Nursing homes, contagious Clauses, toy drive boost: News from around our 50 states

Alabama

Montgomery: A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit challenging the state’s mandatory face mask mandate, which opponents claimed is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Keith Watkins, in a decision Tuesday, dismissed the lawsuit calling it a “shotgun pleading” that makes a lot of accusations without organization or solid legal claims. The same judge in October had refused the suit’s request to block the mask rule, which health officials have credited with lessening the impact of COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. The mask order, which was first imposed in the summer and extends at least through Jan. 22, requires anyone over the age of 6 to wear masks in indoor public spaces and outdoors when it’s impossible to stay at least 6 feet away from others. The lawsuit was filed by former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore on behalf of state residents against Gov. Kay Ivey and the state health officer claiming the mask rule is unconstitutional. The judge allowed three weeks for a replacement lawsuit. Moore’s Foundation for Moral Law denied Watkins’ criticism of the lawsuit and said another version of the complaint would be filed.

Alaska

Anchorage: Coronavirus vaccinations reached the Alaska Native Medical Center as the rollout spread across the state. Front-line medical workers at the center waited Tuesday to receive their first shot and get instructions on when to return for a second injection as part of the two-step process. “I’ve been looking forward to this,” Dr. David Zielke, a pulmonary critical care physician at the medical center, said before Emily Schubert, the employee health nurse, administered his shot. Zielke said he’s read the safety data and recommends the vaccine to others. “It seems like a very reasonable thing to do,” he said. Jay Francis, a physician’s assistant in the critical care department, also rolled up his sleeve for a shot. He wasn’t worried about getting vaccinated but didn’t know what to say to those who have doubts. “I mean, it’s a personal choice,” he said. “So as far as that goes, it would be responsible to do it, but I don’t know. Still free will and free choice.”

Arizona

Phoenix: The state on Wednesday tied a previous record for coronavirus deaths in one day, while its available hospital bed capacity dropped to a record low since the start of the pandemic. And there’s no end in sight, according to Arizona State University researchers who are tracking the pandemic. The state is now seeing higher case numbers than it did when Arizona was a national hot spot in June and July. There are fewer measures in place to slow the spread and more limited backup resources for hospitals than were available in the summer, said Dr. Joshua LaBaer, executive director of ASU’s Biodesign Institute. “We’re in the thick of it now, worse than we were in the summer and with less options available to us than in the summer,” LaBaer told reporters during his weekly briefing. Greater demand for hospital beds in the winter than in the summer and an inability to import nurses as the state did during the previous surge are stressing existing resources, he said. LaBaer noted that Gov. Doug Ducey had closed bars and in-person dining for restaurants at the height of the summer surge. But Ducey for weeks has refused to reimpose those restrictions even as cases rose amid predictions that hospitals would soon be overwhelmed.

Arkansas

Little Rock: Lawmakers will not meet this month to vote on whether to support the state’s coronavirus emergency declaration, House and Senate leaders said Tuesday, rejecting a request from Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Last week the governor asked lawmakers to convene a “committee of the whole” to vote on whether to back the disaster declaration, under which Hutchinson has imposed a mask mandate, capacity limits and other restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the virus. Senate President Jim Hendren and House Speaker Matthew Shepherd, both Republicans, cited the upcoming legislative session, which begins Jan. 11, in turning down the request. “We all know the Emergency Service Act will be vigorously debated during the session, as it should be,” Hendren, who is the governor’s nephew, said in a message to the Senate. “Rather than debating the issue twice, most would prefer to wait and have the debate when we will be in a position to have time for more testimony, discussions and actually implement any changes that we determine are appropriate.” The declaration had been set to expire at the end of this month, but Hutchinson said because of the decision he’d extend it into next year.

California

Sacramento: Hospitals are filling up so fast that officials are rolling out mobile field facilities and scrambling to hire more doctors and nurses to prepare for an expected surge in coronavirus patients. Meanwhile, California is distributing 5,000 body bags mostly to the hard-hit Los Angeles and San Diego areas and has 60 refrigerated trailers standing by as makeshift morgues in anticipation of a surge of COVID-19 deaths, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday. Fresno’s Community Regional Medical Center in central California is rushing 50 beds into a building near the hospital and bringing in medical staff from outside the state to help staff the makeshift ward beginning Friday. The number of average daily deaths statewide has quadrupled from 41 a month ago to 163 now, while positive cases have surged to more than 32,500 each day. Of those new cases, an anticipated 12% will wind up in the hospital, and 12% of those hospitalized will crowd already stretched intensive care units. That means one day’s worth of cases in California can be expected to produce a staggering 3,900 hospitalizations and nearly 500 ICU patients.

Colorado

Denver: The state’s oil and gas industry has seen a steep decline in production, rigs and employment during the pandemic not previously seen in decades, concerning many in the industry. Colorado Public Radio reports oil production in the state has dropped 13% compared to the same period a year before. It’s the steepest four-month drop for producers since at least 2001. “It’s been a difficult year for our industry,” Colorado Oil and Gas Association CEO Dan Haley said, noting that the demand, driven by travel, has fallen because of the pandemic. The state has also recently approved several regulations, including 2,000-foot setbacks between wells and occupied buildings, resulting in uncertainty for some operators, he said. Baker Hughes, an oil-field services company that keeps track of rigs nationally, has reported only four oil and gas rigs are currently operational in Colorado. The state has previously never had fewer than 16 rigs drilling at one time, company officials said. As a result, employment in the industry has dropped about 18% year-over-year in September.

