New Jersey adopted a stringent coronavirus face-mask order on Wednesday, and New York City unveiled a plan to allow public school students back into classrooms for just two or three days a week, as Covid-19 cases soared elsewhere in the United States.
Officials in New Jersey and New York, the hardest-hit states at the outset of the U.S. outbreak, are trying to preserve progress against the virus as it resurges in other parts of the country, especially the South and West.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy ordered people to wear face coverings outdoors when social distancing was not possible, citing a rise in the state's coronavirus transmission rate.Many states require masks in public indoor settings and recommend them outside, but have stopped short of mandating their use outdoors.
In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a plan for 1.1 million students in the nation's largest public school district to return to classes in September. Pupils would alternate attending school two or three days weekly and spend the remaining time at home.Republican President Donald Trump, who has exhorted Americans to return to their daily routines, threatened to cut off federal funding to schools that fail to reopen on their normal schedule due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Coronavirus cases have been on the rise in 42 of the 50 states over the past two weeks, according to a Reuters analysis. Meanwhile, the percentage of people testing positive among those who are screened has climbed above 5% - to levels health experts deem concerning - in some two dozen states. The virus is sweeping through a number of heavily populated states, including California and Texas. Twenty states have reported record increases in cases this month.Houston, the largest city in Texas and the U.S. oil industry's hub, registered more than 1,000 new cases on Tuesday, a single-day record, Mayor Sylvester Turner tweeted on Wednesday, calling the spread "severe and uncontrolled.
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