Mask Mandates Prove Effective In Oklahoma

AP: Report: Data Shows Oklahoma Face Mask Mandates Are Working
Face mask mandates adopted in some Oklahoma communities to reduce the spread of COVID-19 seem to be working, according to a newspaper report. Data from the Oklahoma State Department of Health shows cities with mask mandates nearly cut in half their average number of new COVID-19 infections after three weeks, The Oklahoman reported Sunday. (8/23)

AP: Protest Erupts After Wisconsin Police Shoot Man From Behind
Officers deployed tear gas early Monday in an effort to disperse hundreds of people who took to the streets following a police shooting in Kenosha that also drew a harsh rebuke from the governor after a video posted on social media appeared to show officers shoot at a Black man’s back seven times as he leaned into a vehicle. A person was hospitalized in serious condition following a shooting by officers about 5 p.m. Sunday as officers were responding to a “domestic incident,” the Kenosha Police Department said in a news release. Police did not provide details about what led to the shooting, but said the person was transported to a hospital in Milwaukee for treatment. (8/24)

Billings Gazette: Public Health Workers Will Conduct COVID-19 Contact Tracing In Yellowstone County Schools 
Yellowstone County's public health department plans to provide public health officials to help temporarily with COVID-19 contact tracing in schools this year.The county's public health department, RiverStone Health, will handle contact tracing for School District 2, and Yellowstone County Public Health Officer John Felton wants to assign temporary public health officials trained in handling the use and disclosure of health information and the limitations associated with it. (Hall, 8/22)

The Hill: Officials Connect 26 Coronavirus Cases To Sturgis Motorcycle Rally 
At least 26 cases of COVID-19 have been linked to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally held last week, CNN reported. The cases, spread over three states, are linked to those who attended the annual 10-day gathering, which began Aug. 7 and ran until Sunday. It drew more than 365,000 vehicles, according to South Dakota’s Department of Transportation.According to CNN, there are 15 linked COVID-19 cases in Minnesota and at least seven cases in Nebraska. Minnesota Department of Health Infectious Disease director announced on Friday that one of the cases in her state has resulted in a hospitalization. (Seipel, 8/21)

Dallas Morning News: This Small Church Serves As Clinic, Pantry And Laundry For Dallas Neighborhoods Hard Hit By COVID
I’ve discovered a contemporary rendition of the New Testament’s “five loaves and two fishes” story taking place at Cornerstone Baptist Church as it works daily miracles in one of Dallas’ poorest communities.This church, long a beacon of light to South Dallas, knows how to multiply modest resources into colossal gains. As COVID-19 has challenged it in ways as unprecedented as the pandemic itself, Cornerstone has doubled down on its work. (Grigsby, 8/21)

San Francisco Chronicle: They Always Stuck Together Through Tough Times. Then Came The Pandemic
The Segundo family’s story reflects the concerns public health officials have raised about how the pandemic is devastating Latinos. While Latinos account for 38.9% of the state population, they account for 59.4% of the state’s coronavirus cases and 47.9% of deaths, according to California Department of Public Health data.In Contra Costa County, where the Segundos have made their home, Latinos make up 26% of the population but 41% of all COVID-19 cases. (Hernandez and Moench, 8/23)

ABC News: Police Hunt For 'COVID Hug' Man Who Grabbed Strangers At Walmart 
Police are searching for a man who they say approached multiple strangers at a Walmart and embraced them before telling them he had just given them coronavirus. The incident occurred on Saturday, Aug. 15 at approximately 7:10 p.m. at a Walmart branch in Springfield, Massachusetts, when the man allegedly began randomly approaching customers and hugging them. (Haworth, 8/23)

The Hill: New Hampshire To Allow Restaurants To Fully Open For Indoor Dining 
All restaurants in New Hampshire will be allowed to open at 100 percent capacity for indoor dining effective immediately, Gov. Chris Sununu (R) said Friday. Restaurants will need to maintain the state's coronavirus reopening guidelines, including keeping six feet between tables and a mask requirement for all staff who interact with customers. Patrons are also prohibited from standing at bars. Sununu said the state's infection numbers have been trending in the right direction, especially in the southern counties that had been hit harder. (Weixel, 8/21)

The Washington Post: Sidewalk Dining May Block People With Disabilities 
When New York began allowing outdoor activities in June, Emily Ladau, 29, ventured out in her Long Island town of West Babylon after long months of staying inside because of the novel coronavirus. But her moment in the sun was marred — as a wheelchair user, she found that restaurants spilling over onto the sidewalk blocked her path. “Throughout the whole main street,” of nearby Bay Shore, she says, “I couldn’t be on the sidewalk at all.” (Mailman, 8/23)

Boston Globe: How Will The State’s New Flu Shot Mandate Work? Here Are Some Answers 
The state’s new flu shot mandate has sparked a lot of questions about how it will work, who will enforce it, and whether the state even has enough doses to cover everyone who will be required to get vaccinated.On Wednesday, Massachusetts mandated that nearly all students under age 30 get a flu vaccine by the end of this year amid fears that concurrent outbreaks of influenza and COVID-19 in the fall could overwhelm the state’s health care system. (Lazar, 8/21)

In nursing home news —

Dallas Morning News: Only 12 Texas Nursing Homes Approved To Restart Family Visits
More than five months after Texas long-term care facilities closed their doors amid the spread of COVID-19, only a dozen nursing homes have met the state’s criteria to slowly begin letting visitors back in to see their loved ones. According to records obtained by The Dallas Morning News, fewer than 30 nursing homes — out of over 1,200 statewide — applied to allow visitors as of Aug. 20. Half were denied or are still awaiting an answer from the state on that date. (McGaughy, Morris and Hacker, 8/21)