Connecticut

Hartford: Up to five nursing homes could begin vaccinating staff and residents sooner than the state’s planned Dec. 21 rollout for long-term care facilities, under a joint state-federal initiative involving Connecticut and three other states. Connecticut officials are currently in the process of working with long-term care facilities across the state, trying to identify which ones can be ready for vaccinations as soon as Friday, Gov. Ned Lamont’s communications director confirmed Wednesday. “From our standpoint, it’s an opportunity for us to get the vaccine in arms as quickly as possible to try to help our long-term care facilities, especially as the surge continues,” Max Reiss said. It’s unclear how many vaccine doses will initially be provided to these five facilities in Connecticut, but Reiss said it’s expected to take three clinics per facility to get all staff and residents vaccinated. The pharmacy CVS will handle the process. Reiss said three-quarters of the state’s long-term care facilities have already chosen CVS to administer their COVID-19 vaccinations.

Delaware

New Castle: A former Sheraton hotel started its second life as an emergency homeless shelter Tuesday. New Castle County purchased the hotel for $19.5 million using federal coronavirus relief funds. Statewide, most emergency homeless shelters have operated at about half-capacity since the pandemic began to allow for sufficient distance between beds. The restrictions will likely make it more difficult for winter shelter operators – ordinarily used to squeezing in an extra family on a cold night – to house everyone who will need it. People have also been turned away, due to the pandemic, from places like coffee shops and libraries where they typically can go to stay warm during the day. Since the beginning of the pandemic, government officials have used hotels and motels to house those who either are experiencing homelessness or have nowhere to distance from family members who have been exposed to COVID-19. “This is a public good, not only protecting this most vulnerable population, but in doing so, we protect all of us from the vulnerability of viral spread,” said Rita Landgraf, a former secretary for the state health department who was brought back to lead outreach during the pandemic.

District of Columbia

Washington: The city is already at “insufficient capacity” with more than 10% of hospitalized patients testing positive for the coronavirus, WUSA-TV reports. Citywide, more than 80% of all hospital beds in D.C. are currently occupied.

Florida

Pompano Beach: Nursing homes around the state began inoculating patients and staff Wednesday against COVID-19 with doses of the first U.S.-approved vaccine against the disease that has killed more than 20,000 people in Florida. At the John Knox Village near Fort Lauderdale, 90 of the 100 residents of its skilled-nursing facility were vaccinated Wednesday. Resident Vera Leip, 88, got her vaccination Wednesday afternoon as Gov. Ron DeSantis and about 30 reporters and photographers watched. Liep, who taught elementary school in Ferguson, Missouri, for 40 years, said she was excited to get her shot. “I hope it will help me from getting COVID,” she said. “I don’t know if it (the vaccines) will help or not. I hope they do. … I don’t know anything about it (the disease), but I would prefer not to have it.” DeSantis was touting his administration’s effort to get nursing home patients vaccinated as quickly as possible. He said 21,400 doses of the Pfizer vaccine were split between nursing homes in the Fort Lauderdale and St. Petersburg areas, with emergency medical technicians and Florida National Guard medical personnel visiting the homes to give the shots.

Georgia

Ludowici: Dozens of children who attended a tree lighting event may have been exposed to COVID-19 after a pair performing as Santa and Mrs. Claus tested positive for the coronavirus, officials said. Commissioners’ Chair Robert Parker said about 50 children, including his own, took pictures with Santa and Mrs. Claus, whose names weren’t immediately released. Both tested positive after the Dec. 10 event in Ludowici, about 46 miles south of Savannah. Parker said the pair, who didn’t display any symptoms during the event, portrayed the Clauses for “many years” and had good intentions. “I have personally known both ‘Santa’ and ‘Mrs. Claus’ my entire life and I can assure everyone that they would have never knowingly done anything to place any children in danger,” Parker said in a statement. It’s unknown how many people in attendance were exposed to the virus. The county school system has asked parents to keep children at home if they were exposed or if they are showing symptoms. However, in-person school is not canceled. Parker said the exposure is cause for concern but said that “exposures happen every day.”

Hawaii

Paia: Some local shops and restaurants in a small town on Maui’s north shore say they have experienced a boost in tourism since the state launched a pre-travel coronavirus testing program in October. Owners of stores in Paia, known for its small shops and proximity to big wave surf spots, said the policy change has helped business in recent weeks, the Maui News reports. At San Lorenzo Bikinis Maui, Store Manager Breanna Racoma said business has been “pretty good” since tourists were allowed to bypass a 14-day quarantine and instead prove they tested negative before they traveled to the island. A few eateries in Paia have had customers waiting in line for food, even on weekdays, including the Paia Fish Market, Flatbread Company, Milagros Food Company and Tobi’s Shave Ice North Shore. Racoma said her store gets about 11 to 25 walk-ins a day – almost as many as before the pandemic. “Some days are dead, but then other days it’ll be cranking,” said Stu Soley, an owner of Soley Aloha Boutique & Gallery. “Things have been pretty good.” His wife, Billie Soley, said the couple had to close their original location at the Maui Tropical Plantation in March.

