Florida, Amid Surge Of New Cases, Eliminates Budget For Online Learning; New York Adds 8 States To Quarantine List

Politico: DeSantis Kills Online Learning Program Amid Virus Resurgence
With a stroke of his veto pen, Gov. Ron DeSantis wiped out the entire $29.4 million budget for a suite of online education services that have become critical to students and faculty during the Covid-19 outbreak. The move, barring action before midnight Tuesday, will kill the Complete Florida Plus Program, an array of technology systems that faculty, staff and students throughout Florida rely on, never more so than now, in the midst of a pandemic that has amplified reliance on distance learning. The cuts include a database of online courses and an online library service that provides 17 million books to 1.3 million students, faculty and staff. (Atterbury, 6/30)

Reuters: Eight States Added To New York Governor's Quarantine Order 
People arriving in New York from an additional eight states must quarantine themselves for 14 days amid the coronavirus pandemic, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered on Tuesday. The eight additional states are California, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada and Tennessee, all of which are contending with growing caseloads, Cuomo said in a statement. (Allen, 6/30)

AP: Sunbelt States Rush To Line Up Hospital Beds, Not Barstools
Florida and other states across the Sunbelt are thinning out the deck chairs, turning over the barstools and rushing to line up more hospital beds as they head into the height of the summer season amid a startling surge in confirmed cases of the coronavirus. With newly reported infections running about 40,000 a day in the U.S., Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, warned on Tuesday that the number could rocket to 100,000 if Americans don’t start following public health recommendations. (Lush and Seewer, 6/30)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Was Moving Through NY In Early February 
A new study offers the first physical evidence that the coronavirus was circulating at low levels in New York City as early as the first week of February. The city confirmed its first infection on March 1. Mathematical models have predicted that the virus was making its way through the city weeks before then, but the new report is the first to back the conjecture with testing data. (Mandavilli, 6/30)

Boston Globe: Baker Relaxes Self-Quarantine Guidance For People Arriving From Nearby States As Mass. Reports Zero New COVID-19 Deaths 
Governor Charlie Baker said Tuesday that he is relaxing the state’s self-quarantine guidance for potentially millions of out-of-state visitors, exempting people arriving from seven Northeast states that are making progress in the battle against the coronavirus. (Stout, 6/30)

WBUR: For The First Time In Months, Mass. Recorded A Day Free Of COVID-19 Deaths
For the first time in more than three months, Massachusetts health officials reported no new deaths related to COVID-19. On Tuesday, there were no new confirmed or probable coronavirus-related deaths tallied in the Department of Public Health's daily release of pandemic figures. (Scalese, 6/30)

Detroit Free Press: Gretchen Whitmer Puts The Brakes On Moving To Phase 5 Of Recovery
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, concerned by the recent uptick in coronavirus cases in Michigan, did not announce new restrictions on the economy Tuesday, but said it is possible the state may have to take that route. "I'm not announcing any change today, but we are constantly looking at the data," Whitmer said at a news conference, after announcing her plans for the resumption of in-person schooling in the fall. (Egan, 6/30)

The Washington Post: Virginia Orders Bars To Remain Closed As It Prepares To Enter Phase 3 Of Reopening 
Bar areas inside Virginia restaurants and taverns will not join the state’s next phase of reopening Wednesday, Gov. Ralph Northam said, a reversal in policy that followed Delaware’s decision to shut down recently reopened bars in beach communities. After federal officials said Tuesday that bars were the source of coronavirus outbreaks in other states across the country, Northam said people in Virginia will continue to be prohibited from congregating inside bar areas unless they are eating at high-top tables that are set at least six feet apart. (Olivo, Sullivan and Tan, 6/30)

The Hill: Colorado Governor Closes Bars Amid Rise In Virus Cases 
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) announced Tuesday that bars across the state will close as Colorado experiences a rise in COVID-19 cases. The governor said at a press conference that he was amending his previous executive order to give bars 48 hours to close their doors to in-person service as the state deals with a rise of cases among the younger population. (Coleman, 6/30)

Houston Chronicle: How Houston Med Students Are Helping Doctors Through The Pandemic
When 7-year old Owen McKay says, “I swim in hot weather,” his mother Dr. Sandra McKay hears so much more — like progress and perseverance in the face of a coronavirus challenge.McKay, a Missouri City resident, can tell that her son has perfected the “s” in swim and is almost as accomplished with the “th” in weather. These are milestones McKay assumed would be postponed during the pandemic, when Owen was away from his speech therapist provided through Fort Bend ISD. That is until a group of students at McGovern Medical School created the Covert Undercover Virus Response Team to find ways to help faculty during the pandemic. Their effort has made a world of difference for Owen. (Peyton, 6/30)

