50 ★ States

ALABAMA Opelika: At East Alabama Medical Center, located about 60 miles northeast of Montgomery, nurses and doctors who have spent months caring for the ill, are doing what they can to get through the holiday season, which many fear will only spread the disease and add to the U. S. death toll that has surpassed 300,000.

ALASKA Anchorage: The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race will follow a revised trail because of the pandemic that won’t lead mushers to Nome in 2021. Instead, mushers will make a round- trip run of about 860 miles that begins and ends in Willow and includes two crossings of the Alaska Range.

ARIZONA Phoenix: The state Senate has announced a new set of COVID- 19 safety guidelines for the legislative session in January, including requiring masks.

ARKANSAS Little Rock: As hospitalizations of coronavirus patients hit a daily record high in Arkansas on Tuesday, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said two facilities will be constructed to provide more than 100 additional hospital beds if needed.

CALIFORNIA Sacramento: The state’s health care system is in the throes of a coronavirus crisis stemming from Thanksgiving gatherings, top executives from the state’s largest hospital systems said Tuesday as they put out a “desperate call” for residents to avoid a Christmas repeat they said would overwhelm the state’s medical system.

CONNECTICUT Hartford: Another prison inmate died from complications of COVID- 19 on Tuesday and prisoner- rights advocates called on Gov. Ned Lamont to do more to protect those incarcerated in Connecticut from the coronavirus.

DELAWARE Dover: Another record has been set in Delaware for the number of people who have been hospitalized with COVID- 19. The Delaware State News reported that Monday’s daily update from the Delaware Division of Public Health reported 419 statewide hospitalizations.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: A temporary ban on indoor dining in D. C. was set to begin Wednesday night, WUSA- TV reported.

FLORIDA Miami: Presidential daughter Ivanka Trump helped load boxes of food into the cars of people who showed up at a South Florida drivethrough food distribution event for those in need.

GEORGIA Atlanta: Georgia will again use a convention center for patient beds amid a surge in coronavirus cases that is straining hospital capacity, Gov. Brian Kemp said.

HAWAII Honolulu: City officials will no longer count COVID- 19 cases among prisoners at Halawa Correctional Facility in metrics used to decide whether to tighten or loosen pandemic restrictions on Oahu.

IDAHO Boise: Idaho is in a race to get people vaccinated against the coronavirus while simultaneously limiting its spread long enough to avoid running out of health care capacity, Gov. Brad Little said.

ILLINOIS Chicago: Illinois U. S. Sen. Dick Durbin is touting the benefits of the pandemic and omnibus spending bill passed by Congress, but on Tuesday warned the state’s leaders not to count on federal help to balance the state’s budget.

INDIANA Indianapolis: Indiana’s COVID- 19 hospitalizations are down about 10% since peaking Nov. 30 but remain nearly four times higher than in September when the state’s steep increase began for deaths, hospitalizations and new infections.

IOWA Johnston: The vaccination of Iowa’s nursing home residents is set to begin next week, after an error in the distribution of vaccines threatened to delay the process.

KANSAS Topeka: Gov. Laura Kelly named the Kansas Department of Labor’s deputy secretary as its top administrator as she works to find another, permanent leader for an agency that has struggled for months to process a surge in claims from workers left unemployed by the coronavirus pandemic. Acting Secretary Brett Flachsbarth became the third person to lead the Department of Labor in less than seven months.

KENTUCKY Shepherdsville: State Rep. Thomas Huff, R- Bullitt County, is in a hospital intensive care unit with COVID- 19, according to his social media posts. Huff said Tuesday marked his sixth day in isolation in an intensive care unit, The Courier Journal reported.

LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: Warning the holidays threaten to exacerbate Louisiana’s latest coronavirus surge, Gov. John Bel Edwards said he’s keeping COVID- 19 restrictions on businesses and activities across a Christmas season he’s cautioning shouldn’t look like previous ones.

MAINE Portland: The Maine Department of Labor has sent onetime payments of $ 600 to thousands of residents left unemployed by the coronavirus pandemic.

MARYLAND Towson: Baltimore County has limited the amount of fees third- party food delivery services charge to support restaurants during the coronavirus pandemic.

MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Many businesses will be limited to 25% capacity and hospitals have been directed to postpone nonessential surgeries starting the day after Christmas to help curb an anticipated increase in new coronavirus cases that could swamp the state’s health care system, Gov. Charlie Baker said.

MICHIGAN Cheboygan: Nearly two dozen school buses drove past the northern Michigan home of a beloved driver who died from COVID- 19.

MINNESOTA Minneapolis: Minnesota nursing home residents began receiving doses of the newly approved Moderna vaccine this week as the state prioritizes the high- risk population in its vaccination rollout plan.

MISSISSIPPI Jackson: The total number of coronavirus cases in Mississippi surpassed 200,000 on Wednesday, two days before the Christmas holiday when health officials said they expect a spike because of social gatherings.

MISSOURI Jefferson City: Missouri’s tradition- bound Senate is installing an audio monitoring system in its committee hearing rooms so employees, lobbyists and the public can listen to debate in their homes or offices during the pandemic.

MONTANA Helena: State health officials reported 556 new cases of COVID- 19 on Tuesday, continuing a decline in daily reported cases of the virus.

