June 30 coronavirus news

All travelers arriving in Massachusetts, including residents returning to the state, will be required to self-quarantine for 14 days, Gov. Charlie Baker announced today.

The order goes in to effect Wednesday, according to a statement from the governor.

It does not apply to travelers from these states:

Essential workers also continue to be exempt.

Some context: The announcement follows a similar quarantine announced by Rhode Island Monday along with New York, New Jersey and Connecticut which announced their own quarantine last week.

Savannah, Georgia, announced Tuesday that it will now require people wear face masks or coverings while in public. 

The emergency order will start at 8 a.m. Wednesday and will remain in effect until further notice. 

In a statement on the city's Facebook page, Mayor Van Johnson said, "frankly and honestly, I do not believe we have another choice."

Johnson said the city's seven-day average of new cases is 43, which is a new record, and the 14-day rolling average is 33, which is also new record. 

Anyone who fails to comply with the order will face a fine.

"The point of this order is not to be punitive," Johnson said. "If we see someone without a face covering, the first thing we will do is offer them one. If that person refuses the face covering, that's a different issue entirely."

President Trump's campaign has scrapped plans to hold a rally in Alabama next weekend amid concerns about coronavirus infections rising in the US, CNN has learned.

Trump was slated to travel to the state ahead of the Senate race between his former attorney general Jeff Sessions and the former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville, but plans were called off as state officials quietly voiced concerns about a mass gathering and campaign officials ultimately decided against it. A person close to the campaign said there are currently no rallies on the horizon, but aides are scoping out possible venues for when they decide to host them again.

"We don't ever confirm where we're looking until a rally date and location are announced. There is always work underway to identify sites," said Tim Murtaugh, communications director for the Trump campaign.

On Tuesday, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey announced an amended safer-at-home order, which will extend the current order until the end of July. The order encourages minimizing travel outside the home and wearing face coverings when residents do. The order also states that “all non-work related gatherings of any size, including drive-in gatherings, that cannot maintain a consistent six-foot distance between persons from different households are prohibited.”

The decision will likely be a welcome relief for Sessions, who once safely held the seat before becoming Trump's attorney general but is now locked in a tight race with Tuberville. The rally was slated to be held in his hometown.

The director of the Pan American Health Organization had a message for government leaders as countries in the Americas continue to reopen or start their reopening phases. 

Etienne called on local and national governments to take a "phased approach that relies on robust surveillance, data and expanding testing and contact tracing capacity" and be ready "to adjust course quickly" if the infection rate starts rising again.  

Giving a general view of the situation in the Americas, Etienne said the region "has reported more Covid-19 cases than any other." However, the PAHO director said that several countries and territories in the Caribbean have been able to curb transmission completely — examples of the need to look at regional and local scenarios as well as national trends when it comes to the pandemic. 

Etienne also called on countries to remain vigilant about Covid-19, even if the number of new cases goes down.

"Complacency is our enemy in the fight against Covid-19," she said. "Reopening is not merely suspending travel restrictions and stay-at-home orders. It requires implementing a set of public health measures to track new cases and sufficient capacity to detect and control new outbreaks." 

She also said governments should "not abandon what works because of fatigue or political pressure."  

The Florida Department of Health is reporting 6,093 additional coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 152,434, according to data released by the state on Tuesday. 

Here is a breakdown of new coronavirus cases in Florida reported since last Friday:

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey announced the state is extending its "safer at home" order until July 31. The current order, which took effect on May 22, was previously set to expire on Friday.

The extended order comes as Covid-19 case numbers across the state of Alabama continue to rise. 

During a news conference today, Alabama State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said the percentage of tests that are positive are going up. Harris said even though the state is testing more, there is a greater number of people testing positive, which means there is community transmission. 

He added that Montgomery County, which was once a hotspot, has seen a decrease in new cases but warns that they are not out of the woods. 

Arizona health officials are reporting 4,682 new cases in the last 48 hours as the agency recovers from a lab reporting error.

“Today's reported new case number represents a two-day total,” the agency added.

Yesterday, the agency said that “one of our lab partners did not submit their daily report in time” and, as a result, Monday case count was not complete.

Read the tweet:

Individuals traveling to New York state from California, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada and Tennessee will now be required to quarantine for two weeks, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said today, expanding the list of states that meet Covid-19 metrics that qualify for the travel advisory.

"We've set metrics for community spread just as we've set metrics for everything the state does to fight Covid-19 and eight more states have reached the level of spread required to qualify for New York's travel advisory, meaning we will now require individuals traveling to New York from those states to quarantine for 14 days," he said.

Travelers from the following 16 states will be required to quarantine, according to the governor’s office:

The governors for New Jersey and Connecticut also announced that they are asking individuals traveling from 16 states significantly impacted by community spread of Covid-19 to quarantine for 14 days upon entry to the state.

The advisory applies to travel from states that have positive Covid-19 test rates higher than 10 per 100,000 residents or have a 10% or higher positivity rate over a seven-day rolling average, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy's office said.

More context: Last week, New York announced a joint travel advisory with Connecticut and New Jersey mandating that travelers from states where Covid-19 is surging quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in any of the three states.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy indicated it is unlikely Republicans will agree to extending unemployment benefits that were included in coronavirus stimulus legislation earlier this year. 

The $600 benefit is set to expire in July.

He also suggested that the payments are “becoming a hardship for individuals to be able to go back to work.”

“I think the greatest incentive here is, let’s help people get back to work in a safe manner,” he said.