‘Higher baseline’

Elsewhere around the South, Alabama recorded more than 1,200 deaths in July and August. Deaths are down from their late July peak but are trending upward again, running at an average of about 23 a day.

Dr. Donald Williamson, president of the Alabama Hospital Association, said the state is seeing several warning signs since the return of students to schools and colleges and the resumption of high school football. He said the question is whether the state can avoid a spike that fills intensive care beds in hospitals.

“If we were to see the same effect from Labor Day, we would be in worse shape than we were after July Fourth,” said Williamson. “It’s a higher baseline.”

Diego Lozano, 28, of Phoenix, is among those who had his summer travel plans changed by the outbreak.

Each year, he joins his parents and grandfather in visiting relatives in the Mexican state of Morelos. But for his grandfather, 75-year-old Lorenzo Lomas Perez, it was his final journey.

Perez died in late July at a Phoenix hospital of complications from COVID-19, and his family brought his remains with them to Mexico.

Because of coronavirus restrictions, there was no traditional open casket ceremony inside a church; the rites were held outside in the cemetery. Only relatives were allowed to attend, when normally the entire village would be expected to come.

“We put him in an urn and then we buried the urn,” Lozano said.

Among other coronavirus developments Tuesday:

• New York City, with 1.1 million public school students, delayed the start of in-person instruction for a week and a half until Sept. 21 to give teachers more time to prepare, under a deal with the union.

• Millions of children across Europe and beyond returned to school. In France and the Balkan countries, mask rules are in place for many children, while other nations have taken a more relaxed stance. Some classrooms have plastic shields around desks and warning signs everywhere.