Idaho

Boise: A proposed public health order that would have included a mask mandate for the state’s most populated region was voted down Tuesday as hundreds of protesters again gathered outside the Central District Health building in Boise. A previous attempt to vote on the order – which would have mandated masks in public and required businesses to practice social distancing or face a misdemeanor – was abruptly halted last week at the request of city officials and police amid fears that protests were becoming too “intense.” One board member had to rush out after rowdy protesters at her residence loudly played a clip featuring gunfire from the movie “Scarface” while her child was alone inside. About 200 people gathered to protest at Central District Health on Tuesday, and police “were not involved in any events of significance,” department spokeswoman Haley Williams wrote in an email. The protests appeared largely peaceful, and police didn’t receive any reports of protesters gathering outside board members’ homes. During the meeting, three board members from Elmore, Valley and Boise counties – the more rural counties in the region – all voted against the mask mandate, saying they had heard from constituents who were deeply opposed to the rule.

Illinois

Bloomington: The city will give nearly $5,000 in coronavirus fines to a school district to help needy students and families. “What better way to help this community than to find a way to help people who need it the most versus having the funds be absorbed by the city,” Bloomington Mayor Tari Renner said Tuesday. Bloomington District 87 tries to help families who might not be able to buy gifts and those who can’t afford food, rent or utilities, The Pantagraph reports. Superintendent Barry Reilly said the district will be able to help 50 or more families with the city’s contribution. At least nine bars and restaurants have been fined $4,800 for violating rules about masks and indoor dining. “City government shouldn’t benefit or profit from this crisis, and I think this is a great way to balance our responsibility to protect public health with supporting local residents and the local economy,” said Mboka Mwilambwe, a City Council member and mayoral candidate.

Indiana

Bloomington: During a visit to a Catalent Biologics plant in the city that’s producing a vaccine developed by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health, Vice President Mike Pence projected confidence in the nascent vaccination effort. “We have come to the beginning of the end of the coronavirus pandemic,” Pence said Tuesday, a day after six workers at Fort Wayne’s Parkview Health hospital became the first people in Indiana to receive doses of another COVID-19 vaccine produced by Pfizer-BioNTech. The state Department of Health on Tuesday added another 129 COVID-19 deaths to the death toll and reported another 4,347 confirmed cases of the virus. A coalition of some of Indiana’s top hospital systems warned that facilities are struggling to cope with the surge in COVID-19 patients. “Local hospitals are fast approaching crisis,” the Indianapolis Coalition for Patient Safety, which represents several central Indiana health care systems, said in a statement Monday. During an online news conference, members of the hospital coalition painted a grim picture of what has been unfolding in their emergency rooms and intensive care units. They also pleaded with members of the public to continue wearing masks and socially distancing and to forgo in-person holiday gatherings.

Iowa

Iowa City: A panel of experts that will help decide which groups get the coronavirus vaccine first has been holding closed meetings, circumventing the state open meetings law. The Iowa Department of Public Health convened the Infectious Disease Advisory Council this month to develop recommendations on how to use the vaccine when supplies are limited in the coming weeks and months. The panel has met twice this month without giving prior notice to the public, publishing an agenda or allowing the public to participate as required by the Iowa Open Meetings Act. The act states that advisory committees formed by the governor or Legislature to develop and make recommendations on public policy are required to follow those steps. So are those that are created by “executive order of this state” or one of its political subdivisions. The Iowa Department of Public Health’s interim director, Kelly Garcia, argued at a news conference Wednesday that the council is exempt from the law’s requirements and said she would release a detailed legal justification later.

Kansas

Topeka: The state is no longer housing inmates in a privately run prison in Arizona after delaying their planned return for nearly six months because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Kansas Department of Corrections said Wednesday that 118 inmates returned Tuesday from the Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona. Kansas moved inmates there last year to prevent crowding in its state prisons, but the prisons were at 81% of their capacities last week, in part because the pandemic has delayed criminal trials and court commitments of offenders. Kansas reported 85 coronavirus cases among the 118 inmates housed in Arizona. However, the department reported Monday that none of those cases were active. Kansas prisons also have been hit hard by the coronavirus, with more than 5,100 cases among inmates and almost 900 among staff since early March. The Department of Corrections said as of Monday, there were 334 active cases among inmates and 123 among staff. The state is housing the returned inmates at a newly built prison in Lansing and quarantining them for three weeks.

Kentucky

Louisville: A major spirit and wine company, as well as a nationwide distributor, are partnering with a local charity to provide support and relief to Louisville restaurant and bar workers affected by recent COVID-19 restrictions. Brown-Forman Corp. and Republic National Distributing Co., both headquartered in Louisville, announced Wednesday that they have pledged $100,000 in December toward the effort, working with APRON Inc. The amount pledged is on top of donations each company has made to support hospitality workers across the country over the past several months, according to a release. Eligible workers can go to aproninc.org to apply for relief. This announcement follows restaurants and bars being able to reopen their indoor services to customers at 50% capacity in Kentucky on Monday. For the prior three weeks, these businesses had to close their dining rooms to stem the spread of the coronavirus, per an order from Gov. Andy Beshear. To go along with the rules, Beshear had announced a $40 million aid package for restaurants and bars. The state accepted applications from Nov. 30 and will until Friday.

Louisiana

Baton Rouge: Gov. John Bel Edwards said Tuesday that the state’s nursing home residents are next in line for COVID-19 vaccines soon after Christmas. Edwards said Louisiana will begin administering Moderna vaccines to nursing home residents “no later than the week of Dec. 28.” Moderna’s vaccine doesn’t require ultra-cold storage like Pfizer’s does. Many nursing homes don’t have the ultra-cold storage capacity to handle the Pfizer vaccine. The state is experiencing a third surge of the infection that is threatening the state’s hospital capacity. “It will take many months to reach herd immunity with 70% or so of the population vaccinated,” Edwards said. He noted that Ouachita Parish is suffering a 17.7% test positivity rate, the highest in Louisiana, while the state’s overall positivity rate has risen to 10.7%, “an increase of three points in the last week,” he said. “This virus is very real, it’s very contagious and it’s deadly,” Edwards said.

