Coronavirus Live Updates – The New York Times

In some cases, the closings came after employees tested positive. In others, it was the patrons who were found to be infected.

In Phoenix, where cases have been on the rise, the Porch Arcadia, which reopened May 11, announced that it was temporarily closing again so it could test all of its workers and do a “thorough deep cleaning and sanitizing of the entire building.” It said someone who had been in the restaurant had tested positive. Another restaurant, Chelsea’s Kitchen, said on Facebook that it had suspended dine-in service and moved back to curbside takeout and delivery after “a person close to the restaurant” tested positive.

In Texas, some San Antonio bars decided to shut down, among them Hills & Dales Icehouse, which cited “the recent surge of positive Covid-19 cases.” It said it would remain closed until it felt safe for workers and patrons to return.

A number of Florida bars — including in Naples, St. Petersburg and the Orlando suburbs — told customers that they were voluntarily shutting down their dining rooms because employees had tested positive. St. Petersburg’s mayor, Rick Kriseman, urged other businesses to also close if any of their workers get sick.

On Saturday, Florida reported its highest single-day number of cases since the outbreak began: 2,581.

In other parts of the country, officials have been talking about pausing their reopening plans amid warnings that the virus is here for long haul. Here’s a look at what’s happening:

• On Monday, New York’s governor, Andrew M. Cuomo, repeated his calls for local governments to enforce state’s restrictions after widespread reports of violations over the weekend. A day earlier, he had warned that if local officials did not crack down on such behavior, the state could be forced to modify its reopening plans. He said Monday that Phase 3 of reopening, in which up to 25 people will be allowed to gather, is expected to be put in place by the end of the week in all of the state except for New York City and its suburbs.

• Los Angeles County public health officials who visited 2,000 restaurants over the weekend found that 50 percent of them “were not in compliance” with coronavirus guidelines. Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the public health director, said on Monday that those restaurants will be revisited, and noted that “there should be no places where tables are right next to each other. They either need a six foot barrier, or a physical barrier. Those are requirements in the protocols.”

• In Austin, Tex., Mayor Steve Adler issued new guidelines on Monday to encourage mask wearing and social distancing. In an interview, Mr. Adler said the city was seeing a “significant rise” in new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. The mayor said that he had to abide by Gov. Greg Abbott’s reopening orders and that he could not reimpose Austin’s strict lockdown. But he called on businesses to redouble efforts to maximize social distancing and to do a better job requiring customers to wear masks.

• Officials in Memphis said Monday that the city would delay further reopening because case numbers remained persistently high. “If we act like everything is back to normal, we risk negating all the good work we have done so far and potentially filling up our hospitals with very sick people,” city officials said in a statement.

Applying to college? You may not need to worry about those test scores this year.

More than half of all four-year colleges and universities in the U.S. will not require applicants to submit SAT or ACT scores for admissions this fall, an anti-testing group said Monday, a major shift in the way colleges select students that has been accelerated by the pandemic.

The group, FairTest, said that 1,240 of the 2,330 institutions that granted bachelor’s degrees in the 2018-19 academic year have now made the tests optional. The total includes nearly 200 colleges and universities that have at least temporarily dropped the testing requirement since the spring, when the outbreak forced the cancellation of many test dates.

The tests have long been criticized as being unfair to low-income, black and Hispanic students, leading a growing number of colleges to make testing optional. Supporters say they provide a uniform way of judging students across schools.