COVID-19

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear reported 576 new cases of coronavirus during a press briefing Tuesday. 

That’s the state’s second highest number reported in a single day since it began testing — Kentucky recorded its highest single day in early May when state officials tested staff and incarcerated people at Green River Correctional Complex in Central City. 

The total number of cases in Kentucky now stands at 20,223, Beshear said. He also reported six new deaths, which brings the state’s COVID-19 death toll to 635 people.

“It should tell you this virus isn’t playing and neither are we,” he said. “And it puts so many at risk when we all or any of us fail to do our part.”

The state of Ohio has seen an increase of more than 1,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 each day for a week, with hospital rates taking a jump in patients as well.

Updated at 7:50 p.m. ET

President Trump spoke in the White House Rose Garden on a broad range of topics on Tuesday, pitching himself as the stronger competitor over rival Joe Biden to manage the deadly coronavirus pandemic and steer the U.S. economy to prosperity.

His remarks come amid mounting concerns raised by public health officials about his administration's aggressive pitch to return the United States to normalcy, including pushing guidance for schools to reopen for in-person classes this fall.

Doctors from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center say that Latina and Black pregnant women in their hospitals are testing positive for COVID-19 at disproportionately high rates. They looked at cases from the 14 hospitals covered by the medical center’s neonatology division, stretching from the Dayton area to Northern Kentucky. 

Twelve Ohio counties are under an order by Gov. Mike DeWine to wear masks in indoor spaces and outdoors where social distancing isn’t possible.

That order is meant to reduce coronavirus rates in areas of the state where the virus is raging out of control, but it's being met with somewhat mixed reaction.

Ohioans in a total of 12 counties will be required to wear masks starting Friday at 6pm. But there continue to be questions about the enforcement and legality of that and other public health orders, as lawmakers push back on some of the state’s COVID-19 responses.

Updated July 10 at 7:45 a.m. ET

Ohio state Rep. Nino Vitale is urging his constituents not to get tested for the coronavirus, flouting advice from health officials — and from another Republican lawmaker, Gov. Mike DeWine.

"This is what happens when people go crazy and get tested," Vitale wrote on Facebook this week. "STOP GETTING TESTED!"