Maine

Portland: The state topped 500 new daily coronavirus infections for the first time during the pandemic Wednesday, a day after hospitals began providing the first COVID-19 vaccines to health care workers. Health officials have warned Mainers that “forceful and widespread” community transmission is being seen throughout the state. The first person to receive the vaccine Tuesday was Kayla Mitchell, 31, of Scarborough, a registered nurse who works in the intensive care unit at Maine Medical Center, the Portland Press Herald reports. Mitchell told the newspaper she’s confident the vaccine is safe and effective, especially compared to the pain and suffering of the disease. “I trust the science, and I trust that receiving the vaccine is a safer alternative to how critically ill patients are suffering,” Mitchell said. “I’ve seen enough. People are scared, and they end up alone. It’s exhausting, and it’s relentless.” The report of 551 infections and two more deaths marked the seventh time in the past 10 days that Maine saw new cases rise above 400. The seven-day daily average stood at 409.3 on Wednesday, more than double a month ago, the Maine CDC said.

Maryland

Annapolis: Every hospital in the state is expected to receive some doses of COVID-19 in the next two weeks to begin inoculating critical front-line staff, a state health official said Tuesday. Dr. Jinlene Chan, Maryland’s acting deputy health secretary, said nursing homes also will begin vaccinations within the next two weeks. “With vaccine distribution now beginning in our state, we have finally reached a turning point, and we are able to see the sun rising on the horizon even if that horizon may still seem a little bit distant right now,” Gov. Larry Hogan said at a news conference. The governor said he is reactivating the Maryland National Guard in order to provide logistical support to help state health officials during the initial vaccine distribution. Hogan also announced the state has used all 500,000 COVID-19 tests it acquired from a South Korean company in a deal that ultimately prompted criticism from lawmakers. He said the company, LabGenomics, has announced a separate agreement with Frederick-based lab CIAN Diagnostics to acquire 1 million more tests. Hogan said the state was not involved in the deal, and no state money was spent on the additional tests.

Massachusetts

Boston: Schools that are teaching online during the pandemic will be required to give every student at least some live interaction with a teacher every day under new rules approved Tuesday by state officials. The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education adopted new standards for online education amid concerns that it has left many students dealing with anxiety and depression. “Many of our children are struggling with the isolation that comes with remote or even hybrid learning,” Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley said as he proposed the standards. Under the new rules, schools offering a mix of online and in-person classes must average at least 3.5 hours a day of live instruction, which can include online or in-person teaching. Schools that are fully online will have to average 4 hours a day of live teaching. All schools must offer some live interaction every day. The rules take effect Jan. 19. Riley proposed the changes after a state survey found many students had at least one day every two weeks without live interaction with a teacher. About one-third of schools currently fail to meet the new standards, the state found.

Michigan

Lansing: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration reported progress Tuesday in the fight against the coronavirus, saying new cases continue to decline, and Michigan has seen no spike related to Thanksgiving travel. Officials warned, though, that the case rate remains high. Whitmer, a Democrat, said “hope is on the horizon” now that a vaccine is being distributed. She again urged the Republican-led Legislature to approve $100 million in relief for financially battered businesses and laid-off workers before adjourning in the coming days. Talks continue. Since Nov. 18, a state health department order has prohibited indoor restaurant dining and closed entertainment venues to keep hospitals from being overwhelmed with infected patients. The restrictions could be extended beyond Sunday. In-person high school instruction and organized sports also are banned, while masks are required, and gathering sizes are limited. “The good news is that we are making progress. It is working,” the governor said of the order.

Minnesota

St. Paul: Gov. Tim Walz announced plans Wednesday to get children back into elementary schools and ease some restrictions on fitness centers and other businesses that were shuttered last month to curb the spread of COVID-19, though bars and restaurants will remain closed for indoor service through the holidays. The governor updated the state’s Safe Learning Plan used by schools across the state to allow all elementary schools to operate in-person starting Jan. 18. Walz cited young kids’ lesser susceptibility to serious complications from COVID-19 and a better understanding by state health officials of how to mitigate spread of the virus in school buildings. He also announced he will be extending the restrictions he imposed last month as part of a four-week “pause” that was due to expire Friday to prevent further community spread, citing concerns of hospital capacity statewide. The governor’s new order keeps bars and restaurants closed for indoor service through Jan. 11. While indoor service is barred, Walz said bars, restaurants and breweries may open for outdoor dining at 50% capacity for up to 100 people.

Mississippi

Jackson: The Mississippi State Department of Health reported 2,343 new cases of the coronavirus and 42 additional deaths Wednesday. The numbers come after a week of milestones for the state. On Dec. 8, the number of deaths related to the virus since the beginning of the outbreak in March topped 4,000. Dec. 9 brought a record single-day total of cases, with 2,746. To date, the state has reported a total of 185,643 cases and 4,294 deaths. The health department says residents should avoid social gatherings that include individuals outside the nuclear family or household. That includes weddings, funerals, sporting events and in-person church services. The department reported 1,240 hospitalizations of confirmed COVID-19 cases Wednesday, with 321 in intensive care units and 193 on ventilators. The numbers reflect an upward trend from three weeks prior, when the state reported 961 confirmed-case hospitalizations, 240 in ICUs and 121 on ventilators.

