50 ★ States
ALASKA Juneau: The Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium plans to donate some of the COVID-19 vaccine supplies it receives from the federal Indian Health Services to the City and Borough of Juneau.
ARIZONA Phoenix: Gov. Doug Ducey has joined President Joe Biden in ordering the lowering of flags for five days to honor the thousands of lives lost to COVID-19. Arizona’s toll passed 15,000 last week, and as of Monday, the virus had claimed more than 500,000 lives nationwide.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: Over the past two weeks, the rolling average number of daily new coronavirus cases in the state has decreased by about 78%, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
CALIFORNIA Sacramento: More vaccines are headed to the vast Central Valley, an agricultural region whose workers and residents have been hard-hit by the coronavirus, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday.
COLORADO Pueblo: A report from the Colorado Education Association found nearly 40% of teachers across the state are considering leaving the profession after the 2020-21 academic year. The main sources of teacher dissatisfaction are the increasing workload, working conditions during the pandemic and low salaries.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: A major change to the state’s vaccination schedule was announced Monday, with leaders continuing with a mostly age-based system to make the rollout less complicated. Anyone 55 to 64 will be allowed to get a shot beginning March 1, then those 45-54 on March 22, 35-44 on April 12, and 34 and younger May 3. The only exception will be for pre-K-12 school staff and professional child care providers, who will be able to get their shots in March at dedicated clinics.
DELAWARE Wilmington: Officials have received anecdotal reports that some health care workers have been hesitant to receive their shots, but the state is not tracking any occupation-related COVID-19 vaccine data.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: More than two weeks after D.C. announced a pilot program to partner with churches to better distribute vaccines to underserved communities, a second church has been added to the initiative, WUSA-TV reports. Mayor Muriel Bowser said New Samaritan Baptist Church will hold clinics for residents 65 and older.
FLORIDA Hialeah: Teachers and law enforcement officers 50 and older will be part of the next group to get vaccines as the percentage of older residents inoculated against COVID-19 is reaching a point where the program can be expanded, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday.
GEORGIA Atlanta: A new study finds that teachers may be more important drivers of COVID-19 transmission in schools than students. The paper released Monday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied nine coronavirus transmission clusters in elementary schools in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta, including one in which 16 teachers, students and relatives were infected.
HAWAII Honolulu: The state Senate is reconsidering allowing county emergency departments to charge out-of-bounds hikers for rescue costs as government spending remains under pressure amid the pandemic.
IDAHO Boise: Legislation defining pandemics that would appear to eliminate the coronavirus crisis from qualifying as an emergency based on the state’s death rate headed to the Idaho House on Monday.
ILLINOIS Springfield: The state Department of Public Health opened two new vaccination sites Tuesday, in Rockford and Collinsville. Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration also announced the activation of additional Illinois National Guard members to support efforts in Winnebago and Madison counties with mobile vaccination sites to reach rural and underserved communities.
INDIANA Indianapolis: Residents ages 60 to 64 are now eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, health officials announced Tuesday.
IOWA Des Moines: A Republican proposal to cut unemployment insurance benefits won approval from the Iowa House Labor Committee early Tuesday after a contentious hearing.
KANSAS Wichita: The state’s largest school district plans to transition more students to in-person classes. Wichita Public Schools said that starting Monday, seniors and sixth grade students will attend class on site every day but Wednesdays, which will remain remote. Freshmen will start March 8.
KENTUCKY Frankfort: The state is expanding vaccine eligibility to anyone over 60 beginning next week, plus anyone over 16 who has a high-risk health condition and to remaining essential workers.
LOUISIANA Lafayette: The Louisiana Department of Health announced 501 health care providers will get vaccines this week to distribute to the public after the state’s eligibility criteria expanded Monday to include teachers and people over 55 with underlying conditions.
MAINE Augusta: Supporters of a proposed “COVID-19 Patient Bill of Rights” made the case for the bill at a Tuesday hearing. The proposal is designed to “require state-regulated health insurance companies to cover COVID-19 screening, testing and immunization at no cost to the patient,” the Maine Legislature Office of the Presiding Officers said.
MARYLAND Annapolis: The state will launch a statewide preregistration system online next month for appointments at mass COVID-19 vaccination sites, Maryland’s acting health secretary said Monday.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: A top state education official said Tuesday that he wants all elementary school students back in classrooms five days a week in April.
MICHIGAN Lansing: At least 85,000 nursing home staff, home health aides and other direct care workers will lose a $2 pandemic wage raise next week if the GOP-led Legislature and Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer don’t enact COVID-19 aid.
MINNESOTA St. Paul: In some rural counties, older residents are more than twice as likely to have gotten at least a first vaccine dose than those in most parts of the Twin Cities metro area, Minnesota Public Radio reports. “Rural residents are older, on average, than urban residents,” said Carrie Henning-Smith, who directs the University of Minnesota’s Rural Health Research Center.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: The state saw a steep decline in vaccinations last week as several drive-thru sites were closed because of freezing temps and icy roads. More people than usual are scheduled for shots this week. The Health Department is asking people to arrive at least 15 minutes early and to be patient.
