New Travel Advisories In N.Y., N.J., Conn. Extend To 31 States; Infections Surge In Oregon To More Than 15,000
News from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Oregon, Michigan, Louisiana, Arizona, Mexico, Utah, Maine, Georgia, District of Columbia, Oklahoma, California and Texas.
New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are now requiring visitors from 31 states to quarantine for 14 days in an effort to combat the growing number of coronavirus cases in the country. The metro area announced Tuesday that 10 additional states would be added to the travel advisory that mandates the quarantine: Alaska, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Virginia and Washington. Minnesota was removed from last week鈥檚 list. (Coleman, 7/21)
Black mayors in many of the nation's largest cities on Tuesday formally called on governors to repeal orders prohibiting them from enacting strategies that reduce the spread of COVID-19. The African American Mayors Association passed a resolution beseeching state leaders to repeal any rules that prohibit local leaders from implementing strategies like requiring the use of face masks. (Romo, 7/21)
The Oregon Health Authority has reported 299 additional confirmed and presumptive coronavirus cases in the state, bringing the state鈥檚 total number of cases since the pandemic began to more than 15,000. In addition on Tuesday seven more deaths were reported, bringing the state鈥檚 death toll to 269 people. That ties the state鈥檚 record for the most deaths reported in a single day, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. The authority also said an outbreak of 23 cases of COVID-19 has been reported at a Walmart Distribution Center in northeastern Oregon鈥檚 Umatilla County. (7/21)
Coronavirus testing in Connecticut returned at least 90 false positives due to a 鈥渇law鈥 in the state鈥檚 testing system, Connecticut鈥檚 Department of Public Health announced Monday. A total of 144 people tested positive using a system developed by Massachusetts-based Thermo Fisher Scientific in the period between June 15 and July 17, the department said. Nearly all of the tests affected by the flaw were taken from residents of nursing homes or assisted living facilities, according to acting Public Heath Commissioner Deidre Gifford. (Budryk, 7/21)
Coronavirus spread so quickly through a convent in Michigan that it claimed the lives of 12 sisters in one month, beginning on Good Friday. They were all members of the Felician Sisters convent in Livonia, outside of Detroit, ranging in ages from 69 to 99, the executive director for mission advancement, Suzanne English, confirmed to CNN on Tuesday. A 13th sister initially survived the virus but passed away from its effects in June. (Jackson, Riess and Paget, 7/21)
Louisiana has extended phase two of its economic reopening plan amid coronavirus pandemic, as the state continues to see a spike in cases and deaths. The extension of the second phase, announced Tuesday by Gov. John Bel Edwards (D), comes聽as 1,691 news cases of COVID-19 were reported, bringing the total number of cases in the Bayou State during the pandemic to over 96,000.聽The state's positivity rate has climbed above 15 percent. (Johnson, 7/21)
Navajo Nation health officials on Tuesday reported 22 more confirmed cases of COVID-19 and three additional known deaths. The total of infected tribal members on the vast reservation now stands at 8,639 with 425 known deaths. Residents of the reservation that extends into Arizona, New Mexico and Utah have been under a mandate to wear masks when out in public. (7/22)
The director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said the state will do more to promote flu vaccines this year to try to take the strain off the health care system during the coronavirus pandemic. Maine promotes flu shots every year, but they鈥檙e especially important this year because of all the resources being used to combat the pandemic, Maine CDC director Nirav Shah said Tuesday. Residents typical start getting flu shots in early fall, and Shah said 鈥渋t鈥檚 likely COVID-19 will still be with us鈥 at that time. (7/21)
In news from Oklahoma 鈥
As the number of people hospitalized due to complications from COVID-19 increases, the Oklahoma State Department of Health updated its hospital surge plan to boost the number of beds available for patients, if needed. The plan state health and hospital officials unveiled Tuesday would add 340 additional beds across seven hospitals in Oklahoma City and one in Tulsa. (Forman, 7/22)
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said Tuesday that no one he was in contact with in the days before he tested positive for the coronavirus has come down with the virus. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not out of the woods yet, but it underscores the opportunity for Oklahoma to tackle COVID-19 when we take personal action and listen to the guidance from our public health officials,鈥 that include being tested at the first sign of any symptoms, the Republican governor said. (Miller, 7/21)
In news from California 鈥
A sustained surge in COVID-19 patients pouring into some California hospitals has alarmed local and state officials, and is putting pressure on other counties in the state to prepared for an influx of cases not yet seen since the coronavirus pandemic began. More than 400,700 Californians have been infected by the virus and 7,755 have been killed, as of Tuesday morning. And more Californians are hospitalized with the virus than at any other time: Nearly 7,100 people are in the hospital with COVID-19, and about 28% of those hospitalized patients are receiving intensive care. (Yoon-Hendricks, 7/21)
Essential workers still on the job at San Francisco International Airport say they are grappling with paying for health insurance for themselves and their families, which could leave them more vulnerable to the coronavirus. San Francisco Supervisors Shamann Walton and Rafael Mandelman said Tuesday they are seeking an ordinance that would lower costs for airport workers. (DeFeliciantonio, 7/21)
In news from Texas 鈥
After a sudden surge in reported COVID- 19 cases beginning at the end of June, Houston's daily case count and hospital admission rates seem to be leveling off. Health officials say they're not ready to determine if the data are statistically significant yet, but it's a positive trend. Last Friday, experts were ringing alarm bells. (Harab, 7/21)
More than 500 women at a federal medical prison in Texas have tested positive for the coronavirus, in one of the largest confirmed outbreaks at a federal prison, the Bureau of Prisons said. The number of confirmed cases at the Federal Medical Center-Carswell in Fort Worth jumped to 510 on Tuesday, just two days after the Bureau of Prisons reported that 200 women there had tested positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Only the federal prison in Seagoville, also located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, had more infected inmates, with 1,156 cases as of Tuesday. (7/22)