Missouri

Neosho: A murder suspect has died after contracting COVID-19 in jail while awaiting trial. The Joplin Globe reports 43-year-old Vernon Thomas died Dec. 6. Newton County Sheriff Chris Jennings said Tuesday that Thomas died at a Joplin hospital, two days after his symptoms first appeared. Thomas was jailed on a charge of first-degree murder in the beating death of 37-year-old Wesley Porter and had been jailed since his arrest in March. Jennings said Thomas was among several inmates who tested positive for the coronavirus after an inmate starting showing symptoms in late November. Thomas first showed symptoms Dec. 4 and was hospitalized.

Montana

Billings: A contractor acknowledged lying on an application for federal coronavirus relief money. Matthew Jason Welch said he planned to use the money to pay off restitution in a separate criminal case, the Billings Gazette reports. He pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in U.S. District Court in Billings. Under his plea agreement, prosecutors will dismiss a second count of wire fraud. The newspaper said Welch had applied for roughly $35,000 in Payroll Protection Program funds in April on behalf of his company, Welch Sole Proprietorship. The funds were provided by Congress to aid businesses struggling due to the pandemic. Businesses are ineligible for the funds if they are owned by someone with an active criminal case, on probation or parole, or someone with a felony conviction within the past five years. Welch said Tuesday that when he applied for the funds, he knew he had been charged with a felony for deceptive practices in Stillwater County District Court. He was accused of taking almost $32,000 from three separate households for home repairs without starting or completing the work and has pleaded not guilty.

Nebraska

Omaha: Douglas County plans to spend $10 million in federal funds intended for coronavirus relief aid on its new justice center complex. After hours of debate, the county board voted Tuesday to allocate the money for additional costs for the $120 million justice center complex, The Omaha World-Herald reports. Board member Clare Duda said more than $3 million of the money will be used for things such as antimicrobial surfaces and larger conference rooms that were made necessary by the coronavirus pandemic. About $7 million will pay for costs caused by inflation while the project was delayed by a lawsuit. Board member Jim Cavanaugh, a longtime opponent of the juvenile detention center, said the $10 million should instead be used to help people suffering because of the pandemic. Board member Mike Boyle said he voted in favor of the allocation Tuesday only because he plans to try to reverse the decision in January, when Duda and Marc Kraft are no longer on the board.

Nevada

Reno: A U.S. appeals court agreed Tuesday with two churches that have argued for months that the state’s COVID-19 restrictions are unconstitutional because they place harsher attendance limits on religious gatherings than casinos and other secular businesses. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed earlier federal court rulings that upheld Nevada’s hard cap on the size of indoor worship services. It instructed the district judges to preliminarily enjoin Nevada from imposing attendance limits for churches stricter than those for other gatherings or businesses. “The restrictions at issue here, by effectively barring many from attending religious services, strike at the very heart of the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious liberty,” a three-member appellate panel said in an 11-page ruling reversing the lower court’s refusal to grant a preliminary injunction sought by Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley in rural Lyon County east of Reno. The limits treat “numerous secular activities and entities significantly better than religious worship services,” it said in a four-page opinion reversing a similar earlier ruling involving Calvary Chapel Lone Mountain in Las Vegas.

New Hampshire

Concord: The state prison in the city has seen an increase of nearly 90 new COVID-19 cases in a week, the commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Corrections said. The prison had 113 cases as of Tuesday, Commissioner Helen Hanks told WMUR-TV. No one in the facility has died of the coronavirus. Inmates are moved to designated areas if they test positive or have been exposed. The visitation room is closed, and video visitation is not yet available in quarantine or isolation. Meanwhile, the University of New Hampshire Department of Athletics is offering virtual season ticket memberships for men’s and women’s hockey and basketball during the coronavirus pandemic. The memberships include the “Cats Cutouts” seen during live Wildcat games on NESN, ESPN and CollegeSports Live, plus Zoom meetings with coaches, athletes and opportunities to be selected as the “Fan of the Game” on live broadcasts and the UNH WildCast podcast.

New Jersey

Trenton: More nursing homes are seeing fresh cases of COVID-19, with deaths mounting at a Paramus facility and a new outbreak underway at another in Wayne, as the second wave of the pandemic intensifies in the state. The surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations that began in October in New Jersey has not yet caused a significant spike in the state’s death toll. But health experts say that could change fast if working-age adults who are propelling the wave of new cases begin to gather with older family members as the holidays approach. Experts anticipate more cases with fewer deaths, as younger people account for more of the infections, and treatment methods are improving. But none of the current medications is a knockout punch, and people are still hospitalized and die. On Wednesday, health officials reported 91 deaths, for a cumulative statewide total of 16,095 confirmed deaths and 1,908 probable deaths since the first case was reported March 4.

New Mexico

Albuquerque: More people will be allowed inside grocery stores and other essential businesses as the state on Wednesday amended its public health order on the coronavirus to address waiting lines as frigid temperatures take hold across the state. Lines have formed outside grocery stores and other retailers for weeks following Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s order that capacity be limited at establishments as a way to curb the spread of COVID-19. She has said the tough measures have helped to reduce new infections. However, deaths and hospitalizations related to the pandemic remain high. “With colder weather here, we want to ensure that people aren’t gathering in lines for an unsafe length of time, especially in communities where there are fewer retail options for essential needs,” the first-term Democratic governor said. Still in effect is the state’s color-coded system for classifying counties based on the rate of spread and setting benchmarks they must meet in order to begin easing restrictions. All but one of the New Mexico’s 33 counties remain in the red high-risk category.

