50 ★ States
ALABAMA Foley: The Owa amusement park on the coast has joined the state’s push to reopen its economy amid the pandemic. The theme park said temperature checks and capacity limits were being used to help reduce the threat of the coronavirus as it reopened over the weekend in Foley.
ALASKA Anchorage: Mayor Ethan Berkowitz signed an emergency order Friday implementing more stringent coronavirus-related restrictions on out-of-state travelers compared to state regulations.
ARIZONA Flagstaff: Northern Arizona University will start and end the fall semester earlier this year to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, the university said.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: State officials say they are working to double the size of Arkansas’ team of contact tracers – individuals who identify people who might have had contact with those infected by the coronavirus. KATV reports State Secretary of Health Dr. Nate Smith said the current team of about 240 people is “stretched” as hundreds of new cases are identified each day.
CALIFORNIA Sacramento: The state will allow schools, day camps, bars, gyms and professional sports with modifications to begin reopening starting next Friday.
COLORADO Denver: Recreational activities in the state were given a boost late last week. The Colorado Department of Public Health released new guidelines to allow the opening of many recreational activities. Rafting services can open, some adult and youth sports leagues can begin operations, and pools can open.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: Gov. Ned Lamont announced Friday that he is moving up the second phase of reopening many businesses and activities by three days so the changes don’t conflict with Father’s Day weekend. In a statement on Twitter, the Democrat said Phase 2 will now happen June 17 instead of June 20.
DELAWARE Dover: Gov. John Carney has formally extended Delaware’s state of emergency related to the coronavirus pandemic through the end of June.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: The trend for new coronavirus cases in D.C. has mostly been flat since reopening began, WUSA-TV reports.
FLORIDA Orlando: Universal Orlando Resort, bars, movie theaters and other entertainment venues reopened with restrictions in most of Florida on Friday as the state took another step away from the economic shutdown caused by the coronavirus outbreak. Also allowed to reopen were bowling alleys, tattoo and massage parlors, and arcades in most of the state.
GEORGIA Atlanta: Police could be spreading the coronavirus by spraying tear gas on demonstrators, an Emory University infectious disease specialist said Friday as the number of confirmed infections in Georgia surpassed 50,000. Mass arrests and confining people in small spaces also dramatically increase the risk of infecting others, Dr. Jay Varkey said.
HAWAII Wailuku: The electric company and the coronavirus are responsible for the state’s residents moving into the future faster than other Americans. Unprecedented declines in energy use and power generation during the pandemic created a slight electrical frequency disruption, The Maui News reports. The deviation has resulted in several reports of electric clocks running a few minutes fast on Maui. Hawaiian Electric said the reduced electricity use is largely a result of mass closures of hotels and other businesses across the state.
IDAHO Boise: More than 60% of the state’s coronavirus-related deaths are among residents of long-term care facilities like nursing homes, according to numbers released by the state Friday.
ILLINOIS Normal: As the state prepares to ease some restrictions designed to limit the spread of the coronavirus, an Illinois State University professor who has been developing models of the pandemic since January is urging caution. “Every model we look at agrees on one thing … it is too soon to remove the lockdown measures,” said Olcay Akman, who also serves as editor in chief of Letters in Biomathematics.
INDIANA Indianapolis: Modified school days, more outdoor class time, mask-wearing, and health screenings for students and staff are among steps schools should consider before reopening from coronavirus closures under recommendations released Friday by the state Department of Education.
IOWA Des Moines: State health officials are reporting five more deaths linked to the coronavirus outbreak and 151 new cases of the disease caused by the virus.
KANSAS Topeka: Gov. Laura Kelly said Friday that her administration will consider using part of the state’s share of federal coronavirus relief funds to help people struggling to pay their rents or home mortgages because of economic problems tied to the pandemic.
KENTUCKY Louisville: Gov. Andy Beshear announced Saturday that the state has 319 newly confirmed cases of the coronavirus. “The virus is still out there. I know we’re tired. I know we all just want to have a normal summer,” Beshear said. “But we’ve already saved so many lives as Team Kentucky, and we can’t let up now.”
LOUISIANA New Orleans: Some businesses were slammed from the minute they reopened Friday after a 21⁄2-month COVID-19 pandemic closure. Bars, massage facilities, bowling alleys, recreational pools and tattoo shops in the state were allowed to reopen.
MAINE Portland: The most densely populated part of the city has the highest incidence of the coronavirus, and there’s a high rate of infection in neighboring communities as well, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control.
MARYLAND Baltimore: The city on Monday will ease some stay-athome directives prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Diners will be able to eat outside Monday, and retail stores, day camps and day care centers will be allowed to resume operations, during the next phase of loosening restrictions imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Gov. Charlie Baker announced last week.
MINNESOTA St. Paul: Gov. Tim Walz announced Friday a gradual reopening starting Wednesday of indoor dining, gyms and entertainment venues during the coronavirus pandemic.
MISSISSIPPI Batesville: A cityowned arena became a courtroom last week for the first felony criminal jury trial in Mississippi since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. More than 100 prospective jurors answered their summons to appear in court at the Civic Center on June 1, Panola County Circuit Clerk Melissa Meek-Phelps said in a news release.
MISSOURI Kansas City: Confirmed coronavirus cases are on the rise in the state, with triple-digit increases for three straight days last week in the Kansas City metropolitan areas, according to state health department data.
