May 16, 2020 - Health

In photos: More businesses reopen as states let stay-at-home orders expire

Customers at the Someplace Else II bar and restaurant on May 15 in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images

More businesses reopened across the U.S. this weekend as states allowed stay-at-home orders to expire and lifted some quarantine restrictions.

Driving the news: The CDC posted six new one-page tools on Thursday that advise businesses, restaurants and bars, schools, camps, child care centers and mass transit systems on how to safely reopen during the coronavirus pandemic.

What's happening: Stay-at-home orders lapsed in Maryland, Louisiana, Arizona, Vermont and Maryland on Friday, per a New York Times analysis.

  • New York, Virginia and Oregon are extending stay-at-home orders while allowing certain regions and businesses — designated as low-risk — to reopen, per the Times.
  • Wisconsin's stay-at-home order was blocked by the state's Supreme Court on Wednesday.

The big picture: Most states are making progress on coronavirus testing and finding fewer infections, Axios' Andrew Witherspoon and Sam Baker report.

Customers eat and drink at the Brat Stop in Kenosha, Wisconsin, about five minutes from the Illinois border, on May 15. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images
Families wait for a movie at the Warwick Drive-In on May 15 in Warwick, New York. Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) allowed drive-in theaters to reopen this week. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Visitors at Zion National Park on May 15 in Springdale, Utah. The park resumed limited operations on Wednesday. Photo: George Frey/Getty Images
Kim Hannon, owner of a boutique in Grasonville, Maryland, pours champagne to celebrate as she opens for business on May 15. Gov. Larry Hogan (R) allowed stores, houses of worship and salons to open on Friday. Photo: Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Jacob Schoberg in the J. Roberts men's apparel store on May 15 in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Go deeper: The great reopening experiment

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Updated Aug 27, 2020 - Science

In photos: Historic California wildfires ravage over 1 million acres

Firefighters monitor a backfire as they work the Walbridge fire in Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve protecting the heritage trees in Guerneville, Calif. on Aug. 25. Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar declared a public health emergency in California Wednesday, as hundreds of fires raze over 1.4 million acres in a natural disaster that's seen over 100,000 people placed on evacuation orders.

The big picture: At least seven deaths have been reported and dozens of properties razed amid dismal air quality. The fires have brought another crisis to a state reporting the most coronavirus infections in the country.

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Updated Oct 7, 2020 - Health

World coronavirus updates

Expand chart
Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Axios Visuals

New Zealand now has active no coronavirus cases in the community after the final six people linked to the Auckland cluster recovered, the country's Health Ministry confirmed in an email Wednesday.

The big picture: The country's second outbreak won't officially be declared closed until there have been "no new cases for two incubation periods," the ministry said. Auckland will join the rest of NZ in enjoying no domestic restrictions from late Wednesday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said, declaring that NZ had "beat the virus again."

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Orion Rummler
Updated Oct 19, 2020 - Health

8 states set single-day coronavirus case records last week

Data: Compiled by Axios; Map: Danielle Alberti/Axios

8 states set new highs last week for coronavirus infections recorded in a single day, according to the COVID Tracking Project (CTP) and state health departments. Montana, West Virginia, and Wyoming surpassed records from the previous week.

Why it matters: Cases and hospitalizations are rising in Michigan, a state that initially fought the pandemic with strict mitigation efforts, alongside states that took less action against the spread of the virus this spring.

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