�Թϲ�����

The critical indicators surrounding the coronavirus crisis in New York have clearly turned a corner: Deaths have slowed to a trickle, new cases have declined sharply and the numbers of hospitalizations and intubations have eased. But over the weekend, a more ominous sign emerged. Throughout New York City, many people openly disregarded social-distancing rules, prompting state officials to threaten to reinstate restrictions in the city to guard against a second wave of infections. “We have 22 states where the virus is increasing,” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said at a news conference on Monday. “It’s a dramatic national turnaround. We don’t want the same plight of these other states.” (McKinley and Ferre-Sadurni, 6/15)

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday told local governments, particularly New York City, to “do your job” in stopping large gatherings outside bars and restaurants to reduce the spread of the new coronavirus. Photos and videos shared on social media over the weekend showed hundreds of people drinking on St. Mark’s Place, a popular nightlife corridor in Manhattan’s East Village, and in other parts of the city. Many of the revelers weren’t wearing masks or practicing social distancing, which the state still requires as the city and other regions emerge from a two-month lockdown over the pandemic. (Li, Vielkind and Honan, 6/15)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis proudly welcomed the Republican National Convention to Jacksonville last week. On Sunday, he marked the official return of audience-attended professional sports in Florida by waving the green flag to start the NASCAR Cup Series Dixie Vodka 400 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In between, he urged schools to reopen next fall. DeSantis’ moves to return his state to normal have been as aggressive as any governor, but there’s one inconvenient fact: Florida’s coronavirus cases are rising to record levels and the percentage of positive tests has been steadily climbing ever since the state fully implemented the first phase of its reopening May 18. (Caputo, 6/16)

About one week after almost all Florida counties transitioned into Phase 2 of the state's reopening plan, a handful of bars temporarily closed again after customers tested positive for the coronavirus over the weekend. At least three bars in northern and central Florida announced closures because of virus concerns between Friday and Sunday, as the state's Department of Health (DOH) confirmed record increases in additional virus diagnoses following days of similar numbers. (Czachor, 6/15)

Miami, which is among Florida's most populous cities, will not move into the next phase of reopening because of concerns about rising COVID-19 cases, Mayor Francis Suarez announced during a Monday news conference. Although the majority of Florida is in Phase 2 of reopening, rising new coronavirus cases in the state may put a damper on residents' new freedom. (Schumaker, 6/16)

Following a weekend that saw California’s broadest reopening yet since the coronavirus pandemic shuttered businesses, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday defended the state’s pace and said the economic harm from isolation can have negative health outcomes, too. “We have to recognize you can’t be in a permanent state where people are locked away for months and months and months and months on end,” he said. Newsom’s remarks came in his first news conference in 10 days, just days after most California counties began reopening bars, wineries, hotels and other services. (Ronayne, 6/16)

Gov. Gavin Newsom gave a broad defense Monday of the accelerated reopening strategy in much of California, despite concerns from some public health experts that the state could see new coronavirus outbreaks. Newsom said that even as California’s economy has begun reopening since May 8 and people have ventured outside their homes more, including over the Memorial Day weekend, the number of patients hospitalized and in intensive care units with coronavirus-related illness has remained stable. (Gardiner, 6/15)

As COVID-19 cases in California continue to climb, and the death toll tops 5,000, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday defended his administration’s decision to allow counties to ease the stay-at-home order and other restrictions. Newsom said COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state remain stable weeks after restrictions started to be modified, during a period that included the busy Memorial Day weekend, and maintained that the safeguards in place continue to effectively slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. (Willon, 6/15)

As more sectors of the economy are poised to reopen in Los Angeles County this week, public health officials visited some of the establishments that are already open to check whether they are meeting the county’s requirements to do business. Officials visited roughly 2,000 restaurants over the weekend and found that half of them were not in compliance with the county’s guidelines. Health officials expressed alarm at the findings, stressing it is essential that both customers and merchants follow safety guidelines to avoid new coronavirus outbreaks as the economy reopens. (Shalby and Wigglesworth, 6/15)

Sacramento County is suddenly seeing COVID-19 cases at a rate not seen in two months as bars and health clubs and other businesses are allowed to reopen. But the health official in charge of Sacramento County’s response to the coronavirus pandemic says the higher caseloads aren’t reason enough to “tap the brakes” on the reopening of the economy. Dr. Peter Beilenson, the county’s health services director, said in an interview Monday that it appears the increased caseloads aren’t connected to the gradual resumption of economic activity. (Kasler and Yoon-Hendricks, 6/15)

Colorado will soon enter a new phase with loosened coronavirus-related social and business restrictions, Gov. Jared Polis announced Monday. Under the next phase, which the Democratic governor calls “Protect our Neighbors,” individual counties will be able to make their own decisions to reopen businesses or social gatherings at the end of June or early July — if they have the adequate public health capabilities to respond to possible outbreaks. (Nieberg, 6/15)

Nebraska bars, restaurants and other venues will soon be able to allow more people inside under relaxed rules Gov. Pete Ricketts outlined. The new rules take effect next Monday across 89 of the state’s 93 counties. Restaurants and bars will be allowed to use their full capacity as long as establishments practice social distancing and ensure additional hygiene practices. And gatherings of up to 10,000 people will be allowed as long as indoor venues remain at 50% of their capacity and outdoor venues limit attendance to 75% of their capacity. (Funk, 6/15)

