The Latest: California has 2nd highest day in cases, deaths

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California has reported its second-highest daily total of new coronavirus cases and equaled its second worst day for deaths.

More than 11,000 new cases were recorded by state officials Tuesday, a rise of 3.3%. California also recorded 140 deaths, tying a recent tally for its second-highest daily figure.

The number of tests and the rate of those testing positive also rose. The positivity rate over the past two weeks has now topped 7%, while in hard-hit Los Angeles County with a quarter of California’s population that rate has soared to nearly 10%.

Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Wednesday that Los Angeles County is in “an alarming and dangerous phase” that could overwhelm intensive care units and prompt sweeping closure orders if not reversed.

___

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— Texas sets daily record for virus cases with nearly 10,800

— Oklahoma Gov. Stitt tests positive for coronavirus

— Organizers have canceled the 2021 New Year’s Day Rose Parade

— Walt Disney World is welcoming back visitors to two more theme parks that had been shuttered since March because of the new coronavirus. The Florida theme park resort reopened Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

— Walmart will require customers to wear face coverings at all of its namesake and Sam’s Club stores, making it the largest retailer to introduce such a policy.

___

Follow all of AP’s pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

___

HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

LAS VEGAS — Several Las Vegas casinos are limiting smoking to keep patrons from removing the protective face masks they are required to wear.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. in mid-June updated its policy to ask that table game players and spectators do not smoke or vape in its Venetian and Palazzo resorts. Wynn Resorts Ltd. has designated any table games without a plexiglass barrier as nonsmoking areas inside its Wynn and Encore casinos on the Las Vegas Strip.

Nevada on Wednesday reported 849 new cases of COVID-19, a decline from a day earlier, when the state set a new daily high of 1,104 cases.

___

SPOKANE, Wash. — A federal judge has rejected a water park’s challenge to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s emergency powers as the state responds to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Slidewaters water park in Chelan sued the governor and the Department of Labor Industries last month, arguing that Inslee abused his power in declaring the emergency and that the state’s restrictions were likely to prevent it from opening for the summer.

Slidewaters nevertheless opened on June 20 and has remained in operation despite the threat of $10,000 or more in fines from the state.

In ruling against the park Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice in Spokane returned the case to Chelan County Superior Court for consideration of the state’s counterclaims seeking an order to close Slidewaters.

___

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia officials have passed temporary new workplace safety rules designed to protect employees from the coronavirus, becoming the first state to adopt such measures.

The Virginia Safety and Health Codes Board voted Wednesday to approve rules for businesses that include social distancing requirements, notifications for employees when a co-worker has tested positive for the virus and timelines for when employees who recover from the virus can return to work.

Business groups said the new rules were an overreach that will add unfair burdens on businesses already struggling with the virus’ economic fallout. Labor groups hailed the new rules as crucial to worker safety.

____

TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas’ governor says she will delay the reopening of the state’s K-12 schools for nearly a month until after Labor Day because of a resurgence in reported coronavirus cases that has given the state its worst weeklong spike since the pandemic began.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly announced her plans Wednesday, only hours after the State Board of Education approved roughly 1,100 pages of reopening guidelines for local boards of education.

Kelly said she will issue an executive order Monday to delay reopening of schools until Sept. 9 to give the state’s districts time to prepare for the extra health and safety standards. She said she will issue a second order making parts of the state board’s guidelines mandatory.

___

SAN FRANCISCO — California’s education chief has applauded the state’s two largest school districts, Los Angeles and San Diego, for this week’s decision not to reopen classrooms this fall amid rising coronavirus cases. But Tony Thurmond says the same rules need not apply in counties with low rates of infection.

In a media briefing, Thurmond says that in counties where the number of cases is low, schools could reopen for in-person classes as long as they follow the state’s guidance on physical distancing and wearing face coverings.

___

HELENA, Mont. — Montana Gov. Steve Bullock has issued a directive requiring face coverings at indoor public spaces and at larger outdoor gatherings in counties where four or more people are known to be currently infected with COVID-19.

Bullock says too many people continue to meet in large gatherings and too few are wearing masks.

Montana reported a record 145 additional coronavirus cases on Wednesday, bringing the state’s number of known cases to 2,096. Bullock’s directive came after several local governments passed or are considering similar measures.

___

BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry has issued a legal opinion saying the governor’s statewide mask mandate and bar restrictions to combat the coronavirus outbreak appear to violate Louisiana’s constitution.

The Republican attorney general issued the assessment Wednesday while quarantining after a positive coronavirus test. His legal assessment doesn’t carry the force of law.

Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards’ order requires most people to wear face coverings, limits bars to takeout and delivery and bans gatherings of more than 50 people indoors.

Landry wrote that’s “likely unconstitutional and unenforceable.”

“Although the mask mandate and the 50-person limit may be good recommendations for personal safety, they may not be enforced with financial or criminal penalties,” Landry wrote.

The opinion comes a day after Vice President Mike Pence complimented Edwards’ virus response and suggested residents should comply with the regulations.

Edwards defended his coronavirus order as well within the scope of his legal authority.

___

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and fellow Republican leaders of the House and Senate have joined forces to demand that schools open five days a week for in-person instruction.

Wednesday’s announcement at a news conference came as COVID-19 cases continue to climb in the state.

McMaster says parents need to go back to work and children need to stop falling behind. Independently elected state Education Superintendent Molly Spearman says she doesn’t support the demand because of the virus spread.

The Palmetto State Teachers Association says the state has to get COVID-19 under control before students and teachers can return safely to classrooms.

