50 ★ States
ALABAMA Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama reported Friday that 481 more students have tested positive for COVID-19, putting the total above 1,000 infections since students returned to campus for the fall.
ALASKA Anchorage: Restaurants and bars in the city will reopen Monday for dine-in service with multiple restrictions after officials announced an updated emergency order in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
ARIZONA Phoenix: The state reached a grim milestone of more than 5,000 known coronavirus deaths Saturday, just as the state’s largest public university announced a staggering number of cases. Arizona State University President Michael Crow announced Friday night that more than 450 students have tested positive.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: The state reported at least 795 new cases Saturday of the coronavirus, as well as 16 new deaths from COVID-19.
CALIFORNIA Sacramento: With the hope of preventing another virus surge, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a new process Friday for reopening businesses that’s more gradual than the first attempt that eventually led him to close many businesses soon after they reopened. The Democratic governor described the new rules, which take effect Monday, as “simple, also slow.”
COLORADO Denver: The state Supreme Court has declined to hear a lawsuit challenging a mask-wearing order and other measures by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis intended to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
CONNECTICUT Storrs: Officials at the University of Connecticut say 57 students who have tested positive for COVID-19 are in isolation as officials at the university welcome back its 5,000 residential students.
DELAWARE Dover: About a hundred people, including about two dozen athletes, gathered on Legislative Mall on Saturday for a “Let Them Play” rally organized by a parent-centered Facebook group that disagrees with the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association’s 15-0 vote to postpone fall high school sports until 2021.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: Nurses from across the country marched from Black Lives Matter Plaza to the MLK Memorial at the National Mall on Saturday, calling out health care disparities in the Black community, WUSA-TV reports. The medical professionals in the march organized by the nonprofit Black Nurses Matter noted that in the middle of a pandemic, health data shows people of color in the United States are being disproportionately affected.
FLORIDA Fort Lauderdale: Gov. Ron DeSantis made the case Friday that tourists could safely take commercial flights to visit the state. Speaking with industry executives at an airline travel forum, DeSantis said he hadn’t heard of any airline passenger catching the virus on a plane.
GEORGIA Atlanta: A 1-year-old boy is now the state’s youngest victim to die from COVID-19. The Department of Public Health said the boy had a chronic underlying condition that might have contributed to his death.
HAWAII Honolulu: The Hawaii Department of Public Safety announced Friday that three more inmates and one staff member at the Oahu Community Correction Center tested positive for COVID-19. More than 300 people have tested positive at the facility, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports.
IDAHO Boise: Boise State University has suspended three fraternities for reportedly having large gatherings that officials fear could contribute to the spread of coronavirus. And University of Idaho Director of Communications Jodi Walker said last week that the entire freshman class of Beta Theta Pi fraternity had been moved to on-campus housing for allegedly violating the school’s virus protocols.
ILLINOIS Chicago: Freshmen and sophomores at Northwestern University cannot return to campus after all and will take classes remotely, the school announced late Friday.
IOWA Iowa City: One of the largest school districts in the state is starting the school year with online-only instruction. KRCG reports the Iowa City school board voted Saturday to conduct all classes virtually for the first two weeks.
KANSAS Hays: Fueled in part by college students returning to classes, the state set another pandemic record for the seven-day increase in coronavirus cases Friday, with the surge prompting the Lawrence school district to put the brakes on some fall sports and the city of Hays to extend its mask ordinance.
KENTUCKY Frankfort: Gov. Andy Beshear and Attorney General Daniel Cameron have filed opposing briefs ahead of a legal showdown focused on the governor’s COVID-19 emergency orders. According to Beshear’s legal team, the Democrat’s emergency orders are not only legal but also have “saved thousands of lives” amid the pandemic.
LOUISIANA New Orleans: The city’s youngest public school students will begin returning to classrooms as early as Sept. 14, the school district superintendent said Friday as he announced a phased reopening plan tied to the control of COVID-19. Students in fifth grade and up will begin returning in October.
MAINE Millinocket: The owner of an inn that hosted a wedding reception that led to an outbreak of more than 100 coronavirus cases said Friday that the staff “worked hard to follow all of the rules” put into place during the pandemic. The figure includes 54 cases at the York County Jail and nine at a rehabilitation center in Madison. One person died.
MARYLAND Rockville: Leaders in the state’s largest county are defending the decision to open schools virtually after Gov. Larry Hogan prodded school systems to implement in-person learning. Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich and the County Council issued a joint statement Saturday saying the decision to begin the year with all classes online “was made to keep our children, teachers and education professionals safe.”
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Gov. Charlie Baker signed an executive order Friday that gives working parents more child care options for children engaged in remote learning when school resumes this fall. The order allows the Department of Early Education and Care to authorize currently licensed after-school and out-of-school programs to operate during the school day.
MICHIGAN Detroit: The city’s school district has reached a deal to start the new year, capping classroom size at 20 students, offering extra pay to teachers and checking daily temperatures, officials said Friday. The deal occurred a week after members of the Detroit Federation of Teachers authorized a strike over coronavirus safety.
MINNESOTA Minneapolis: Health officials reported 1,032 positive COVID-19 tests Saturday, bringing the statewide total to 74,257.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: Voters shouldn’t have to choose between their health and the right to vote in November, a federal lawsuit says. The lawsuit, the second filed this month over Mississippi’s absentee voting laws, names Secretary of State Michael Watson and Attorney General Lynn Fitch as defendants.
