July 16 coronavirus news

As Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s mask mandate for all Red Alert Level 3 counties goes into effect Friday, nearly 60% of the state – 19 counties – will now be required to wear masks in public.

The governor said some of Ohio’s counties seemed to be understanding the seriousness of the spread of the virus in their communities.

When asked what he would do if cases continue to increase, DeWine said, “as governor of the state of Ohio, I will do what I have to do, to protect the people of Ohio.”

The latest numbers: The state today announced at least 1,290 new coronavirus cases and 115 new hospitalizations in the last 24 hours. The state also reports 28 new Covid-19-related deaths since yesterday – which is higher than the state’s 21-day average.

Note: These numbers were released by the state’s public health agency, and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

Colorado will now require residents to wear masks when they are visiting public indoor spaces and not able to social distance, Gov. Jared Polis said at an afternoon news conference. 

The order takes effect at midnight today. Colorado now becomes the 39th state to require face coverings in public.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced his roughly $115 million plan Thursday to close the digital divide for all students in the state as remote learning remains part of the experience for students in the fall due to the pandemic.

This effort will include providing devices and increasing connectivity for all public school students.

New Jersey will need to raise approximately $54 million. The remainder will be paid through the federal money from Congress through the Cares Act and Title One federal funding awards. 

More details: In order to raise the money within the state, Murphy announced all philanthropy avenues will be exhausted, the Department of Education will offer a one-time $10 million formula grant, and his administration will redirect Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) funds to close any remaining gap.

Murphy and New Jersey Education Commissioner Lamont Repollet had previously announced the state's plans to reopen schools for in-person instruction at the beginning of the school year, absent a change to the current public health data statewide.

Grocery store chain Publix will require all customers to wear face coverings when entering any of their stores throughout the United States beginning July 21.

“With the number of coronavirus cases continuing to grow and current CDC guidance indicating face coverings can help slow the spread of COVID-19, we believe requiring face coverings in our stores is another way we can do our part to help protect our communities,” said Publix Director of Communications Maria Brous.

More on this: Publix is the latest US store to require customers wear face masks while shopping. CVS, Kohl's, Kroger, Target and Walmart will also require customers wear face coverings.

The National Retail Federation, the main lobbying group for the industry, also called on retailers to require masks for customers.

New York City has 18,754 confirmed and 4,617 probable coronavirus deaths as of July 16, according to the most recent data on the city website.

The New York City Health Department defines probable deaths as people who did not have a positive Covid-19 laboratory test, but their death certificate lists as the cause of death “Covid-19” or an equivalent.

The total number of confirmed coronavirus deaths and probable coronavirus deaths in New York City is 23,371.

More data: There has been 217,230 coronavirus cases in the city and 55,589 people have been hospitalized since the start of the pandemic, according to the city.

The data is from the New York City Health Department and was updated on July 16 at 1 p.m. ET, according to the website.

Note: These figures may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

Countries that reopened schools were able to do so because they first got their coronavirus cases under control, experts said Thursday.

Austria, Denmark, Germany and Norway have been able to open their schools, panelists told the briefing.

Nuzzo said these countries have been “taking measures to maximize safety in the school setting.

“[T]he key is, they have all started from a place of having low transmission and low level of illness in the surrounding communities," Nuzzo said.

Simply put, “each of these countries had their epidemic under control,” Nuzzo added. 

More insight: Annette Anderson, an assistant professor of education at Johns Hopkins, said one of the most important factors in getting kids back into face-to-face learning is to build trust with the parents and caregivers.

“Schools must convince parents and teachers that they are ready and safe to reopen,” she said. 

Anderson said schools and districts should have parents come in and see what in-person learning will look like in the fall.

“Having parents come in to physically see what those plans look like in action, so that it's not just something ephemeral,” she said. “Parents can see what it would look like to be in a socially distanced classroom, to see what it would be like to be in a socially distanced gym class, to see what it would be like to be in a socially distanced cafeteria."

Arkansas will now require face coverings in public, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced at an afternoon news conference.

Hutchinson said the new order, which will take effect on Monday, will require masks to be worn when people are in the presence of non-household members and aren’t able to social distance. Children under the age of 10 are exempt from the order.

The mask order, he said, is enforceable and offenders can be cited and fined.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday that commercial labs are responsible for backlogged test results and not the Florida Department of Health.  

The governor said that labs are responsible for entering the test results into the state and sometimes don't enter each test each day.

California reported 8,544 new cases of coronavirus and 118 additional deaths on Thursday, according to new data from the state's Department of Public Health.

The new cases represent a 2.5% increase and the deaths reflect a 1.6% increase from Wednesday’s data. 

Hospitalizations and intensive care unit admissions have slightly decreased from Wednesday with nine less patients hospitalized and 10 less patients in the ICU.

There are a total of 6,777 Covid-19 positive hospital patients and 1,897 ICU patients in the state.

The positivity rate in California over a two-week period is now 7.2%.

As of Thursday, California had a total of 356,178 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 7,345 deaths due to the virus. 

To note: These figures were released by California Department of Public Health and may not match up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.