coronavirus’ spread.
NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: A state agency is joining a historically black college to help communities hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic address food insecurity needs. Gov. Roy Cooper’s office said the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities in the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services is partnering with Livingstone College in Salisbury to execute a communitybased program to provide critical resources to vulnerable populations.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: Winter sports practices and other extracurricular activities for youth and adults will be allowed to resume at the month’s end, but sports competition will remain suspended until mid-December, Gov. Doug Burgum and legislative leaders announced.
OHIO Columbus: Republican Gov. Mike DeWine tried to convince lawmakers Thursday not to pass legislation that would limit the powers of his administration and health officials as the coronavirus’ spread across Ohio reached new peaks. For the first time, DeWine designated one of the state’s most populous areas, Franklin County, as a purple zone on the state’s color-coded alert system.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The state’s recent surge in coronavirus cases is linked to Halloween events, according to a report by the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Oklahoma didn’t restrict trick-or-treating and has not limited social gatherings.
OREGON Portland: The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the state has surpassed 400, the highest number since the pandemic began and a 137% increase since the beginning of November, according to data released Wednesday.
PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: The state’s contact tracing system is under strain as the explosion of new COVID-19 cases overtakes health workers’ ability to keep up, hampering efforts to slow the spread.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: High schools will be limited to 25% capacity after Thanksgiving, meaning most students will shift to remote-only learning, in a move meant to control the spread of the coronavirus, state education officials said.
SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: As the number of new COVID-19 cases continues to rise, health officials reported the state’s first influenza death of the season Wednesday. Health officials said the death underscored the need for everyone to get a flu shot. “So many generations before us would have given anything to have a flu vaccine,” the state epidemiologist, Dr. Linda Bell, said in a statement.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: Gov. Kristi Noem on Wednesday defended those who choose not to wear masks in public, even as her state deals with one of the nation’s worst coronavirus outbreaks. Those who don’t wear masks are making a “personal decision” and deserve respect, the Republican said during a news conference.
TENNESSEE Nashville: The city is tightening restrictions to fight the surging coronavirus by limiting gatherings to eight people, Mayor John Cooper announced Thursday.
UTAH Salt Lake City: The state could receive its first round of a coronavirus vaccine as early as mid-December, but wider distribution likely won’t be available until July, health officials said Wednesday.
VERMONT Montpelier: Gov. Phil Scott is urging Vermonters to honor the people lost to COVID-19 by renewing their commitment to protecting one another. The state set another one-day record Thursday for new coronavirus cases, with nearly 150.
VIRGINIA Falls Church: A judge on Thursday rejected a legal challenge from one of the nation’s largest gun shows to pandemic restrictions in Virginia that will force cancellation of an exposition. The Nation’s Gun Show is held several times a year at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly. A three-day show expected to draw thousands was set to start Friday.
WASHINGTON Blaine: Federal investigators are looking into a northwestern Washington company for claiming its products can protect people from COVID-19. The website copperH20.com claims its $32.50 copper water bottles will help keep the virus away, KING-TV reports.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: Gov. Jim Justice ruled out new shutdowns on businesses and other public life for now. He said rumors by some of his conservative critics that he wants to shut down businesses are “hogwash.”
WISCONSIN Wausau: One of central Wisconsin’s largest health systems plans to send some coronavirus patients home to ensure there are enough beds for the “sickest of the sick.” Aspirus CEO Matt Heywood said facilities at its Wausau hospital are nearly full, and staff are strained.
WYOMING Cheyenne: The state will use up to $15 million in federal coronavirus relief funding to help petroleum companies move ahead with oil and gas drilling projects interrupted by the pandemic and plug idle wells.