50 ★ States

ALABAMA Montgomery: The state prison system, which suspended visitation during the COVID-19 pandemic, is starting a video visitation service to try to reconnect prisoners with their family and friends.

ALASKA Juneau: A group of four nonprofit organizations in the city has been awarded a grant of more than $860,000 to counter homelessness amid the coronavirus pandemic.

ARIZONA Tucson: Mayor Regina Romero on Monday called for a nighttime curfew, saying hospitals are on the verge of a crisis and inviting a confrontation with Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, who has issued an executive order barring cities and counties from enacting public health measures more stringent than his own.

ARKANSAS Little Rock: The state’s COVID-19 hospitalizations climbed to a new high Monday as officials reported more than 1,100 new cases. Gov. Asa Hutchinson warned that Arkansas will likely see a further surge in cases in the coming weeks.

CALIFORNIA Sacramento: The state has asked hospitals to ramp up their coronavirus testing amid a surge of new cases, urging them to test workers at least once per week and test all new patients before admitting them.

COLORADO Denver: The Democratled Legislature plowed ahead Tuesday on special session legislation to provide limited state relief to businesses, students and others affected by the pandemic, overcoming GOP objections to the scope of the aid.

CONNECTICUT Hartford: The state has no plans to impose more restrictions on businesses amid rising coronavirus infections and deaths, despite a group of doctors calling for the closure of gyms and a pause on indoor dining to prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed, Gov. Ned Lamont said Monday. Virus-related deaths in the state have topped 5,000 since the pandemic began.

DELAWARE Dover: The Capital School District has returned its students to remote learning until 2021 after the state’s COVID-19 figures showed the county has met two of three indicators to determine significant community spread.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: Weekend Metrorail service could be cut and 19 stations forced to close due to a $494.5 million funding gap, found a report issued Monday by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, WUSA-TV reports.

FLORIDA Miami: The new mayor of the state’s most populous county tested positive for the coronavirus Monday, officials said. Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said her husband, Dr. Robert Cava, was exposed to COVID-19 by a patient and has also tested positive.

GEORGIA Atlanta: Gov. Brian Kemp said Monday that he expects vaccinations of health care workers to begin in the second or third week of December, as nursing home executives appealed to the Republican to keep supporting them financially.

HAWAII Honolulu: A volunteer aid network has raised bail funds for pretrial detainees in an attempt to stop the coronavirus’ spread in the prison system. CoronaCare Hawaii partnered with the Hawaii Community Bail Fund to provide bail for 10 Native Hawaiian detainees at the Oahu Community Correctional Center, KITV-TV reports. The group said the partnership was in honor of Hawaiian Independence Day on Nov. 28.

IDAHO Boise: The state has reached an alarming milestone, with more than 100,000 residents confirmed infected with the coronavirus. The latest average rate of positive tests in Idaho is 44.35%, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project.

ILLINOIS Springfield: Coronavirus cases shot up again Tuesday to 12,542, the highest in 11 days, and there were 125 deaths, Illinois public health officials reported. The uptick came even before officials predict a new wave of COVID-19 induced by Thanksgiving travel and gatherings.

INDIANA Indianapolis: Dozens of schools are struggling to stay open as growing numbers of coronavirus infections and related quarantines exacerbate a preexisting statewide teacher and substitute shortage. Over 15,000 students, teachers and staff have tested positive, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.

IOWA Johnston: The coronavirus infection rate in the state appeared to be showing signs of slowing Tuesday, but the number of people hospitalized remained high, according to public health data. Iowa’s seven-day rolling average of the positivity rate declined in the past two weeks but remained third in the nation at 41.24% on Monday, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University.

KANSAS Belle Plaine: Anticipated staffing shortages amid surging coronavirus cases could hit rural hospitals especially hard because smaller communities have more limited options for finding providers to cover for sick workers, medical providers say. About 44% of the state’s hospitals were anticipating staffing shortages this week, according to the Kansas Hospital Association’s COVID-19 dashboard.

KENTUCKY Louisville: The state is likely to receive about 38,000 doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine by the middle of December, Gov. Andy Beshear announced Monday. Dr. Steven Stack, Kentucky’s public health commissioner, said the amount of doses is one-third of what state officials had expected.

LOUISIANA New Orleans: The light extravaganza tradition called Celebration in the Oaks that is held yearly in City Park has turned into a drive-thru experience as a result of the pandemic. A scene depicting the retelling of a Cajun Christmas story is a particular favorite of visitors.

MAINE Portland: The state has launched a grant program designed to help health care organizations keep serving patients during the pandemic. The program is backed by $30 million in federal coronavirus relief, Gov. Janet Mills said.

MARYLAND Annapolis: Gov. Larry Hogan and state Attorney General Brian E. Frosh are pressing leaders in Washington for more stimulus relief. “The pandemic is not going to end Dec. 30,” Frosh said.

MASSACHUSETTS Boston: The number of open small businesses in the state has dropped by 37% this year amid the pandemic, while small-business revenue is down 44% since the start of the year, according to Harvard researchers.

MICHIGAN Detroit: The state reported 5,793 new cases of COVID-19 and 190 new deaths Tuesday, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. MINNESOTA Minneapolis: Gov. Tim Walz said his administration plans to release details next week on when the state will start getting its first doses of COVID-19 vaccines and who’ll be the first to get them.

