50 ★States

ALABAMA Montgomery: After summer surges that stretched the capacity of health care facilities – and prompted additional statewide action to stanch case spread racing out of control – the state is seeing some relief from COVID-19. Hospitalization numbers in Montgomery County are at their lowest rates, giving health care workers something of a respite.

ALASKA Anchorage: Race officials say the 2021 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race will continue as scheduled in March 2021. Officials say they’ll work with an infectious disease epidemiologist from Emory University in Atlanta to develop proper precautions in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

ARIZONA Phoenix: The pandemic is prompting Arizona State University to shorten its fall semester by a week, with any instruction during the one remaining week after the Thanksgiving break conducted virtually.

ARKANSAS Little Rock: The number of reported coronavirus cases in the state increased by 549 on Sunday, while the number of deaths due to COVID-19 stayed the same, according to the Arkansas Department of Health.

CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: The state’s death count from the coronavirus surpassed 15,000 on Sunday even as the state saw widespread improvement in infection levels.

COLORADO Boulder: The University of Colorado has forced some students to move out of their dorms to create more isolation housing for students with coronavirus infections as case numbers continue to rise on campus.

CONNECTICUT Storrs: The University of Connecticut on Saturday placed a second dormitory under quarantine after several students tested positive for the coronavirus.

DELAWARE Wilmington: the which way have for the been state’s struggling nonprofits, Help to keep is on their services going during the pandemic, after Gov. John Carney and New Castle County announced the $25 million Delaware Nonprofit Support Fund.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: The district has added Delaware back to its list of “high-risk states” that will require travelers to selfquarantine for two weeks upon arrival to D.C. due to the coronavirus, WUSA-TV reports.

FLORIDA Key West: Sloppy Joe’s, the iconic bar that Ernest Hemingway frequented during the 1930s when he lived on the island, reopened Thursday after closing six months ago because of the pandemic. By noon, the bar had already reached the 50% capacity allowed by law, including three Hemingway look-alikes.

GEORGIA Atlanta: The state has surpassed 300,000 confirmed coronavirus infections amid hints that a decline in new cases may be leveling out. Georgia remains the state with the 12th-most new cases per capita in the past 14 days, according to data kept by the Associated Press.

HAWAII Hilo: An outbreak at a veterans home has killed 18 residents and yielded three different investigations by state and federal officials. There have been 69 residents at the Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home who have tested positive for the coronavirus, with 28 receiving care in the Hilo Medical Center’s designated coronavirus unit.

IDAHO Boise: The state will remain under restrictions in the fourth and final stage of reopening the economy during the coronavirus pandemic for at least another two weeks, Gov. Brad Little said Friday. The Republican governor said intensive care unit hospitalizations of those infected remain too high, though many other metrics, such as a decline in the infection positivity rate among those tested, are improving.

ILLINOIS Chicago: Parents and players protested Saturday outside a state building in the city, pleading with Gov. J.B. Pritzker to lift his fall ban on some popular high school sports.

INDIANA Indianapolis: Animal control officials are seeking a new home for an abandoned dog found tied to a tree with a note attached to the collar, according to WTHR-TV. “I was a spoiled girl, my dad gave me my own couch to lay on and my own memory foam bed,” the note said. “My dad lost his job and soon his home from COVID.”

KANSAS Lawrence: City officials are giving police more power to enforce crowd size limits and other health orders designed to stem the spread of the coronavirus after neighbors raised concerns about large house parties near the University of Kansas campus.

KENTUCKY Louisville: Adult obesity continues to increase in the Bluegrass State, which is especially alarming during the pandemic because obesity is linked to a higher rate of hospitalizations and more severe outcomes for COVID-19 patients, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

LOUISIANA Lafayette: Lafayette Parish School System employees are fielding calls from students about how to log in to virtual learning, change their passwords and other technical issues that crop up as they cope with remote instruction during COVID-19. During the first week of school, the help desk fielded nearly 1,000 requests, and 95% have been solved, said Ryan Domengeaux, CEO of the William C. Schumacher Family Foundation.

MAINE Portland: A late frost, devastating drought and labor troubles wrought by the coronavirus pandemic conspired to make 2020 a difficult year for producers of wild blueberries. The pandemic made it harder to hire seasonal workers and created a need for extra safety measures that complicated the harvest.

MARYLAND Baltimore: A new version of the state’s unemployment insurance portal created frustration among claimants who said they were unable to file their claims upon its launch, before the issue was later resolved.

MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Housing advocates are pressing state lawmakers to take action on a bill they said would extend protections for tenants facing eviction due to the pandemic. The initial pause on evictions and foreclosures in Massachusetts took effect in April and was scheduled to expire Aug. 18 but was extended until Oct. 17.

MICHIGAN Lansing: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said her use of emergency powers to manage the pandemic is not unique, and she worries that efforts to take away her unilateral authority could lead coronavirus cases to spike to dangerous levels.

MINNESOTA St. Paul: Six months after declaring a state of emergency to combat the pandemic, Gov. Tim Walz believes the steps he took saved lives but acknowledges that if he had known earlier in the crisis what he knows now, he would have done some things differently. For example, the Democrat said in an interview, “maybe I could have extended the stay-at-home order a bit longer” to prevent more Minnesotans from contracting the virus.