On Friday night, like nearly every other weekend for the past month, the bars and nightclubs in downtown Scottsdale were packed. Dance floors were jammed. Lines to get in stretched for blocks. And almost nobody wore masks or gloves. When Gov. Doug Ducey lifted Arizona’s stay-at-home order May 15, giving the green light for much of the state’s economy to restart, he said residents had the right and responsibility to gauge the risks posed by the novel coronavirus and to act accordingly. “What an Arizonan decides to do is up to them,” he said. (Linthicum, 6/15)

Arizona once again reported a daily number of new coronavirus cases above 1,000. The state Department of Health Services posted on its website Monday another 1,104 cases of COVID-19 and eight additional deaths. That brings the statewide total number of coronavirus cases to 36,705 and deaths to 1,194. (6/16)

Kaiser Health News: Health Experts Link Rise In Arizona COVID Cases To End Of Stay-At-Home Order

With new daily coronavirus cases rising in at least two dozen states, an explosion of new infections in Arizona is stretching some hospitals and alarming public health experts who link the surge in cases to the state’s lifting of a stay-at-home order a month ago. Arizona has emerged as one of the country’s newest coronavirus hot spots, with the weekly average of daily cases more than doubling from two weeks ago. The total number of people hospitalized is climbing, too. (Stone, 6/16)

States in the South and Southwest continued to track a spike in COVID-19 activity over the weekend, with Alabama and South Carolina recording record numbers of new cases and Arizona tripling the daily average of COVID-19 cases seen in the state in the last 2 weeks. Today the Arizona Department of Health Services confirmed 1,014 new cases of the virus, raising the state's total to 37,705 confirmed cases. (Soucheray, 6/15)

Dallas County officials reported 305 more cases of the coronavirus Monday, the county’s sixth straight day of at least 300 new positive tests. The county also reported that another resident has died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus: a Dallas man in his 60s who did not have underlying health problems. (Steele, 6/15)

By the time Crystal Combs arrived at her barbershop in Southfield on Monday morning to open it up for the first time since March, some clients had already been waiting in their cars for 2 hours. Combs doesn't normally open Exposed Barbershop on Mondays, but when she heard that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer allowed personal services such as hair and nail salons, and spas across the state to reopen June 15, she decided to open up for walk-in appointments. Barbershops and other personal service businesses were forced to close under Whitmer's stay home order, which was put in place as a way to slow the spread of coronavirus. These businesses are some of the last to reopen in the state because they require close contact. (Roberts, 6/15)

State officials have eased some of the guidelines for reopening child-care centers, in-home programs, and summer camps after fielding complaints that their regulations would be ruinous to small businesses and unworkable with small children. The Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care has decided to encourage — but not mandate — the use of masks for children older then 2 and to eliminate a requirement that every child undergo a temperature check at the entrance before participating. Staff would still need to wear a mask whenever 6 feet of distancing is not possible. (Ebbert, 6/15)

More pandemic restrictions were lifted Monday in the Washington area as the region added its lowest number of daily coronavirus cases and deaths in several weeks. Prince George’s County moved into its second phase of reopening, allowing restaurants to offer inside dining and retail stores to expand beyond curbside service, provided those businesses limit customers to 50 percent of capacity. Neighboring Montgomery County announced Monday it would move to the next stage of reopening at the end of the week. (Davies, Hedgpeth and Zauzmer, 6/15)

Hopes that Hawaii would reopen anytime soon were dashed against the coral reefs last week. Gov. David Ige extended until Aug. 1 his order that requires out-of-state travelers who visit the Aloha State to remain under mandatory quarantine for 14 days. Visitors who leave their hotel rooms for food or a stroll on a beach could be arrested. The state has a relatively low incidence of COVID-19: 728 confirmed cases and 17 deaths, as of Sunday. Officials want to keep it that way, for the safety of their residents and the long-term vitality of tourism, the islands’ biggest industry. (Jones, 6/15)

It's official: the 2021 Oscars have been postponed. The board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences met Monday to discuss the upcoming awards ceremony amid the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic and ultimately decided to push it from Sunday, Feb. 28, until Sunday, April 25. (Blackwelder, 6/15)

On Monday, Texas recorded its highest daily number of patients hospitalized due to the coronavirus — for the fourth day in a row. The record-breaking numbers come as the state continues to reopen its economy. (Garrand, 6/15)

The state Gaming Control Board isn’t reconsidering requiring facial coverings for casino patrons, but would if new COVID-19 cases would overburden Southern Nevada hospitals. (Velotta, 6/15)

On Sunday, as the number of coronavirus cases in Massachusetts hit 105,603, a diner on the outdoor patio of the Barking Crab asked a waitress why she was wearing a mask. “It’s like, ‘Where have you been the last three months?’ ” thought Alexandra Morris, the director of operations at the seafood mainstay on the Fort Point Channel, which reopened for al fresco dining on Thursday after the pandemic forced its closure back in March. (Krueger, 6/15)