Pa.’s COVID Shutdown Orders Were Unconstitutional, Federal Judge Rules

The Hill: Federal Judge Rules Pennsylvania's Coronavirus Orders Are Unconstitutional 
A federal judge ruled on Monday that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s (D) coronavirus orders, which shut down the state, closed businesses and limited gatherings, were unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV, a Trump appointee, said in his opinion that COVID-19 orders from Wolf and Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Rachel Levine violated and continue to violate the First Amendment right to freedom of assembly and the due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment. (Coleman, 9/14)

In other news from the Northeast —

USA Today: Flesh-Eating Bacteria Infects 5 From Connecticut In Long Island Sound
Five people from Connecticut were hospitalized after they contracted flesh-eating bacteria in the waters of the Long Island Sound this summer, health officials said Saturday. Four men and one woman had pre-existing wounds or were injured during swimming, crabbing, or boating before getting Vibrio vulnificus infections in July and August, according to the Connecticut Department of Public Health. Two patients developed infections in their bloodstream, and three suffered serious wound infections.The infection is extremely rare. In the past 10 years only seven cases were reported in Connecticut. (Yancey-Bragg, 9/14)

Boston Globe: Ten COVID-19 Cases Linked To Maine Funeral And Reception
At least 10 cases of COVID-19 have been linked to a funeral and reception that took place in Maine on Aug. 31, and several social clubs in the Sanford area may have also been exposed to the virus, authorities said. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the Aug. 31 funeral took place outdoors at the Southern Maine Veterans Cemetery in Springvale and the reception was held both indoors and outdoors at the Sanford American Legion Post on Main Street in Springvale. Individuals now confirmed to have COVID-19 who attended the funeral and reception then went to several different social clubs in the area. (Sweeney, 9/14)

Boston Globe: Fitness Studio TrillFit Aims To ‘Decolonize Wellness’ 
If racism is a public health crisis, what role do those in the wellness industry have in combating it? That’s the question Heather White and her team at Trillfit studio in Mission Hill posed to other gyms, studios, and fitness centers in late August, asking the industry to pledge to incorporate six inclusivity measures to better serve and reflect the needs of communities of color. (Nanos, 9/14)

The Wall Street Journal: Fight Over Manhattan Hotel Shows Challenges Of Housing Homeless During Coronavirus Pandemic 
New York City has halted a controversial decision to move people experiencing homelessness out of a luxury hotel-turned-shelter on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, as opposition has mounted on both sides of a fiery debate over where to house the city’s homeless during the pandemic. The widening dispute is the latest example of the challenges facing city officials, who must create shelters to mitigate a homeless crisis while dealing with resistance from neighborhoods where they are placed. As the number of people living in shelters has grown since 2014, when Mayor Bill de Blasio first took office, so have the protests over new facilities built to house them. (Yang and Honan, 9/14)

And from the Southeast —

The Hill: South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Tests Positive For COVID-19 
South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette (R) said Monday she has tested positive for the coronavirus and is quarantining at home with mild symptoms. Evette said she “began feeling unwell” Thursday morning and “immediately began to self-quarantine.” She was tested Friday and got her positive results back Saturday. (Klar, 9/14)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Whistleblower Blasts Georgia Immigration Detention Center’s COVID-19 Response
A coalition of advocacy groups filed a federal complaint on Monday against the private company that operates an immigration detention center in South Georgia, alleging the company is failing to protect detainees and employees from the spread of COVID-19. Filed with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, the 27-page complaint is based partly on the information supplied by a whistleblower identified as Dawn Wooten, a licensed practical nurse who worked in the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla. (Redmon, 9/14)

And elsewhere —

Dallas Morning News: Amid Debate To Defund The Police, Dallas County DA’s Plan To Divert Mentally Ill Offenders Does Something Better
It should not be against the law to be mentally ill. Yet the Dallas County jail is perennially the second largest mental health treatment facility in the state — trailing only its counterpart in Houston. That unjustly grim statistic has been reported so often that many Texans brush right past it, just as we do the mentally ill individuals loitering outside convenience stores or asking for money in shopping center parking lots. (Grigsby, 9/14)

Houston Chronicle: Switching To Electric Vehicles Could Save Lives, Cut Health Care Costs In Houston, Report Finds 
Houston in 2050 could save 148 lives, avoid 3,333 asthma attacks and reduce health costs by $1.7 billion annually by electrifying its entire transportation system, according to a report released Tuesday by the American Lung Association. The analysis, which concluded 582 lives could be spared each year in Texas, builds on other reports that say one of the most aggressive actions the nation can take to improve air quality is changing what is under the hood of Americans’ cars and trucks. (Begley, 9/15)

AP: 3 More Nebraska Prisons Employees Test Positive For Virus
Three more state corrections employees have tested positive for the coronavirus, state prisons officials said. An employee at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln and two employees at the state Diagnostic and Evaluation Center are the latest to test positive for COVID-19, the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services said in a news release Saturday. (9/13)