MONTANA Helena: A man in his 60s has died from COVID-19, the Big Horn County health department said Friday.
NEBRASKA Omaha: More employees in the state’s prison system have tested positive for COVID-19, as official figures show the overall number of cases in the state surpassing 15,000.
NEVADA Carson City: Fire officials preparing for a hazardous wildfire season in the state will be challenged by high temperatures, drought and the coronavirus. “Fire doesn’t really care that there’s a pandemic. We’re going to have to do our job, but we can minimize the risk,” Reno Fire Department Chief Dave Cochran said at the 2020 Fire Season Outlook conference.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: Beaches are open again to sunbathers. Restaurants can resume indoor dining June 15, but capacity will be limited in the four counties that have been hardest hit by the coronavirus, Gov. Chris Sununu said Friday.
NEW JERSEY Trenton: The state’s motor vehicle offices will open June 15, and road testing and the issuance of licenses can resume from the COVID-19 pause June 29, Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday.
NEW MEXICO Las Cruces: The City Council has moved to ditch a proposed mandate backed up by misdemeanor penalties and instead will consider a resolution encouraging people to wear face coverings in retail and commercial businesses to help combat the spread of the new coronavirus.
NEW YORK Albany: “Socially distanced” outdoor graduation ceremonies with up to 150 people will be allowed beginning June 26 as coronavirus pandemic restrictions continue to be loosened, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Sunday.
NORTH CAROLINA Durham: A young girl has died after a battle with the coronavirus. WRAL reports that second grader Aurea Soto Morales died Monday after she was hospitalized for complications from COVID-19.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: Gov. Doug Burgum announced Friday that he’s easing restrictions on visitation at long-term care facilities that were put in place because of the coronavirus.
OHIO Columbus: Casinos, amusement parks and racetracks will be allowed to open June 19, Gov. Mike DeWine announced Friday.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The number of Oklahomans who have died after contracting the coronavirus is nearly at 350 after state health officials Sunday reported another death and more than 90 new cases. Overall, new cases had been on a downward trend the past two weeks in the state.
OREGON Salem: Multnomah County officials submitted reopening framework to Gov. Kate Brown’s office Friday in the hope of beginning the first phase of the state’s plan to ease COVID-19 restrictions.
PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia: A federal judge has approved a consent order requiring better access to soap, face masks and cleaning supplies to settle a portion of a lawsuit brought against the city seeking better coronavirus protections and conditions in the city’s jails.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: Gov. Gina Raimondo on Friday extended a state of emergency and several other of her coronavirus-related executive orders for an additional month to prevent a resurgence of the disease.
SOUTH CAROLINA Chesterfield: The sheriff and chief deputy in one rural county both have tested positive for COVID-19. Chesterfield County Sheriff James Dixon and Chief Deputy Chris Page will not return to the office for at least 14 days, the sheriff ’s office said in a statement.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: The state has dropped plans to test the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to prevent COVID-19, the partners in the study said Friday. The drug has attracted controversy after President Donald Trump promoted it as an antidote to COVID-19, but it was shown in studies not to help and even to be harmful to people hospitalized by the virus.
TENNESSEE Nashville: State officials on Friday sought an appeal and an immediate pause to a court’s ruling last week that makes all of the state’s 4.1 million registered voters eligible to vote by mail during the coronavirus pandemic.
TEXAS Houston: Health officials said Friday that they are investigating an outbreak of the COVID-19 virus at a suburban Houston health care facility that has been quarantined after 14 deaths were reported.
UTAH Salt Lake City: The state reported its largest single-day increase in the number of COVID-19 cases Friday, with many of those coming in connection with an outbreak at an unnamed meatpacking plant in northern Utah.
VERMONT Winooski: State health officials said Friday that they are expecting more positive cases of the novel coronavirus as testing continues in the city, where 34 cases have been confirmed.
VIRGINIA Roanoke: As much of the state prepares to enter the second phase of reopening, a local movie screen manufacturer is poised to help businesses take precautions. Officials at Harkness Screens, wanting to help and also to preserve jobs, decided to shift gears and began making protective barriers, including freestanding screens encased in sturdy frames and floating screens that hang from the ceiling and can be used at service counters.
WASHINGTON Olympia: State officials announced Friday that seven counties have been approved to move to the third phase of the state’s fourstage reopening plan that eases COVID-19 restrictions and allows businesses to start to reopen, and six more counties have been approved to move to the second phase. King County – home to Seattle – was approved to move to a modified Phase 1 and will now allow all outdoor recreation permitted in Phase 2, expand opening indoor fitness studios, allow restaurants to begin opening indoor seating at 25% of normal capacity, and allow hair stylists and other personal services at 25% capacity.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: West Virginia University will require testing of all students, faculty and staff for the coronavirus before they can return to campus for the start of fall classes, the university announced last week. Students must wear masks on campus, including in class, when the fall semester begins Aug. 19, the university said in a news release.
WISCONSIN Milwaukee: State health officials on Saturday reported 322 new cases of the coronavirus, a number that continued a downward trend of positive tests by percentage of total tests within a 14-day period.
WYOMING Cheyenne: State agencies must immediately cut spending and prepare for even deeper cuts while the state faces an unprecedented hit to revenue, Gov. Mark Gordon said last week. The coronavirus has cost Wyoming the luxury of time to finally address years of gradually dwindling revenue, Gordon said.