Sacramento Bee: Coronavirus: Sacramento Co. Nursing Facility Reports Outbreak 
Coronavirus activity has exploded in recent weeks at two different Sacramento-area nursing homes, one of them with more than 10 deaths among nearly 100 resident cases. Whitney Oaks Care Center in Carmichael, a licensed skilled nursing facility, says on its website that 94 residents and 75 employees have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic started. Nine of the staff cases and 13 of the resident cases were considered active as of the Thursday update, the facility wrote. (McGough, 8/21)

In prison news —

AP: More Than 500 Infected With COVID-19 In Kansas Jail Outbreak
The number of inmates who have tested positive for COVID-19 at a jail in Wichita has grown to more than 500. The Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office has conducted mass testing of its inmates at the urging of state health officials. As of Friday, 523 inmates have tested positive and 747 negative, KAKE-TV reports. (8/22)

AP: Analysis: Mississippi Prison Virus Protocols Under Scrutiny
Attorneys are feuding in federal court filings over coronavirus testing and safety protocols at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. Entertainment mogul Jay-Z and rapper Yo Gotti are funding a lawsuit filed early this year to challenge health and safety conditions in Parchman. Separately, the U.S. Justice Department said in February that it’s investigating Mississippi’s prison system — an announcement that came weeks after violence in late December and early January left some inmates dead and more injured. (Wagster Pettus, 8/23)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: New Fulton County Sheriff Plans To Hire Deputies, Fix Up Notorious Jail
In the past few decades, the biggest challenge for the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office has been running — and perpetually trying to fix — the county jail.An inmate complaint in 2004 set in motion 11 years of federal oversight at the jail on Rice Street. Inmates were sleeping on the floor because of overcrowding, raw sewage was flooding cells, and inmates were able to wander because of faulty locks. The county has spent $1 billion to fix up the 2,500-bed jail, but overcrowding persisted even after the feds gave the county full control of the facility back in 2015.Since 2011, the county has maintained a 200-bed lockup for women in Union City. In a 2019 lawsuit, the Southern Center for Human Rights said mentally ill inmates were held in unsanitary and unsafe conditions at the South Fulton Municipal Regional Jail. A judge called the issues repulsive and ordered Jackson to fix them. The lawsuit is still pending as attorneys for the inmates and for the Sheriff’s Office attempt to reach an agreement. (Sharpe and Brasch, 8/21)

Latest state tallies —

AP: Virus Spread Puts 20 Illinois Counties On 'Warning' Status
Rising indicators of the potentially deadly coronovirus have forced Illinois public health officials to place nearly one-fifth of the state’s counties on “warning level” status for the disease. Two or more measurements for the spread of the highly contagious virus have exceeded allowable limits in each of the counties put on warning Friday. The process serves as notice that local officials should take action to mitigate the spread. (8/23)

AP: Arizona Reports 207 New Confirmed COVID-19 Cases, 15 Deaths
Arizona health officials report 207 new confirmed COVID-19 cases with 15 additional deaths as of Sunday. The Arizona Department of Health Services says that raises the state’s totals to 198,103 cases and 4,771 deaths as reports of infections and deaths continued to slow. (8/23)

AP: Illinois Officials Report 1,893 New COVID-19 Cases, 6 Deaths
The Illinois Department of Public Health on Sunday reported 1,893 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state. Health department officials say they have confirmed six additional deaths due to the virus, bringing the total number of deaths in the state to 7,880. (8/23)

AP: Maine Reports 1 New COVID-19 Death
Public health officials in Maine have reported more than a dozen new cases of COVID-19 and one additional death. Officials at the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention released the figures on Sunday as part of their regular daily update on the coronavirus outbreak. (8/23)

AP: Minnesota Nears 70K Positive COVID-19 Tests; Deaths At 1,767
Minnesota is nearing 70,000 positive COVID-19 tests, health officials said Sunday. Health officials reported 728 positive tests on Sunday, bringing the state statewide total to 69,584. Health officials said 7.715 health care workers have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began. (8/23)

AP: Navajo Nation Reports 14 New COVID-19 Cases, 4 More Deaths
Navajo Nation health officials have reported 14 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and four additional deaths. That brings the total number of people infected to 9,545 with the known death toll at 493 as of Saturday night as the reservation began another 32-hour lockdown that ends at 5 a.m. Monday. (8/23)

AP: Nevada Reports 532 New Coronavirus Cases, But No More Deaths
Nevada health officials reported 532 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, but no additional deaths as of Sunday. The latest numbers increase the state’s totals in the coronavirus outbreak to 65,601 cases while the death toll remains at 1,197. (8/23)

AP: New Mexico Reports 98 New Coronavirus Cases, 2 More Deaths
Health officials in New Mexico report 98 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and two additional deaths as of Sunday. The latest numbers from the New Mexico Department of Health increase the state’s totals to 24,396 cases and 745 deaths. (8/23)

AP: North Dakota COVID-19 Deaths At 136; Active Cases Set Record
The state Department of Health on Sunday reported the death of one additional person with COVID-19, bringing the statewide death toll to 136. The department reported 140 new COVID-19 cases in 16 counties, raising the statewide total since the start of the pandemic to 9,876. Active cases rose by 43 cases to 1,676, a new daily high for the state. (8/23)

AP: South Dakota Reports 141 New COVID-19 Cases, 1 Death
South Dakota health officials are reporting 141 newly confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the state and one new death. The state has now had a total of 11,276 cases of COVID-19 as of Sunday. There were a record 1,551 cases still active. (8/23)