New York

New York: The Metropolitan Transportation Authority approved a budget Wednesday that doesn’t include threatened service cuts and fare hikes, though officials said those options remain a possibility if significant federal aid isn’t received. The budget assumes an initial infusion of $4.5 billion in federal aid for 2021 to defray costs and revenue shortfalls from the coronavirus pandemic. If that money is not received, the budget will need to be revised, and action will need to be taken early next year on what MTA Chairman Patrick Foye said would be “severe” measures. The MTA detailed potential measures last month that included increased bridge and tunnel tolls, 50% cuts in regional rail service, and 40% service cuts to subway and bus service. Fares also would be increased on buses, subways and rail lines. Foye said he was encouraged by recent discussions in Washington about aid. The MTA received about $4 billion in federal COVID-19 relief in late April but had exhausted it by late July. Ridership throughout the MTA system has lagged considerably compared to pre-pandemic levels, though it increased slowly through the summer as the virus receded temporarily, and a study suggests it could take years to rebound.

North Carolina

Raleigh: Airbnb has suspended nearly 60 listings across the state for violations of its party guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic, the company said Wednesday. In emails to the Associated Press, the company said 21 listings in the Research Triangle area, which includes Raleigh, Chapel Hill and Durham, were suspended, along with 17 listings in the Triad, which includes Winston-Salem, Greensboro and High Point. In Charlotte, 20 listings were suspended, the company said. “Our actions today address the small minority of hosts who have previously received warnings about hosting responsibly or have otherwise violated our policies,” Viviana Jordan, North Carolina public policy manager for Airbnb, said in a news release. Airbnb said it received complaints of partying at the suspended locations in Charlotte and the Research Triangle. The company announced a global ban on “party houses” in 2019 and a hotline through which neighbors could call Airbnb to express their concerns. “As COVID-19 cases continue to rise throughout the state, it’s more important than ever that we all do our part to reduce the number of parties and large gatherings that could spread the virus,” Jordan said.

North Dakota

Bismarck: Gov. Doug Burgum will wait his turn in line to get a coronavirus vaccination. The 64-year-old Republican governor told a Fargo-area chamber of commerce panel on a videoconference this week that he will be “way down the line” when it comes to his eligibility. “I don’t have any underlying health conditions, and I don’t have any age vulnerabilities, and I’m not a health care worker, so I’ll be in line – way down the line, I guess, in terms of people, in terms of eligibility to receive the vaccine.” Burgum told the panel. “But when that day, when the day happens, I’ll be happy to roll up my sleeve and get a vaccine because these vaccines are safe; they’re effective.” Spokesman Mike Nowatzki said the governor has never tested positive for the coronavirus. Burgum struck a positive tone Wednesday at his weekly coronavirus update, calling the vaccine, along with increased rapid testing and the availability of therapeutic drugs, “powerful new tools.” A nurse at a Mandan long-term care facility and a physician in Bismarck received the vaccination at the governor’s press conference.

Ohio

Columbus: As shots go into arms, advocates for prisoners, teachers, restaurant employees and court staffers jostled to be next in line for vaccination against COVID-19. With health care workers receiving shots and the vaccine scheduled to reach the first skilled nursing home residents and employees Friday, groups are lobbying Gov. Mike DeWine to be among the early recipients of doses of vaccine. DeWine said he welcomes such suggestions but observed Tuesday that the state’s priorities for who is vaccinated when remain a “work in progress” as health officials await federal guidance and more definitive information on the numbers and flow of vaccines to Ohio. Meanwhile, state health officials said the number of reported new cases Wednesday was artificially low due to “technological difficulties” that prevented labs from reporting all COVID-19 cases. The 5,409 new coronavirus cases reported Wednesday would have been about 4,200 below the three-week daily average if they were accurate. The 123 new reported death – tied for the fifth-most in a day – boosted the toll for December to 1,348, an average of 84 a day.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City: Planned payments of $400 to some residents who lost wages amid the coronavirus pandemic are being put on hold due to the potential approval of additional federal unemployment payments, Oklahoma Employment Security Commission director Shelley Zumwalt said Wednesday. “If new federal legislation is passed, and a new federal unemployment relief package reaches Oklahomans, it will be clear that OESC will return the funds,” said Zumwalt, who announced Dec. 10 that the payments would begin this week. The payments were intended for those who received at least $100 in benefits from any claim type and certified their employment was affected by COVID-19 during the week of Sept. 6-12. The deadline for using the federal dollars is Dec. 27, according to OESC spokesperson Nick Buscemi, who said the agency hopes to know by the end of the week if the payments can be made without recipients possibly being required to repay the funds.

Oregon

Portland: Hospitals began administering the first COVID-19 vaccines in the state Wednesday morning. Inoculations were given to health care workers at Legacy Health and Oregon Health & Science University, both in the Portland area, and at Saint Alphonsus Medical Center in Ontario, near the Idaho border. Administration of the vaccinations was livestreamed during a news conference with Gov. Kate Brown. “This is truly the moment we have all been waiting for,” Brown said. Among those to get the first vaccines in the Portland area were an intensive care unit nurse, a housekeeping supervisor, a respiratory therapist, an imaging videographer and an emergency room nurse. At Saint Alphonsus, Dina Ellwanger, president and chief nursing officer, was the first to get the shot. Salem Hospital expects to get a shipment of 975 doses later this week, spokesman Michael Gay said. The hospital will begin giving vaccinations the day the doses arrive.