MISSOURI St. Louis: Several local health departments are preparing to administer extra vaccinations this week, the result of postponed appointments necessitated by last week’s brutal winter weather. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the weather delayed the expected delivery of 3,000 doses to St. Louis County, where officials expect to receive and administer double the normal number of shots this week.
MONTANA Helena: The state House Judiciary Committee voted Tuesday to advance a bill that would ban discrimination based on vaccination status and prohibit its use to grant or deny services or entry.
NEBRASKA Omaha: Officials are watching for coronavirus variants by sequencing the entire genome of samples of the virus. Peter Iwen, director of Nebraska’s Public Health Laboratory, said the detailed tests performed each week help scientists identify mutations and track how they affect the spread of COVID-19 in the state.
NEVADA Reno: The state’s percentage of positive coronavirus tests dropped Saturday to 9.9% statewide, marking the first time since November that the positivity rate has fallen below the 10% threshold.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Bedford: Labor union members plan to hand out personal protective equipment outside the sports complex where members of the New Hampshire House will be meeting this week.
NEW JERSEY Trenton: The state will make its first full public pension payment for the first time in a quarter-century, boost school aid by 7% and offer 760,000 families a $500 tax rebate under a new $44.8 billion budget proposal Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy introduced Tuesday. “It is the time for us to also lean into the economic policies that will not just get us through the remaining months of the pandemic but which will supercharge our reemergence from it and the recovery that awaits on the other side,” he said.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: Albuquerque Public Schools is asking to separate athletics and other extracurricular activities from the hybrid learning structure required by state education officials because of the pandemic. Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education members said at a special meeting Monday that students would perform better in school if they were allowed to keep doing activities they love.
NEW YORK New York: The city’s movie theaters can open their doors again at limited capacity starting March 5, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday. He said theaters must require and enforce assigned seating, masks and social distancing.
NORTH CAROLINA Lincolnton: Authorities say a woman who was identified as a suspect in a stabbing has been charged with assault on a government employee after she claimed to have the coronavirus and blew into a deputy’s face.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: The Republican-led state House endorsed a measure Monday that would prohibit state or local governments from mandating face coverings or making them “a condition for entry for education, employment, or services.”
OHIO Columbus: Major league sports teams beginning their seasons this spring could be allowed up to 30% of fan capacity under approved pandemic plans, Gov. Mike DeWine said Monday.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The state hopes to be back on schedule for COVID-19 vaccinations by next week following a powerful storm that forced clinics to postpone inoculations and delayed shipments of the medicine, Oklahoma’s deputy health commissioner said Tuesday.
OREGON Salem: Health officials have identified five more cases of the more contagious coronavirus variant first identified in the United Kingdom, bringing the state’s total to nine.
PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: Expanding access to broadband internet service, which has taken on a new significance during the pandemic, is vital for rural communities and school districts, legislators were told. Customers across the region served by the Tri-County Rural Electric Cooperative fear “they’re being left behind in a new digital age” and given “second-class citizen status,” TriCounty President and CEO Craig Eccher said in a hearing by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: The Rhode Island Office of Healthy Aging has awarded $200,000 in grants to 10 organizations to help connect older residents with their families through modern technology. The funded agencies will equip residents living in areas hit hard by the pandemic with smart devices, internet services and related training, the agency said.
SOUTH CAROLINA Greenville: The state’s vaccine distribution is back on track after weeks of weather-related issues. All delayed shipments have been received, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: The City Council will consider a second extension of a local mask mandate at its next meeting next week, with a plan to tie its expiration to vaccination progress rather than set a date.
TENNESSEE Nashville: The state Senate on Monday advanced legislation that would allow the governor to issue an executive order requiring schools to offer in-person learning.
TEXAS Houston: Authorities are opening a giant COVID-19 vaccination center Wednesday at NRG Park that will serve an estimated 126,000 people over the next three weeks.
UTAH Salt Lake City: Legislative leaders have announced a nearly $100 million package of tax relief bills involving families with children, veterans and older residents receiving Social Security. Some have questioned why the cuts aren’t deeper given that new revenue estimates show lawmakers have an additional $1.5 billion to spend because the economy is improving faster than predicted amid the pandemic.
VERMONT Montpelier: Officials announced that the progress the state is making in getting people vaccinated is making it possible for those who have been fully vaccinated to visit with people outside their households.
VIRGINIA Richmond: Lawmakers advanced a new version of bipartisan school reopening legislation Monday, moving to tighten the requirements for in-person instruction that districts must offer in the next school year. Leading negotiators said the bill aims to require districts to offer a full-time, in-person option, with limited exceptions when high levels of coronavirus transmission are seen.
WASHINGTON Olympia: The state Utilities and Transportation Commission has extended protections for electric and natural gas customers struggling to pay their bills because of the pandemic.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: As new coronavirus case reports drop, the Board of Education said Tuesday that counties should return elementary and middle school students to inclass instruction five days per week.
WISCONSIN Madison: The state will open four more community vaccination clinics – in La Crosse, Racine and Marathon counties, with a fourth split between Douglas and Barron counties – amid a push to inoculate people in underserved areas, Gov. Tony Evers announced Tuesday.
WYOMING Cheyenne: Another nine deaths among residents who tested positive for the coronavirus have been confirmed, according to the Wyoming Department of Health.