USA TODAY International Edition
50 ★ States
ALABAMA Alexander City: Amid surging coronavirus infections, the city’s schools will go online beginning Monday and stay that way until after Thanksgiving, Superintendent Keith Lankford announced Wednesday.
ARIZONA Phoenix: Gov. Doug Ducey has ordered hospitals, testing labs and other health care facilities to keep reporting detailed information about COVID- 19 to the state so officials can gauge the spread of the coronavirus outbreak and availability of hospital beds and other resources.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: Coronavirus cases continued to surge Wednesday, with the state posting a new record one- day spike in cases – 1,962 – for the second time in less than a week.
CALIFORNIA Fresno: Mayor- elect Jerry Dyer has tested positive for the coronavirus after attending an election night dinner with officials including a Fresno County supervisor whose diagnosis last week prompted the Board of Supervisors to close its offices and postpone its meeting.
COLORADO Colorado Springs: Inmates at the El Paso County jail were not routinely given masks to stop the spread of the coronavirus until last week, when the facility turned into the site of the state’s second- largest outbreak, a jail spokesperson said.
CONNECTICUT Storrs: The University of Connecticut is placing five dormitories under quarantine after 11 students tested positive for the coronavirus. Combined with another 23 students who live off campus testing positive, it was the highest daily total of new student infections since testing began in August, officials said.
DELAWARE Dover: In- person visitation for some state prisons has been temporarily suspended as a precaution to protect inmates and staff from COVID- 19, officials said.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: The D. C. Council is inching closer to approving a bill that would allow children as young as 11 to get recommended vaccines without a parent’s approval, WUSA- TV reports. There would be some requirements, but direction overall would come from a doctor. A final vote is set for Tuesday.
FLORIDA Tallahassee: The state Department of Health reported 5,607 new coronavirus cases and 72 deaths Thursday. The daily testing positivity rate stands at 7.35%.
GEORGIA Atlanta: St. Pius X Catholic High School switched to online learning this week after about 50 students tested positive for the coronavirus, which they may have contracted at a Halloween party, officials said.
HAWAII Wailuku: Lanai residents are the state’s first to participate in a pilot project to test a smartphone app launched Wednesday that alerts users of possible coronavirus exposure.
IDAHO Boise: The state’s unchecked spread of the coronavirus has become so overwhelming in some areas that medical care providers are struggling even to answer all the phone calls from would- be patients, a health care executive said Wednesday. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare reported more than 77,000 residents have been infected with the virus – including a record 1,693 new cases reported Wednesday – and at least 733 have died.
ILLINOIS Springfield: General Assembly leaders have announced the postponement of the Legislature’s veto session amid a COVID- 19 surge. Senate President Don Harmon said it’s no time to bring hundreds of people from around the state together.
INDIANA Indianapolis: The governor announced Wednesday that he would reinstate some coronavirus restrictions after several weeks of refusing to take such action. The new steps being imposed by Gov. Eric Holcomb will limit social gathering sizes in counties at the higher- risk levels of coronavirus spread, a metric that would cover 87 of the state’s 92 counties as of Wednesday.
IOWA Iowa City: A Republican congresswoman- elect who flipped a seat in last week’s election said Thursday that she tested positive for the coronavirus. Ashley Hinson was often but not always seen wearing masks at events when not speaking, including an indoor one with Donald Trump Jr. on Oct. 26, when hundreds of mostly mask- less supporters listened as the president’s son said the COVID- 19 death rate was “almost nothing.”
KANSAS Topeka: The state set records again Wednesday for new coronavirus cases and related hospitalizations. Several counties reported that some people won’t provide complete – or any – information about their close contacts, making it more difficult to trace the virus’s spread. A state privacy law enacted in June allows people to refuse.
KENTUCKY Frankfort: The state Supreme Court on Thursday upheld Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s authority to issue coronavirus- related orders putting restrictions on businesses and individuals.
LOUISIANA New Orleans: A judge on Thursday rejected an effort by Republican state House members to force an end to Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards’ statewide mask mandate and other restrictions.
MAINE Portland: Retail workers who encounter people who won’t comply with mask rules shouldn’t have to enforce those themselves, Gov. Janet Mills said. “They’re not the COVID cops, and I don’t want to put that on them,” Mills said. “But they can call the police, and they can call the local code enforcement officer or health officer.”
MARYLAND Edgewater: Police say they’re looking for a man and a woman who attacked employees of an ice cream store after they were asked to wear masks. WBAL- TV reports the two employees ended up in the hospital. One was still there with broken bones as of Wednesday.
MASSACHUSETTS Fitchburg: Another district is abandoning plans to return to in- person instruction this calendar year. Fitchburg Public Schools said Tuesday it will continue remote learning until Jan. 4.
MICHIGAN Lansing: Hospital leaders warned Thursday that more than 3,000 people are hospitalized with the coronavirus in the state – a rate that is doubling every two weeks and is expected to soon top the spring peak of about 4,000.
MINNESOTA Minneapolis: Gov. Tim Walz said he wishes the neighboring Dakotas would take more aggressive steps to slow the spread of the coronavirus, singling out South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem for criticism. She “has taken to traveling to other states and criticizing others – now at a time when that state’s hospital capacity is overwhelmed,” he said.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: A COVID- 19 vaccine could be available to health care workers and first responders as soon as next month, the state’s top health officials said Thursday. State Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers said Mississippi is tentatively approved to get an initial round of 183,000 doses of a vaccine officials hope to see delivered by mid- December.
