50 ★ States
ALABAMA Haleyville: Republican U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt said he is in quarantine and will miss votes this week after being potentially exposed to the coronavirus.
ALASKA Juneau: U.S. Rep. Don Young said he was hospitalized over the weekend with COVID-19. In March, the Republican referred to the coronavirus as the “beer virus” and said the media had contributed to hysteria. He called COVID-19 serious Monday and encouraged Alaskans to follow federal health guidelines.
ARIZONA Phoenix: The state reported nearly 3,000 new coronavirus cases Tuesday as deaths, hospitalizations and testing positivity also rose, and the state’s top education official said tougher steps are needed.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: A White House panel says the coronavirus situation is worsening in the state and is recommending limiting restaurants’ indoor capacity in most of Arkansas to less than 25%.
CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: The Farmer John meatpacking plant has been assessed more than $58,000 for safety violations that state officials say exposed more than 300 workers to coronavirus infections, including three who were hospitalized.
COLORADO Peterson Air Force Base: The pandemic has left the outsized population of Canadian troops deployed to Colorado Springs and their families isolated in a foreign land, with crossing the border meaning spending two weeks in quarantine. Now, Canadian military leaders here are trying to figure out how to deliver holiday cheer to the nearly 150 families here, The Gazette reports.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: The organization that oversees high school sports in the state has decided to postpone the start of its winter season until mid-January at the earliest amid a surge in coronavirus cases.
DELAWARE Smyrna: About 20 inmates at the state’s largest prison, James T. Vaughn Correctional Center, tested positive for the coronavirus.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: The city reported 245 new cases of the coronavirus Tuesday, tying its second-highest count to date, WUSATV reports.
FLORIDA Tampa: Just months after winning the Stanley Cup, officials with the Tampa Bay Lightning said they are eliminating 30 positions in a sign that even winning a championship does not spare a team from the effects of the coronavirus.
GEORGIA Atlanta: The state’s confirmed coronavirus case count rose by 3,603 since Monday to reach 391,466 on Tuesday. It was the highest daily total since Aug. 8.
HAWAII Honolulu: Gov. David Ige has announced plans to sign an emergency proclamation clarifying the current statewide mask mandate. The Democrat told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser he met with all four county mayors last week to create identical rules for each of the islands. IDAHO Boise: Gov. Brad Little has pledged to explain the safety and effectiveness of a coronavirus vaccine to Idaho residents once it becomes available. Many residents view vaccinations with suspicion.
ILLINOIS Springfield: Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday turned to health professionals to make personal pleas for precautions to slow the relentless pandemic. Health care workers are exhausted, said Dr. Michael Kulisz, chief medical officer of Kishwaukee Hospital in DeKalb and associated with Northwestern Medicine.
INDIANA Indianapolis: The state’s hospitals were treating the most COVID-19 patients – 2,768 – on Sunday since the state began releasing public reports on coronavirus hospitalizations last spring, health officials said.
IOWA Iowa City: With hospitals filling up, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds dropped her longtime opposition to a statewide mask mandate Monday. She signed a proclamation requiring everyone 2 or older to wear masks in indoor public spaces when within 6 feet of others outside their household for 15 minutes. She also limited gatherings for social, community, business and leisure purposes to 15 people indoors and 30 outdoors, including family events. Iowa surpassed 2,000 confirmed deaths from the coronavirus Tuesday.
KANSAS Topeka: The state can’t help at least half of struggling small businesses seeking relief amid the pandemic, officials said Monday, calling for additional federal aid.
KENTUCKY Louisville: Gov. Andy Beshear announced 33 coronavirus-related deaths Tuesday, marking “the deadliest day that we have had in our fight against this virus.” Beshear said he will announce new steps Wednesday that the state will take to combat the virus’s spread.
LOUISIANA Monroe: Landlords in the state have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to overturn a moratorium on some rental evictions ordered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to avoid spreading the coronavirus. The Pacific Legal Foundation filed the Louisiana challenge for Chambless Enterprises LLC and the Apartment Association of Louisiana, with 376 members that own or manage 118,000 units.
MAINE Augusta: The state recorded its second-highest number of daily coronavirus infections Tuesday. The seven-day average of daily new cases climbed to 190, compared to 91 two weeks ago and 30 a month ago, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
MARYLAND Annapolis: Restaurants, bars and other establishments must close dine-in services by 10 p.m., effective Friday, under new COVID-19 restrictions announced Tuesday. Gov. Larry Hogan also ordered all retail businesses, religious institutions and other venues to limit capacity to 50%.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Three state House lawmakers and four legislative employees have tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19 in the past several days, according to a series of emails sent to House members and staff by Democratic House Speaker Robert DeLeo over the weekend.
MICHIGAN Detroit: Just hours before another shutdown, a restaurant association sued Tuesday to try to stop a ban on indoor dining, attacking the latest restrictions from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration in response to a wave of coronavirus cases. The Michigan Restaurant & Lodging Association said it made “several good-faith efforts” to reach a compromise with the state health department before the three-week policy was announced Sunday.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: Gov. Tate Reeves is adding seven counties to his list of those under a mask mandate, bringing the total to 22. There were no intensive care unit beds available in Jackson for several days last week, and hospitals face intense stress. “We’re really entering into dark days,” said Dr. Alan Jones, assistant vice chancellor for clinical affairs at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, which had zero ICU beds available Monday.