___

DETROIT — The city of Detroit announced a memorial day to honor more than 1,400 residents who died from COVID-19 and invited families to share photos that will be enlarged and displayed at a state park.

The city’s director of arts and culture says the photos will be staked along the route of a memorial drive scheduled for Aug. 31.

“This is a very special thing for those of us who have lost people,” Riley said Wednesday. “We want to make sure we take a chance to take one last look at them.”

She says every person, church and community group in southeastern Michigan will be invited to ring bells for 15 minutes at 8:45 a.m.

___

JOHANNESBURG — South Africa has surpassed 300,000 confirmed coronavirus cases as the first wave of the pandemic crashes into the African continent.

South Africa’s 311,049 cases make up close to half of those across the 54-nation continent.

Already shortages of medical oxygen and hospital beds are being reported.

While more than 4,400 deaths in South Africa have been attributed to the virus, a report by the South African Medical Research Council says the country had nearly 11,000 excess deaths between May 6 and July 7.

The government this week tightened some restrictions, making face masks mandatory in public places and re-imposing a ban on alcohol sales.

___

LAKE ZURICH, Ill. — At least three dozen high school students in northern Illinois have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus after some attending summer sports camps showed symptoms of the disease.

Lake County health officials say investigations and contact tracing of the infections are tied to the camps held last week at Lake Zurich High School and multiple prior social gatherings.

Health officials said health screenings were conducted at the start of the camps on July 6 and some students who showed symptoms were turned away. But other students experienced symptoms during the camps and were sent home. Health and school district officials met the next day and decided to close the camps.

___

PASADENA, Calif. — Organizers have canceled the 2021 Rose Parade because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on long-range planning for the New Year’s tradition and the risk of spreading infections among its huge audience and participants.

The Pasadena, California, Tournament of Roses Association said the Wednesday decision was put off until organizers were certain that safety restrictions would prevent staging of the 132nd parade.

Planning for the Rose Bowl college football game that traditionally follows the parade is continuing, the association said.

The parade is held every Jan. 1 except when New Year’s Day falls on a Sunday and the event is pushed to Jan. 2.

___

ORLANDO, Fla. — Walt Disney World welcomed back visitors to two more theme parks that were shuttered since March because of the coronavirus.

The Florida theme park resort reopened Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, completing a rolling opening of Disney World’s theme parks that started last weekend with Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom welcoming back visitors.

The parks were the last of Orlando’s major theme parks to reopen. Both Universal Orlando and SeaWorld Orlando opened their doors last month.

All parks require reservations and social distancing. Visitors and employees need temperature checks upon entering and must wear masks.

There are no live shows at Disney World because the reopening created a labor dispute between Disney and its actors and singers.

___

FARMINGTON, N.M. — Officials say a riot at a northwestern New Mexico jail sparked by demands for more coronavirus testing left one inmate injured.

Authorities say the disturbance at the San Juan County Adult Detention in Farmington, New Mexico, began Monday after 35 inmates barricaded themselves and started a fire. Officials say the inmates also were armed with shards of porcelain from broken toilets.

According to San Juan County authorities, inmates demanded to speak to an administrator Sunday about their concerns for more coronavirus testing and hot meals.

___

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas set a record for confirmed new coronavirus cases in a single day with nearly 10,800.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott mandated face coverings this month. Some Texas sheriffs have said they won’t enforce the order.

But Abbott has increasingly emphasized face coverings as the way out of avoiding another lockdown, which he has not ruled out.

“If we were two shut down for two weeks, as some people are asking, once we open back up you would then see things begin to spread again,” Abbott told Houston television station KTRK on Wednesday. “Until there are medications to slow the spread of the coronavirus, there is only one thing that can slow the spread and that is by people adopting the use of wearing a face guard of some sort whenever they go out.”

___

ROME — Italy’s main nursing federation says 40 nurses with coronavirus died during the peak of the outbreak.

The National Federation of the Order of Nursing Professions released a breakdown of the deaths on Wednesday, based on reporting from its regional chapters in March, April and May. “It’s obvious that the lack of PPE, including the FFP2 masks, was one of the principal causes of infection transmission among nursing personnel,” the report said.

The toll adds to 172 doctors with coronavirus who have died, according to a tally kept by Italy’s main doctors’ association. Both associations included retired personnel.

The nursing group says 32 nurses died of COVID-19. For four others, coronavirus was a determining factor. Of four suicides, two were in hardest-hit Lombardy region.

Italy’s Superior Institute of Health has confirmed 29,768 positive cases among health care workers. Overall, Italy has 243,506 confirmed cases, with 163 infections and 13 deaths recorded Wednesday.

___

MADRID — Authorities in Spain’s Balearic Islands are pulling the plug on endless drunken nights to the beat of techno music by closing bars and nightclubs in beachfront areas popular with young and international visitors.

To slow the spread of the coronavirus, regional authorities closed all establishments near the beach of Palma de Mallorca and the nearby Magaluf.

The region’s tourism minister, Iago Negueruela, says it wants to shake off a reputation of no social distancing and no masks that went virual and made headlines in Germany and Britain.

Spain has confirmed at least 28,400 deaths from the virus. It’s dealing with dozens of outbreaks reopening last month.

___

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt says he’s tested positive for the coronavirus and is isolating at home.

The first-term Republican governor has backed one of the country’s most aggressive reopening plans, has resisted any statewide mandate on masks and rarely wears one.

Stitt attended President Donald Trump’s rally in Tulsa last month, which health experts have said likely contributed to a surge in coronavirus cases there.