Pennsylvania

York: The Roundtop Mountain resort in northern York County has been closed to skiers, snowboarders, tubers, mountain bikers, zipliners and other outdoors enthusiasts since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the state in mid-March. That will change Tuesday, when the slopes reopen to skiers and snowboarders. For the most part, the resort will look the same. But there are some pretty big operational changes, especially for the first few weeks, General Manager Brett Cook said. “The biggest changes are the advance reservations and operation hours,” Cook said. “We needed to curtail hours a bit to give the best snow quality and clean and disinfect as much as possible.” Another big change is that Roundtop has gone cashless. Cook said most of the transactions have been by credit or debit cards in recent years, so the leap wasn’t that big in going completely cashless. The cashless system runs throughout the entire resort, from retail stores to food stands. There will be no indoor dining in the lodge until Jan. 4 because of Gov. Tom Wolf’s latest COVID-19 mitigation efforts, but Cook said there will be plenty of takeout and picnic tables.

Rhode Island

Providence: The state closed all the coronavirus testing sites it runs as the region braced for a major winter storm. Gov. Gina Raimondo’s office said Wednesday that all indoor and outdoor sites booked through the state’s testing portal would be shuttered Thursday. Anyone with a Thursday appointment will not need to make a new one when sites reopen, the office said. They can simply go to their original appointment site at any time with their confirmation notice. State health officials, meanwhile, reported 20 coronavirus-related deaths and nearly 1,000 additional cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday. The state Department of Health also said there were 469 patients in Rhode Island hospitals with the virus, with 62 of them in intensive care. There have been 1,590 deaths and more than 76,000 known cases of the virus in the state since the pandemic started. Rhode Island’s seven-day rolling average of the positivity rate has hovered around 7% the past two weeks. Its average of daily new cases has risen, from 926 new cases per day Dec. 1 to 1,167 a day Tuesday.

South Carolina

Greenwood: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a bright side in one prosecutor’s office. The 8th Circuit Solicitor’s Office allows people to donate toys to needy children to make up community service hours. Donating $30 in toys equals five hours of service, Solicitor David Stumbo said. Because the pandemic made it harder to perform community service this year, the solicitor’s toy drive has been one of the biggest in years, Stumbo said in a statement. “I can’t think of any other single function in my office that so perfectly exemplifies our mission of balancing accountability with restorative justice to make our communities safer places to live,” Stumbo said. The toys filled the office earlier this month before being given to women’s shelters, the Salvation Army and specific families with needs. And Stumbo hopes the people who donate the toys get some benefits too. “These participants in our diversion programs get to experience the true joy of giving back in a community while gaining the valuable second chance of keeping their criminal record clean,” said Stumbo, the chief prosecutor for Abbeville, Greenwood, Laurens and Newberry counties.

South Dakota

Sioux Falls: The City Council on Tuesday extended its mask mandate to the middle of March, following an hour of testimony from citizens who were mostly opposed to the move. The ordinance is identical to the one passed Nov. 17, with no penalty for violating it. It was due to expire Jan. 1. The council, as it has on previous mask mandate votes, passed the extension by a 6-2 vote. Councilor Marshall Selberg, who supported it, admitted that the extension was a “bit of a hard sell” and said he would likely change his mind if another extension proposal comes up without a significant rise in cases. State health officials on Wednesday reported 39 new deaths due to complications from COVID-19, increasing the total fatalities to 1,300. The state reported 904 new cases, lifting the total to 92,603. Officials said that 405 doses of the coronavirus vaccine had been administered as of Tuesday. South Dakota led the nation a couple of weeks ago in cases per capita but has since dropped to sixth, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

Tennessee

Nashville: Hospitals that are being inundated with COVID-19 patients are struggling to find facilities where they can transfer sick people even in neighboring states, according to front-line doctors from the state that has surged into the top two nationally for most new coronavirus cases per capita. Dr. Laura Lyons, an emergency room physician in Sumner County, said Wednesday that in the past week she has seen a coronavirus-positive patient with low oxygen who needed a bed transferred to Kentucky, then a critically ill patient having a diabetic complication had to wait 10 hours in the emergency department before an intensive care unit bed became available. Lyons stressed that emergency departments won’t turn away patients or send people home when doctors think it’s unsafe. But she described the consideration of some somber options. “We’ve now had to look at sending people home with oxygen instead of admitting them to the hospital because we don’t have anywhere to put them, unfortunately,” Lyons said in the video conference call with two other physicians. The doctors have for months called on Republican Gov. Bill Lee to shift to a statewide mask mandate.

Texas

Houston: The nation’s busiest capital punishment state carried out its fewest executions in nearly 25 years mainly because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report released Wednesday. Texas juries also issued their fewest new death sentences since 1974, as the pandemic shut down trials, according to a year-end report by the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. In 2020, Texas executed only three inmates. Six others had their executions delayed by the courts because of the pandemic, and two others were delayed over legal issues, according to the report. It was the fewest executions since 1996, when there were also only three as a law on death-row appeals was challenged in court. Texas juries sentenced only two individuals to death this year – one each in February and March, just before the coronavirus essentially brought the court system to a standstill. However, Texas was one of two states that carried out a death sentence during the pandemic, with the July execution of Billy Joe Wardlow. Although Texas typically carries out the most executions in the U.S. in any given year, the federal government had the most in 2020, with 10.