MISSISSIPPI Jackson: The Department of Health said Monday that a record 1,008 people in the state were hospitalized with the coronavirus Sunday. State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said Monday on Twitter that the record comes ahead of an “anticipated Thanksgiving acceleration” in new cases. “This is truly serious,” Dobbs wrote. “Protect yourselves and your family now. We all know how.”

MISSOURI Kansas City: After two staff members tested positive for the coronavirus, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum has been closed for 10 days, until Dec. 8.

MONTANA Billings: Montana Tech announced Monday that it was suspending activities for its men’s and women’s basketball teams after players tested positive for the coronavirus, as it continues to spread among students of all ages across the state.

NEBRASKA Omaha: The state has passed the grim milestone of 1,000 deaths linked to the coronavirus, and the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 remains high. NEVADA Las Vegas: The pandemic is prompting the state’s public higher education system to continue allowing students the option to receive satisfactory/unsatisfactory grades instead of being scored on traditional letter grades through the current academic year.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: A “small number” of Republican lawmakers who attended a recent caucus meeting at a ski area have tested positive for the coronavirus, officials said Tuesday. Rep. Steve Shurtleff, a Concord Democrat whose term as speaker ends Tuesday, criticized GOP leaders, saying he learned of the COVID-19 cases via WMUR-TV even though leaders from both parties met Monday.

NEW JERSEY New Brunswick: Rutgers University is seeking 70 volunteers who have tested positive for the coronavirus – but have only mild symptoms or no symptoms at all – to test a drug combination within two days of their positive test result.

NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: Residents have waited in longer lines for coronavirus testing and must wait several days to several weeks for test results as confirmed cases surge throughout the state, health officials said. Department of Health spokesperson Marisa Maez said Monday that the waits are happening because more daily cases means more testing, putting strain on laboratories and increasing result delays, The Santa Fe New Mexican reports.

NEW YORK New York: The state’s hospitals must prepare for an expected surge in coronavirus infections by stockpiling masks and gowns, expanding capacity, and identifying retired nurses and doctors who could pitch in, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday.

NORTH CAROLINA Winston-Salem: Officials say some households in the state will be eligible to receive federal money to cover one monthly winter heating bill. North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services said the money is meant to help thousands of eligible seniors and people with disabilities during the pandemic.

NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: State lawmakers decided Tuesday to require masks at least temporarily at the Capitol, a move that is supported by legislative leaders but opposed by far-right members of the Republican-controlled Legislature.

OHIO Columbus: The first day of December began badly for the state, after it experienced its worst-yet month of the pandemic in November. State health officials recorded 9,030 new coronavirus cases Tuesday. And 119 additional deaths, the secondhighest daily total to date, also were reported from the viral infection.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: State legislators have gotten a pay raise for the first time in more than two decades, even as state agencies face budget cuts amid the pandemic. Lawmakers’ annual salaries jumped to $47,500 from $35,021, a 35% boost. The Legislative Compensation Board, which is made up of nonelected officials, approved the raises last year.

OREGON Bend: A prosecutor declined Tuesday to file criminal charges against protesters who participated in a demonstration on a public sidewalk against the governor’s mask-wearing mandate Nov. 21. The protesters’ constitutional rights to assembly and free speech outweighed the need to enforce Gov. Kate Brown’s mask mandate, Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel said in a statement.

PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: The governor on Monday rejected a bill that would have made it harder to sue schools, health care providers and other businesses for coronavirus-related claims. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf said the measure’s liability protections were so broad that the legislation would have invited “the potential for carelessness and a disregard for public safety.”

SOUTH CAROLINA Greenville: Clemson University will require all its students to be tested weekly for the coronavirus next semester, tightening its already strict COVID-19 protocols.

SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: The state Department of Health reported Tuesday that 3,542 people recovered from COVID-19, a one-day record that drove the number of active cases in the state to its lowest level since Nov. 5. An additional 448 people tested positive for coronavirus, the lowest one-day total since Oct. 13.

TENNESSEE Nashville: November marked the worst month yet for the state in the pandemic. It was Tennessee’s deadliest month on record, with 1,249 deaths linked to COVID-19 reported by the Department of Health. Tennessee also posted its highest-ever daily increase in coronavirus cases Monday with 7,975. TEXAS Waco: McLennan County has closed its bars after area hospitalizations for COVID-19 exceeded a statemandated limit.

UTAH Salt Lake City: The state reported far fewer new coronavirus cases in the week ending Saturday, adding 18,108. Cases fell in six counties, with the best declines in Salt Lake, Utah and Davis counties.

VERMONT Montpelier: More people took to the state’s hiking trails during the coronavirus pandemic, according to recent reports. The average daily use count on the Long Trail rose 35% this year, according to the Green Mountain Club. And in September alone, overnight shelter use jumped 80% from last year, Vermont Public Radio reports.

VIRGINIA Richmond: If federal regulators approve Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, Virginia could begin receiving limited doses as early as midDecember, the state epidemiologist told lawmakers Monday.

WASHINGTON Seattle: More than 30 patients and staff at the state’s largest psychiatric hospital are suffering from the coronavirus – the biggest spike in cases to date – and more than 150 have tested positive since the virus first hit Western State Hospital in March.

WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: State health officials on Tuesday reported 23 deaths from the coronavirus, pushing the state’s toll 11% higher over the past week alone.

WISCONSIN Madison: The state on Tuesday reported 107 new deaths from COVID-19, which marked a single-day high for the state. WYOMING Cheyenne: The governor still had mild symptoms of COVID-19 five days after testing positive for the coronavirus. Gov. Mark Gordon continued to work in isolation Monday, spokesman Michael Pearlman said.