MISSISSIPPI Brookhaven: A teacher says she was fired after refusing to teach in a crowded classroom amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Shunta Davis told WJTV it would be impossible to maintain social distance with the 24 or so students she was supposed to teach at Lipsey Middle School.

MISSOURI Kansas City: A Kansas City Chiefs fan who tested positive for COVID-19 one day after attending the season opener was allowed into an open-air field box in the stadium’s lower level without a negative test through a lapse in protocol, health officials say.

MONTANA Helena: Two universities in the state have reported declines in student enrollment, attributing the drop to shifted student plans during the pandemic amid debates over remote learning or in-person instruction. The University of Montana reported a 4.5% decline in student enrollment, while Montana State University reported a 3% decline.

NEBRASKA Lincoln: Six more state corrections employees have tested positive for the coronavirus as the number of cases in the state prison system continues to grow.

NEVADA Las Vegas: Patrons showed up at bars in and around Las Vegas to celebrate their reopening after weeks of a coronavirus-driven shutdown. Customers came late Sunday just before midnight. But most bars saw light foot traffic, as they must follow social distancing guidelines and limit capacity.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Portsmouth: With the arrival of cooler weather, restaurateurs are worried that outdoor dining will soon come to an end, necessitating changes to indoor dining guidelines to help restaurants survive until spring. The New Hampshire Lodging and Restaurant Association is working with state and health officials for options when wintry weather makes outdoor dining impossible, said Mike Somers, the association’s president.

NEW JERSEY Trenton: The state has surpassed 200,000 cases of coronavirus, becoming the eighth in the U.S. to reach the grim milestone.

NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: Health officials on Sunday reported 67 new confirmed coronavirus cases with two additional deaths, increasing the statewide totals to 27,579 cases and 849 known deaths since the pandemic began.

NEW YORK Albany: Commercial tenants are protected from evictions and foreclosures through Oct. 20 under an executive order announced Monday. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the order helps commercial tenants and mortgagors hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic restrictions.

NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: The state’s unemployment rate dropped markedly in August, according to government figures, falling to 6.5%, nearly half the record rate during the spring at the height of business and movement restrictions issued during the COVID-19 pandemic.

NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: State health officials on Sunday confirmed 352 new positive tests for the coronavirus. There were more than 562 new cases per 100,000 people in North Dakota over the past two weeks, which means the state ranks first in the country for new cases per capita, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

OHIO Cincinnati: A local nonprofit is offering free COVID-19 testing to the homeless population and general public. Maslow’s Army, in partnership with several local agencies, is working to reduce the spread of COVID-19 by offering people the option of walk-up or drive-thru testing every Sunday until December.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The number of reported coronavirus cases in the state increased by 1,101 on Monday, marking the fifth consecutive daily increase of more than 1,000 reported cases, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health.

OREGON Salem: A Marion County woman died after testing positive for COVID-19, officials from the Oregon Health Authority announced Sunday. The new reported death raises the state’s death toll from the pandemic to 526.

PENNSYLVANIA Middletown: Gov. Tom Wolf will veto a bill that would give school districts the sole ability to make decisions on sports, including whether and how many spectators to allow, he said Monday.

RHODE ISLAND Providence: The state’s two casinos, which reopened in June after being closed for several months because of the coronavirus, are further expanding their weekend hours later this month. Twin River Casino Hotel in Lincoln and the Tiverton Casino Hotel will be open all weekend until 3 a.m. on Sundays and also will remain open 24 hours on Sundays before a Monday holiday starting Sept. 25, Twin River announced Monday.

SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: A federally funded initiative to ramp up coronavirus testing in the nation’s hot spots has arrived in the city. People ages 5 and older will be able to access free tests through self-administered nasal swabs at two locations in Columbia for the next two weeks.

SOUTH DAKOTA Fort Pierre: The Stanley County School District is moving all classes to distance learning beginning Tuesday because of staff exposure to the coronavirus.

TENNESSEE Memphis: Christian Brothers High School is moving to online courses for the next two weeks after six coronavirus cases were identified among students and staff, administration officials said Monday.

TEXAS Austin: State health officials on Sunday reported 2,466 new coronavirus cases and 45 more deaths due to COVID-19.

UTAH Salt Lake City: The University of Utah will stop in-person classes for two weeks as the state deals with a coronavirus spike shortly before a planned U.S. vice presidential debate Oct. 7, officials said Monday.

VERMONT Bellows Falls: The community is reviewing its requirements for parade permits after members of the town fire department held a parade to commemorate the 9/11 attacks without masks.

VIRGINIA Newport News: Most classes at the state’s community colleges will remain online early next year, the system’s head announced months before the spring semester, to “minimize the disruptions” for students from COVID-19.

WASHINGTON Olympia: Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman is asking a court to declare that electronic signatures are not acceptable on initiative petitions. Some initiative sponsors have urged her office to accept them already, especially given concerns about the pandemic.

WEST VIRGINIA Morgantown: West Virginia University is spending nearly $4 million on extra buses for public transportation between campuses this semester after its Personal Rapid Transit system was shut down due to concerns about the spread of the coronavirus.

WISCONSIN Milwaukee: The Wisconsin Department of Health Services said Sunday that more than 100,000 people have tested positive for the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic. Officials confirmed 1,665 positive tests in the prior day.

WYOMING Yellowstone National Park: Yellowstone National Park had its second-busiest August on record, but tourism is still down substantially this year, park officials say.