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Law360 (November 10, 2020, 6:29 PM EST ) A resurgence of COVID-19 cases swept through the nation over the past week, prompting the revival of mitigation measures in New Jersey and Illinois restaurants and additional community testing sites in Delaware.
Rising numbers of cases and deaths also led Massachusetts to update the metrics used to determine how to operate schools safely during the pandemic. Help for communities came in the form of military teams assisting in El Paso, Texas, hospitals, and a $20 million influx of grant money for Pennsylvania's homeless population as winter — and a predicted surge — looms.
Here's a breakdown of some COVID-19-related state measures from the past week.
Click for state-by-state data on COVID-19 legislation and executive orders, powered by LexisNexis.
Delaware
In a joint announcement with health and emergency management officials, Gov. John Carney on Monday unveiled a new list of community testing sites that will operate throughout the week. The announcement came days after the state reported its highest single-day positive test total, 271, since mid-May.
On Thursday, Carney eased certain restrictions from beach community bars due to the end of the summer season, but said social distancing rules, capacity limits and other restrictions still apply.
New Jersey
Gov. Phil Murphy on Tuesday added Maine and New Hampshire to the list of states from which travelers must enter a 14-day quarantine, bringing the advisory up to 45 states and territories. The states on the list have a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents or a region with a 10% or higher positive test rate over a seven-day rolling average.
In response to surging positive test results, Murphy announced new mitigation measures Monday, including a 10 p.m. curfew on indoor dining at bars and restaurants and a prohibition on bar seating at any time of the day for now. The new rules, effective Thursday, also ban all interstate games and tournaments for indoor youth sports.
New York
Authorities have suspended the license of North Fork Country Club on Long Island for hosting a wedding that defied crowd limits and led to at least 34 coronavirus infections, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday. He said the so-called super-spreader event resulted in quarantines for 159 individuals and temporarily closed several schools to in-person learning.
Also on Monday, Cuomo said Erie, Monroe and Onondaga counties have been added to the state's microcluster focus areas subject to targeted mitigation measures. Based on testing results and hospitalization rates, the areas are categorized into red, orange and yellow zones, with red indicating the highest infection rates. In other updates, Cuomo said Brooklyn's red zone transitioned to an orange zone.
Illinois
Gov. J.B. Pritzker and health officials on Monday jointly announced new mitigation measures for Southern Illinois and Will, Kankakee, Kane and DuPage counties, where the positivity rate has "significantly" increased. Effective Wednesday, the new rules reduce restaurant party size limits from 10 to six and set outdoor gathering limits at 10 individuals.
On Friday, officials said the governor's office learned that it was recently exposed to the coronavirus as a result of a Nov. 2 meeting Pritzker held in a large conference room in his office. The governor's office said Saturday that Pritzker and staff who attended the meeting have tested negative.
Massachusetts
Gov. Charlie Baker and the state's COVID-19 Command Center on Friday jointly released updated metrics for schools and municipalities to determine school reopenings. Under the metrics, municipalities are given a color-coded designation based on the positive test rates per 100,000 residents.
Pennsylvania
The commonwealth has received $20 million in COVID-19 Homeless Emergency Solutions Grant funds to be used for emergency shelter, Gov. Tom Wolf announced Thursday, noting that the state is bracing for a surge of coronavirus cases as winter approaches.
The Keystone State also added Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia and Massachusetts to the list of states from which travelers should enter a 14-day quarantine, while also removing Louisiana from that list, bringing the advisory up to 34 states, state officials said Monday.
Texas
On Tuesday, Gov. Greg Abbott announced that the state has put together plans to quickly distribute medicines and vaccines to treat COVID-19.
The U.S. Department of Defense has deployed three U.S. Air Force Medical Specialty Teams to help battle the coronavirus in El Paso, the governor said Friday. The teams will support the efforts of the University Medical Center of El Paso, the Hospitals of Providence Transmountain Campus and the Las Palmas Del Sol Medical Center.
--Additional reporting by Bill Wichert. Editing by Breda Lund.
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