WBUR: 'Each Day It's More And More': Houston Hospital Makes Room For COVID-19 Surge Cases 
Hospitals in Texas are inundated by coronavirus patients. On Monday, the state reported almost 6,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19. That's a record, as cases spike following the state's reopening of bars, restaurants and stores in early May. Because of this latest surge, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently reversed the reopening, closing bars and cutting restaurant capacity. Houston Methodist Hospital — the flagship hospital of the Houston Methodist system — has enough beds, says Roberta Schwartz, who holds multiple executive positions at the hospital, including chief innovation officer. But that's because she's making room at the expense of other services. (King and Glenn, 6/30)

Dallas Morning News: Dallas County Reports Record 20 Deaths From Coronavirus, 601 New Cases; Tarrant County Adds 605 Cases
As Texas’ new coronavirus cases surged to a single-day record of 6,975 Tuesday — surpassing the previous high by nearly 1,000 cases — the trend in cities and counties across the state was echoed in North Texas.Dallas and Tarrant counties recorded daily records, with 601 and 605 cases, respectively, and the disease’s death toll in Dallas County grew by 20, the most officials here have announced on one day. (Jones and Steele, 6/30)

Dallas Morning News: Coronavirus Cases Take Big Jump In Texas Day Care Centers
Texas’ day care centers have reported a total of 950 coronavirus cases, marking an increase of 540 cases in less than two weeks. The latest count includes 643 staff members and 307 children at 668 licensed child care centers, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission reported Tuesday. (Hoyt, 6/30)

CNN: Allegheny County Covid-19 Rates Spiked After Bars And Restaurants Reopened, County Health Department Says 
Covid-19 cases have spiked in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, in the aftermath of the county's decision to reopen bars and restaurants, officials said. Amie Downs, the county's executive communications director, told CNN Tuesday the numbers have increased dramatically since mid-June, when bars and restaurants were permitted to reopen. The county has since closed them again to on-site consumption, but cases continue to climb. (Snyder, 6/30)

AP: Arizona Faces New Closures As Hospitals Prep For Virus Surge
Arizona hospitals are hiring out-of-state nurses, squeezing in more beds and preparing for the possibility of making life-and-death decisions about how to ration care as they get ready for an expected surge of coronavirus patients in one of the nation’s worst hot spots. Parents, teachers, businesses and their customers also are hunkering down for at least a month of new closures imposed by the state in a belated effort to slow the spread of the virus and limit overcrowding at hospitals. (Cooper and Billeaud, 7/1)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Emory University Experts To Call For Mandatory Masks In Georgia 
Dr. Carlos del Rio, an infectious disease expert, and other Emory University experts are set to hold an online press conference Wednesday morning urging government officials and business leaders to make masks mandatory. With a sense of urgency, the call for immediately requiring masks be mandatory comes as the number of coronavirus cases soars in Georgia, and days before the July 4th holiday when people often crowd together to celebrate. (Oliviero and Bluestein, 6/30)

The New York Times: ‘Who Are We For?’ How The Virus Is Testing The Identity Of Chinatown 
Hop Kee is a basement Cantonese eatery offering $9.50 shrimp lo mein. Hwa Yuan Szechuan is a three-story, white-tablecloth restaurant where the whole fish with hot bean sauce is $45. Both have long histories in Manhattan’s Chinatown, and a deep aversion to delivery apps. Hop Kee’s owner could not afford the services’ high fees. Hwa Yuan’s owner, Chen Lieh Tang, 67, said his cuisine was meant to be eaten in one place: Hwa Yuan. “I don’t want people to eat the food cold,” he said. “It’s not my style.” (Hong and Chen, 6/30)

Stat: Is There A Measured Way To Contain Covid-19, Without Full Lockdowns?
First came the freezes. Governors last month started to “press pause” on the next phases of their reopenings as Covid-19 cases picked back up. Now, in certain hot spots, they are starting to roll back some of the allowances they’d granted: no more elective medical procedures in some Texas counties. Bars, only reopened for a short time, are shuttered again in parts of California. And on Monday, Arizona’s governor ordered a new wave of gym, bar, and movie theater closures for at least the next month. (Joseph, 7/1)

NPR: Where Are Coronavirus Cases Getting Worse? Explore Risk Levels County By County 
How severe is the spread of COVID-19 in your community? If you're confused, you're not alone. Though state and local dashboards provide lots of numbers, from case counts to deaths, it's often unclear how to interpret them — and hard to compare them to other places. "There hasn't been a unified, national approach to communicating risk, says Danielle Allen, a professor and director of Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University. "That's made it harder for people," she says. (Aubrey and Wroth, 7/1)