Utah

Salt Lake City: A dozen parents have filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Salt Lake City School District after it refused to open schools and relied on remote learning, claiming the decision represented a “historic deprivation of rights.” The lawsuit, filed Monday, claims the district’s decision stripped about 21,000 students of their rights to a free and open public education under the state Constitution, The Deseret News reports. The Salt Lake City Board of Education voted earlier this year to conduct school only by remote learning, becoming the only district in the state to do so in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the lawsuit said. According to the lawsuit, the district will only resume in-person learning when all coronavirus tests taken in the county for a given week fell to “a randomly selected threshold of 5% or below, and the number of infected persons within the county fell to 10 per 100,000 individuals.” The lawsuit claimed “unrealistic metrics” were adopted to dictate a return to school and that the school district “has abrogated its duty to properly and equitably educate these students.”

Vermont

Montpelier: COVID-19 vaccinations will begin soon at the state’s nursing homes. Front-line medical workers get first priority for the vaccines, followed by nursing home residents. Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine said Tuesday that by the end of December, 34,000 doses of the vaccine are expected to arrive in Vermont. Officials say it will be spring before anyone in the state who wants the vaccine can receive it. Meanwhile, Gov. Phil Scott and others say Vermonters are going to have to continue to wear masks, maintain social distance and quarantine after traveling. An additional piece of good news came Tuesday when officials said Vermont avoided a surge in cases after Thanksgiving, as some had feared.

Virginia

Richmond: Gov. Ralph Northam outlined his proposed amendments to the two-year state budget Wednesday, presenting a plan that includes hundreds of millions on the pandemic response and restores Democratic priorities put on hold in the spring because of economic uncertainty. The governor’s proposals, which typically serve as a starting point for lawmakers in the Democrat-controlled General Assembly who convene in January, account for the fact that Virginia’s economy has held up better than expected this year, administration officials said. The proposal is based on a revenue forecast that anticipates $1.2 billion more than a forecast released in August. Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne said Virginia had fared well for a number of reasons, including an increase in sales at the state liquor monopoly and the fact that the commonwealth’s largest employers – the federal government, defense contractors and the tech sector – have weathered the pandemic well, which is being reflected in payroll tax withholdings. “We are an anomaly,” he said during a news briefing Tuesday. “Virginia is one of a few states that is showing increased revenue growth.”

Washington

Seattle: The state has started distributing free N95 masks in bulk to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The Seattle Times reports the first shipments went out after the Department of Health approved a plan to distribute masks to counties and tribes. The state has shipped about 6 million N95 masks over the past month. That’s as many masks sent out as in the first eight months of the pandemic. Johns Hopkins University reports that Washington has more than 195,000 infections and 2,879 deaths due to the virus. Chandra Fox, deputy director of emergency management for Spokane County, ordered nearly 784,000 masks, the maximum allowed. “If we have the opportunity to get our hands on particular supplies, I’m going to take it,” she said, fearing “things really going off the rails.” Washington’s stockpile of N95s is almost entirely made up of masks made by BYD, a Chinese automotive conglomerate. The state agreed to pay BYD nearly $100 million for the masks.

West Virginia

Charleston: The state is rapidly deploying doses of the coronavirus vaccine to residents and workers at long-term care centers, setting an ambitious target of vaccinating all facilities within three weeks. The state with one of the oldest and most at-risk populations is prioritizing its care center residents alongside health workers. Officials are working with small and local pharmacies to reach long-term care communities across the rural state, leapfrogging most states that are relying on a partnership with CVS and Walgreens to kick in any day now. “We’re making progress towards being the first in the nation to vaccinate all nursing homes and assisted livings in our state,” said Marty Wright, head of the West Virginia Health Care Association. Wright said nearly 2,000 doses were administered to workers and residents across 18 care centers Tuesday. He said pharmacies expect to reach 48 facilities and get 7,000 doses into arms by the end of the week. That would mean about a quarter of the state’s facilities would have received the first of two required doses. The West Virginia National Guard said people at Sundale Nursing Home in Morgantown, the first facility in the state to report a COVID-19 outbreak in March, received vaccinations Tuesday.

Wisconsin

Madison: Nearly 200 health care workers in the state had received a dose of COVID-19 vaccine as of Wednesday – a number that was expected to grow rapidly in the coming days as the state receives more shipments. Department of Health Services Secretary Andrea Palm, who reported the vaccination totals, also said no spike in coronavirus cases was reported following Thanksgiving weekend, but she urged people to continue to remain vigilant with Christmas and New Year’s approaching. Wisconsin’s case numbers spiked in mid-November and have been declining since. The state added 2,402 more positive cases Wednesday, bringing its total to date to nearly 445,000. There were also 74 more deaths, raising the state’s pandemic death toll to 4,196. Wisconsin’s death count is the 23rd highest in the country overall and the 31st highest per capita, at 76 deaths per 100,000 people, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Over the past two weeks, the rolling average number of daily new cases in Wisconsin has decreased by 370, a drop of 8.7%.

Wyoming

Jackson: Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park reported their highest number of visitors for October. Yellowstone hosted more than 360,000 paying guests, up 110% from the same month in 2019, The Billings Gazette reports. Its previous October record for tourists came in 2015, when just over 252,000 people visited the nearly 3,500 square-mile national park. Grand Teton, Yellowstone’s neighbor to the south, reported more than 351,000 visitors in October, a figure up 88% year-over-year. The park’s previous October record number of tourists was in 2018, when the park saw more than 207,000 visitors.

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nursing homes, contagious Clauses: News from around our 50 states