MISSOURI Columbia: With more than 300 University of Missouri students infected with the coronavirus and cases spiking in the surrounding community, the city health director on Friday announced a new order that limits crowd sizes and requires bars to close early.
MONTANA Helena: The state reported its 100th COVID-19-related death Friday, hitting the grim milestone as the state surpassed 7,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus.
NEBRASKA Omaha: The Douglas County board has abandoned a plan to spend $1.85 million in federal coronavirus relief funding to buy a mobile command center for the county sheriff’s office.
NEVADA Carson City: The number of newly confirmed coronavirus cases reported daily has decreased since peaking above 1,400 on July 15 – a trend that officials attribute, at least partially, to the state’s facecovering mandate and limits on large gatherings. But the number of tests reported has also decreased significantly week-by-week.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: Undergraduate students will begin returning to Dartmouth College on Sept. 8. About half of the student body will be on campus each term, but most classes will be taught remotely.
NEW JERSEY Trenton: Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy on Friday signed into law legislation to conduct the presidential election nearly entirely by mail, invoking the coronavirus outbreak as the reason.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is apologizing for claiming residents of Espanola aren’t wearing masks during the pandemic.
NEW YORK Oneonta: One of the State University of New York’s campuses will shut down for two weeks after more than 100 people in the college community tested positive for the coronavirus, officials announced Sunday. The positive cases at SUNY Oneonta represent about 3% of the students and faculty on campus, said Jim Malatras, chancellor of the state university system.
NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: Republicans at the General Assembly said Friday that they’re committed to raising state unemployment benefits for all beneficiaries by $50 a week when they reconvene. GOP leaders disclosed their agreement on the concept as they prepare to meet starting Wednesday, chiefly to distribute yet-used COVID-19 relief funding from Congress.
NORTH DAKOTA Fargo: A top White House coronavirus adviser stopped in the state on a day it set a record for the number of daily positive tests. Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House’s coronavirus task force, met Saturday afternoon in Fargo with Gov. Doug Burgum and other officials.
OHIO Columbus: School districts must establish a system for collecting information on cases of the coronavirus and then make that information publicly available, Gov. Mike DeWine said in announcing an upcoming order.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Gov. Kevin Stitt on Friday extended a state of emergency in response to the pandemic. The order also activates a provision in state law that allows absentee voters to mail their ballots by verifying their signatures with a copy of an approved ID.
OREGON Portland: Multnomah and Hood River counties have been removed from the state’s COVID-19 watchlist, Gov. Kate Brown announced Friday.
PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: State utility regulators have effectively extended a moratorium preventing utilities from terminating service to nonpaying customers for three more weeks while the state fights the spread of the coronavirus.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: The governor on Friday announced the formation of a task force to help cities and towns shore up their economies. It will look at lessons learned during the pandemic and develop innovative recommendations to build economic resiliency, find ways to save money, and improve services.
SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: The state’s streak of 13 days with fewer than 1,000 reported coronavirus cases is over, according to The State newspaper. The state’s Department of Health and Environmental Control reported 1,250 new cases Saturday.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: Health officials said Sunday that the state has exceeded 13,000 total confirmed cases of the coronavirus. More than 2,000 cases have been reported in the past seven days. That accounts for about 15% of South Dakota’s total cases during the pandemic.
TENNESSEE Nashville: Gov. Bill Lee has again extended the state of emergency, until the end of September. The state of emergency urges – but does not require – people to wear masks in public and urges limiting activity, maintaining social distance and staying home whenever possible.
TEXAS Austin: The state reported 4,732 newly confirmed cases of the coronavirus Saturday and 154 new deaths from COVID-19.
UTAH Provo: The Provo Municipal Council overrode a mayoral veto and implemented a mask mandate ahead of a new school year starting at Brigham Young University.
VERMONT Montpelier: The state’s top public health official said Friday that Vermont will continue with its procedures to test people for the coronavirus even if they are not showing symptoms but have been exposed to someone who has tested positive.
VIRGINIA Richmond: More than 550 people have tested positive for the coronavirus at colleges and universities in the state.
WASHINGTON SeaTac: The Federal Detention Center in SeaTac says it has a cluster of coronavirus infections among inmates and staff. As of Thursday, 31 inmates and six staff members had tested positive, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, The Seattle Times reports.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: The federal government approved the state’s application for funding to provide additional unemployment benefits to residents, Gov. Jim Justice said Friday. Those unemployed due to the pandemic will receive an additional $400 per week, with the federal government providing $300 and the state $100, Justice said.
WISCONSIN Milwaukee: Since Gov. Tony Evers issued a statewide mask mandate a month ago, many businesses say they are fighting fewer battles against customers who are resistant to wearing them. But whether the mandate has anything to do with the decline in new cases in Wisconsin over the past month is a much tougher question, according to public health experts. While the decline in new cases since the July 30 mandate could be due to Evers’ order, it could also be due to people changing their behavior in other ways, such as staying home more, experts said.
WYOMING Cheyenne: The state has finalized initial state spending cuts of 10%, or $250 million, as part of efforts to address a more than $1 billion budget shortfall due to the coronavirus and downturns in the coal, oil and natural gas industries, Gov. Mark Gordon announced.