NEBRASKA Omaha: Nebraska might soon relax its social distancing restrictions again because the number of people hospitalized with the coronavirus has continued to decline.

NEVADA Las Vegas: A hospital said more than half of its staff, about 2,000 employees, received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine. University Medical Center started vaccinations Dec. 14 once the first doses of the Pfizer COVID- 19 vaccine arrived, officials said.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: A legal fight continues over the collection of income taxes from New Hampshire residents who are employed by Massachusetts companies but have been working from home during the pandemic. New Hampshire asked the U. S. Supreme Court in October to block Massachusetts from collecting such taxes from roughly 80,000 people.

NEW JERSEY Trenton: New Jersey is about to embark on the largest immunization program in its history, with limited resources and – so far, at least – insufficient funds.

NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: It’s official, at least according to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham: Santa Claus and his reindeer are immune to COVID- 19 and can safely visit homes all across the state. Lujan Grisham’s office announced she had issued a proclamation assuring New Mexico children that health experts determined that the coronavirus poses no danger to Santa and his hoofed helpers.

NEW YORK New York City: The city will send sheriff ’ s deputies to the homes or hotel rooms of all travelers coming from the United Kingdom to ensure they comply with the city’s two- week COVID- 19 quarantine requirement,

NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: Gov. Roy Cooper advised residents to avoid traveling over the holidays, saying Tuesday that he would limit his Christmas gathering in Raleigh to immediate family members. Speaking at a news conference, Cooper warned of increases in coronavirus spread similar to the one that occurred over Thanksgiving if people disregard public health guidelines.

NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: The Department of Health said it is reinstating contact tracing for all people who test positive for the coronavirus. The department had cut back on much of its contact tracing among the general public in October as the virus surged, focusing on health care facilities, schools and universities.

OHIO Columbus: Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto of a bill limiting the Health Department’s ability to fight the pandemic will stand after Republican lawmakers ended their two- year session without an override. The bill DeWine vetoed Dec. 3 would have let the Legislature adopt resolutions to rescind Health Department orders to prevent the spread of contagious diseases.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The arrival of doses of the newly approved Moderna vaccine in Oklahoma this week will expedite the state’s effort to quickly deliver vaccinations because it doesn’t require the same ultra- cold storage as the Pfizer shot, health officials said Wednesday.

OREGON Umatilla: The Two Rivers Correctional Institution, one of the state’s largest prisons that is experiencing another COVID- 19, outbreak has been grappling with a major power outage for the last week.

PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: Gov. Tom Wolf proposed spending

$ 145 million in a worker’s compensation fund to help businesses cope with the pandemic.

RHODE ISLAND Providence: The state has agreed to spend $ 10 million in federal coronavirus stimulus funds to make sure providers of services to the state’s developmentally disabled population can function well into next year.

SOUTH CAROLINA Geenville: Vice President Mike Pence will visit Greenville on Thursday to talk about COVID- 19 vaccinations before traveling to a campaign rally in Augusta, Georgia.

SOUTH DAKOTA Rapid City: Dozens of Rapid City residents and business owners filed complaints against City Council President Laura Armstrong for her social media posts and supporting a website they said targets those who are opposed to a mask mandate.

TENNESSEE Nashville: The state is halting most in- person state and local court proceedings for a month as it fights one of the worst recent COVID- 19 surges in the nation.

TEXAS Austin: Health officials in the state capital again urged people to avoid holiday gatherings to slow the spread of the coronavirus, as hospitalizations of COVID- 19 patients soared heading into the Christmas weekend.

UTAH Salt Lake City: Health officials in Utah have said the state is in the lowest category of reported flu cases, along with much of the country as coronavirus cases are on the rise. Republican Gov. Gary Herbert made a push for residents to get the influenza A and B vaccine early in the season, KUTV- TV reported.

VERMONT Montpelier: Utility regulators have reinstated a moratorium on the disconnection of electricity, natural gas and landline phone services because customers have not paid their bills.

VIRGINIA Verona: The spread of the coronavirus continues inside Middle River Regional Jail as 60 additional inmates recently tested positive, according to a press release.

WASHINGTON Kitsap: Passengeronly fast ferry service between Southworth and Seattle has been delayed until 2021, Kitsap Transit said. Southworth service – the final route planned between Kitsap County and Seattle – is being pushed back because of “forces beyond ( Kitsap Transit’s) control stemming from the COVID- 19 pandemic,” the agency said in a statement.

WEST VIRGINIA Ceredo: American Airlines will be restoring daily service at the Huntington Tri- State Airport. The daily flights to Charlotte, North Carolina, will begin Jan. 6, the Herald- Dispatch reported. American Airlines will offer daily flights to and from the Charlotte Douglas International Airport.

WISCONSIN Madison: The Wisconsin Supreme Court turned away a challenge of Dane County’s ban on indoor gatherings in an effort to mitigate the spread of COVID- 19. In a 4- 3 vote, the high court rejected the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty’s request that it bypass lower courts and take up its case.

WYOMING Casper: The state could receive 7,000 fewer coronavirus vaccine doses this month than initially estimated because of a production discrepancy, state health officials said. A county- by- county distribution schedule published by the Wyoming Department of Health estimated the state will receive 20,325 vaccine doses by the end of December – a decline of 7,000 from the previous estimate, the Casper Star- Tribune reported Wednesday.