MISSOURI O’Fallon: Gov. Mike Parson on Thursday announced new guidance aimed at keeping more kids, teachers and staff in school, even those who have been exposed to the coronavirus, citing concerns that quarantines interrupt learning and create staff shortages. The new guidance does not require quarantining if both the infected person and exposed person wore masks.
MONTANA Helena: Republican Gov.- elect Greg Gianforte has unveiled a 21- member coronavirus task force. The team includes health care experts, business owners, school administrators, law enforcement, and local and tribal leaders.
NEBRASKA Omaha: The state reported more than 2,000 new coronavirus cases for the second day in a row Wednesday, and the number of people hospitalized with COVID- 19 remains at record levels.
NEVADA Las Vegas: The Clark County School District has announced that most of its employees will work remotely after Gov. Steve Sisolak urged people to stay home.
Concord:
NEW HAMPSHIRE Gov. Chris Sununu on Wednesday praised the efforts of New Hampshire’s congressional delegation and state and local leaders for continuing to work on funds and programs for veterans during a difficult year marked by the coronavirus pandemic. “We actually had two new veterans homeless shelters open up this year,” he said at the New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery.
NEW JERSEY Newark: Residents in some parts of the city are under a 9 p. m. curfew on weekdays and
10 p. m. on weekends for the rest of the month as officials seek to stop a surge in coronavirus infections.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: An alternate care overflow facility designed to house coronavirus patients has remained locked and unused as hospitals across the state are increasingly slammed. The state and the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers invested $ 3.6 million to renovate the site, promising it would be “operational” by April 27, the Albuquerque Journal reports.
NEW YORK Syracuse: Two big upstate colleges, Syracuse University and the University at Albany, said they would switch to fully remote learning as the coronavirus pandemic continued its resurgence.
NORTH CAROLINA Charlotte: The CEO of Atrium Health said he anticipates the Charlotte- based hospital system will be chosen as an “early site” to distribute the COVID- 19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer Inc. CEO Gene Woods said at a board meeting Tuesday that Atrium has already purchased refrigeration units that could store 300,000 doses, The Charlotte Observer reports.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: The North Dakota Nurses Association said it does not support a move to allow health workers who have tested positive for the coronavirus but do not have symptoms to remain on the job. Gov. Doug Burgum supports the idea as part of an effort to ease stress on hospitals and medical personnel trying to keep up with skyrocketing coronavirus cases.
OHIO Columbus: Gov. Mike DeWine’s statewide address urging Ohioans to take the coronavirus more seriously included threats to close bars, restaurants and gyms for a second time, angering the Ohio Restaurant Association, which said another shutdown would devastate the industry.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The White House Coronavirus Task Force has again recommended a statewide mask mandate for Oklahoma amid a surge of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations that includes an increase of nearly 1,000 cases per day during the past seven days. Data from Johns Hopkins University on Thursday shows Oklahoma’s seven- day rolling average of new cases per day has risen from 1,185 to 2,080.
OREGON Salem: The state recorded 876 new presumptive or confirmed coronavirus cases Wednesday and five new deaths. The Oregon Health Authority reported a record 285 confirmed COVID- 19 patients in hospitals Tuesday.
PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia: The state’s largest teachers union has demanded that school districts in nearly two dozen counties with the worst outbreaks tell students to temporarily learn from home.
RHODE ISLAND Cranston: The Cranston Public Schools district has halted all in- person learning amid an “abundance” of coronavirus cases, administrators said.
SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: Although the recession brought on by the pandemic has strained South Carolina’s unemployment trust fund, the state won’t raise unemployment taxes on most businesses next year, Gov. Henry McMaster announced Thursday.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: The state broke a record Thursday for the number of new coronavirus cases in one day, with more than 2,000 people testing positive.
TENNESSEE Nashville: The head of Meharry Medical College, the nation’s oldest historically Black medical school, on Thursday urged Black and Hispanic people to participate in COVID- 19 vaccine trials to ensure the treatments are effective in hard- hit communities. Dr. James Hildreth acknowledged that minority populations have at times been used as “guinea pigs” in medical research and that overcoming hesitation with new treatments remains a battle today.
TEXAS El Paso: El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego is extending his shutdown order, which closed all nonessential businesses in response to a record- breaking surge in new COVID- 19 cases and related hospitalizations, until Dec. 1.
UTAH Provo: Alpine School District officials said a public meeting in American Fork on Tuesday was disrupted by protesters who characterized the use of masks and facial coverings in schools as “child abuse.”
VERMONT Burlington: K- 12 teachers and staff will have the opportunity to receive routine coronavirus testing starting next week, an effort state officials hope will allow them to track spread of the virus in communities. The state set a single- day record for new infections Thursday for a second straight day.
VIRGINIA Richmond: Gov. Ralph Northam has urged Virginians to exercise precautions when gathering together for Thanksgiving, noting that coronavirus cases are trending upward again. “You can give it to your mom, or you can give it to your grandfather,” he said, urging maskwearing even around family.
WASHINGTON Olympia: Gov. Jay Inslee’s office said in an email that while no new restrictions would be announced in his televised address Thursday evening, he would let the public know they are actively under consideration.
WEST VIRGINIA Keyser: Mineral County Schools will remain all- virtual next week, and all extracurricular activities are suspended in light of escalating numbers of positive coronavirus tests.
WISCONSIN Eau Claire: Mayo Clinic Health System says its hospitals in the state’s northwest region are full to capacity.
WYOMING Casper: The state has recorded its highest number of hospitalizations from the coronavirus for the sixth straight day Wednesday with 183. Wyoming set a new all- time high for COVID- 19 hospitalizations last Friday with 147 patients, the Casper Star- Tribune reports, and it has surpassed that figure on each subsequent day since.