LOS ANGELES — Californians mostly heeded warnings to stay away from beaches and other public spaces during the long weekend.
By The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Californians mostly heeded warnings to stay away from beaches and other public spaces during the long weekend.
State officials urged social distancing amid a spike in coronavirus infections and hospitalizations.
Many communities canceled July 4 fireworks shows and other annual festivities — changes that appeared to successfully keep crowds at bay. However big waves at Southern California beaches proved irresistible to some surfers.
California reported 6,500 additional confirmed cases of the virus on Saturday. The actual number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick.
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Follow all of AP’s pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
PHOENIX — Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego is pointing to a “crisis” involving coronavirus testing shortages in her city due to surging cases in Arizona, which leads the U. S. in new coronavirus cases per capita.
Gallego, a Democrat, said some residents over the weekend had to line up for eight hours by car to get tested.
Gallego told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that Arizona went from “zero to 60” by being one of the first states to reopen after it was among the last to implement stay-at-home orders.
Arizona health officials reported 3,536 additional coronavirus cases Sunday and four more known deaths. That brings the state’s documented totals to 98,089 confirmed cases of COVID-19 cases and 1,809 known deaths.
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CHARLESTON, W. Va. — West Virginia has experienced its biggest two-day jump in confirmed coronavirus cases, according to health statistics released Sunday.
The Department of Health and Human Resources website showed an increase of 76 positive cases on Sunday and 118 on Saturday. West Virginia has seen a 16% jump in confirmed cases over the past week and a 30% increase in the past two weeks, the statistics showed.
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said Thursday he would decide by early this week whether he will order that face masks be worn inside buildings and when social distancing isn’t possible. The governor had lifted most virus restrictions implemented to prevent the spread of the virus.
At least 95 people in West Virginia have died from the virus and more than 3,300 have tested positive since the outbreak began.
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JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn says he has tested positive for the coronavirus as state health officials report more than 200 new infections and five deaths linked to the pandemic.
Gunn, a Republican, said in a video posted Sunday to Facebook that he got tested because he had been in close proximity to another member of the House who tested positive.
“I felt like I needed to go get myself tested just because I had been with this person and this morning was informed that I too have tested positive for COVID,” Gunn said. “I feel very fortunate that I don’t really have very many symptoms and feel fine.”
Gunn said he called everyone that he had been in close proximity to recently to let them know of his diagnosis and planned to self-quarantine.
Gunn is the state’s highest-ranking political figure to publicly disclose a positive test for the coronavirus. He did not say who the other House member was. The Mississippi Department of Health posted its latest coronavirus statistics Sunday. The state recorded 226 new cases through Saturday bringing the total number of confirmed and probable infections to 30,900 across the state. Five more people also died from COVID-19.
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MADRID — Authorities in northwestern Spain have ordered the lockdown of a county with a population of 71,000 for fears of a coronavirus outbreak.
Regional authorities in Galicia announced Sunday that movement to and from A Mariña county located on Spain’s northern Atlantic coast will be prohibited starting at midnight. It will run through Friday, two days before the region holds elections.
The decision comes one day after regional authorities in northeast Catalonia locked down an area with over 200,000 inhabitants.
Both lockdowns only allow people to leave the areas for work and other extenuating circumstances.
The small-scale lockdowns come two weeks after Spain ended a national state of emergency that enable the national government to lockdown the entire country and prohibit travel between provinces or certain areas since mid-March.
Over 28,000 people are confirmed to have died from the virus in Spain.
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MEXICO CITY — Residents of the town of Sonoyta, across from Lukeville, Arizona, briefly blocked the main road leading south from the U. S. border over the weekend over fears of coronavirus outbreaks.
Arizona has seen a major upsurge in infections and there were worries about intensified contagion during the July 4 weekend.
Sonoyta Mayor José Ramos Arzate issued a statement Saturday “inviting U. S. tourists not to visit Mexico.”
Local residents organized to block the road with their cars on the Mexican side Saturday.
Video posted by residents showed several travelers complaining that they had a right to cross because they were Mexican citizens. The road is the quickest route to the seaside resort of Puerto Peñasco, also known as Rocky Point.
Ramos Arzate wrote that people from the United States should only be allowed in “for essential activities, and for that reason, the checkpoint and inspection point a few meters from the Sonoyta-Lukeville AZ crossing will continue operating.