MISSOURI O’Fallon: Area leaders on Monday announced new restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus. All indoor gatherings will be limited to no more than 10 people effective Friday in Kansas City, Democratic Mayor Quinton Lucas said.
MONTANA Helena: Gov. Steve Bullock released a draft budget for the next two years Monday that does not cut essential state services or raise taxes. But the proposal could face significant changes by the incoming Republican governor-elect and the GOP-controlled legislature. The outgoing Democratic governor credited the state’s full budget reserves in allowing it to weather the storm caused by the COVID-19 pandemic without cutting services.
NEBRASKA Omaha: The number of coronavirus cases in the state topped 100,000 as it reported a record 3,440 cases Monday. There were also eighteen new deaths reported Monday for a total of 797.
NEVADA Las Vegas: Gov. Steve Sisolak said Monday that he’s only experiencing mild head congestion since he was diagnosed with the coronavirus late last week.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: Nursing home workers will again get a boost in pay as the state tries to maintain staffing levels at facilities that have been hard-hit by the coronavirus. Front-line health care workers at Medicaid facilities started getting an extra $300 per week in April, but the program ended in July. Gov. Chris Sununu reactivated it Monday through the end of the year.
NEW JERSEY Trenton: Jury trials have been suspended as COVID-19 cases make a resurgence. A state Supreme Court order released Monday suspended in-person jury trials until further notice, with the exception of one that is in progress.
NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: Leading Democratic lawmakers pressed forward Monday with efforts to hold a legislative session in January as the pandemic intensifies, and members of a legislative committee were warned of possible exposure to COVID-19 from someone who tested positive after attending a hearing in the Statehouse. Some Republican lawmakers have suggested the session be postponed until the public can safely attend in person.
NEW YORK New York: One of the country’s leading literary community and educational centers, Poets House, is suspending operations because of “challenges presented” by the coronavirus pandemic.
NORTH CAROLINA Chapel Hill: There have been more than 450 reports of students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill violating COVID-19 safety rules set by the school, according to a report released by the university Monday. It said there were about 55 cases of students being removed from campus housing for breaking the rules.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: Violations of the state’s mask mandate carry a possible fine of up to $1,000. But many law enforcement leaders say issuing a citation for failing to wear a face covering is a last resort, and education is the priority.
OHIO Columbus: Gov. Mike DeWine on Tuesday announced a threeweek retail curfew running from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. to slow the spread of the coronavirus as cases stay at near-record high levels.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The number of people hospitalized with the coronavirus in the state surged to a new high Tuesday. The Oklahoma State Department of Health reported 1,381 hospitalizations, surpassing the previous record of 1,279 set Friday.
OREGON Salem: One of the city’s most prominent fitness centers says it will defy Gov. Kate Brown’s order that requires all gyms to close for two weeks starting Wednesday. Courthouse Club Fitness announced on its Facebook page Monday that its five locations “would remain open Wednesday and in the days to follow.”
PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: The state is strengthening its mask mandate and will require out-of-state travelers to test negative for the coronavirus before arrival, health officials announced Tuesday.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: Brown University is switching to online-only classes a week earlier than originally scheduled in response to a rising number of coronavirus cases, President Christina Paxson said Tuesday. Remote-only learning will begin Wednesday, she said in a statement on the Ivy League school’s website.
SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: The state Department of Health and Environmental Control announced 1,088 new confirmed cases and 58 probable cases of the coronavirus Tuesday, as well as 11 additional confirmed deaths and three probable deaths.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: Gov. Kristi Noem on Monday showed no sign of budging from her hands-off approach to the pandemic, despite finding herself among a dwindling number of Midwest governors holding out against mask mandates and facing a death rate in her state that has risen to the highest in the nation this month. South Dakota has reported 219 deaths in November – about a third of all its deaths over the course of the entire pandemic.
TENNESSEE Memphis: Shelby County reported its biggest daily increase in COVID-19 cases Tuesday, as health officials express concern about people with symptoms who continue to socialize, eat out and visit gyms.
TEXAS Austin: The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to order state officials to beef up safety measures at a southeast Texas prison where 20 inmates have died from COVID-19.
UTAH Salt Lake City: The Utah Department of Corrections has reported a third inmate has died after contracting the coronavirus at the state prison. The 50-year-old man was the youngest inmate in Utah to die after testing positive for the coronavirus, The Salt Lake Tribune reports.
VERMONT Montpelier: A frustrated Gov. Phil Scott on Tuesday again urged people not to hold small social gatherings that have been shown to be the largest source of new virus cases in the state.
VIRGINIA Richmond: Virginia’s Board of Elections has delayed certifying the state’s election results until later this week to provide more time to a voter registrar’s office that had a COVID-19 outbreak.
WASHINGTON Ritzville: Health officials are asking more than 300 attendees of a wedding Nov. 7 to get tested for the coronavirus after several people tested positive.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: The state’s largest teacher organization called on the governor Monday to take public schools online-only through the year’s end because of the coronavirus pandemic.
WISCONSIN Madison: Gov. Tony Evers released a package of proposals to tackle the surging pandemic Tuesday as the state announced a record 92 daily deaths from the coronavirus. The bills would prohibit evictions and foreclosures through 2021; continue the suspension of a one-week waiting period before people can collect unemployment; allow workers, including in health care, to claim worker’s compensation benefits related to COVID-19 if they contract the illness from their occupation; and waive student tests and school report card requirements for the current year.
WYOMING Casper: State Senate President Drew Perkins announced he tested positive for the coronavirus after he was heard coughing during a remote committee meeting.