July 1 coronavirus news

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced a new order that requires masks to be worn whenever anyone leaves home, a measure he said is “essential to stopping the recent increase in Covid-19 cases” seen recently in the state.

Some context: The order, signed by Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine, takes effect immediately, and expands on an April order that requires the wearing of masks in businesses.

Apple announced on Wednesday that it will temporarily close an additional 46 stores across the US due to an uptick in coronavirus cases.

In a statement, the tech giant said that "due to current COVID-19 conditions in some of the communities we serve, we are temporarily closing stores in these areas."  

Apple announced that it is closing additional stores in: Alabama, California, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Florida, Mississippi, Texas and Utah. 

Apple reopened dozens of its 271 United States stores last month after shutting them because of coronavirus.

CNN’s Rishi Iyengar contributed to this report. 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is ordering all indoor activities be halted in counties on the state’s coronavirus "watch list" for increased transmission of the virus. 

Those closures affect 19 counties representing 72% of the state’s population, and include restaurants, museums, zoos, movie theaters, family entertainment, and card rooms.

The governor announced earlier this week that bars, pubs, breweries and wineries that don’t also serve food must close. Restaurants may remain open for take out meals.

These restrictions will remain in place for at least three weeks, Newsom said.

All Orange County bars, pubs, breweries, and brewpubs that do not offer sit-down and dine-in meals are ordered to close effective Thursday due to the rise in coronavirus cases, the OC Health Care Agency announced Wednesday.

The revised order is effective until further notice. For bars, pubs, breweries, and brewpubs that offer sit-down and dine-in meals, alcohol can only be sold in the same transaction as a meal.

They must also follow the state dine-in restaurant guidance and continue to encourage takeout and delivery service whenever possible.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that Orange County had been added to the state Department of Public Health's watchlist due to increasing percentages of positive coronavirus tests.

The security checkpoint at the Atlanta airport’s main terminal is currently closed for cleaning after an employee there tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the Transportation Security Administration. 

TSA spokesperson Mark Howell said the Domestic Main checkpoint is expected to reopen either Thursday morning, or possibly later in the day Wednesday, but first must be deep cleaned. 

All passengers are currently being screened at a smaller checkpoint, T North. Another smaller checkpoint at the airport, T South, has been closed due to a construction project. 

Howell said the situation is causing longer lines than usual at the T North checkpoint. 

Because the checkpoint is expected to reopen by Thursday, the situation is not expected to impact holiday travelers this weekend. 

Howell said TSA expects to screen about 27,000 people at the airport on Thursday and Friday, which is about 50% more than it has seen recently. The agency is bringing in more employees to work over the holiday weekend because of the higher volumes. 

Some context: More than 860 TSA employees nationwide have tested positive for the coronavirus, including at least 29 at Atlanta’s airport. 

New York City has 18,497 confirmed coronavirus deaths and 4,607 probable coronavirus deaths as of July 1, 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 23,104.

There have been 212,412 coronavirus cases in the city and 55,022 people have been hospitalized, according to the city.

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

To 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.

Kroger Health was granted emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration for its Covid-19 test home collection kit, the company announced today.

The FDA has previously authorized other Covid-19 test home collection kits. The Kroger kit, in partnership with Gravity Diagnostics, will be available starting this week to “frontline associates across Kroger's Family of Companies.”

Kroger is hoping to expand to other organizations and companies in the coming weeks with a goal of processing up to 60,000 tests per week by the end of July, it said.

How the Kroger kit works: Kroger said the kit will be mailed to an individual’s house if the person qualifies. The kit will include a nasal swab, transport vial, instructions and shipping labels. During a telehealth video chat, a health care professional will guide the individual through the process. The patient will overnight ship the sample and should have results back in 24 to 48 hours, Kroger Health outlined.

The kit will be available in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia initially. It expects to expand to additional states in a few weeks. 

The FDA said in the EUA “it is reasonable to believe that your product may be effective in diagnosing Covid-19 by serving as an appropriate means to collect and transport human specimens so that an authorized laboratory can detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA from the home-collected human specimen, and that the known and potential benefits of your product when used for such use, outweigh the known and potential risks of your product.”  

Since the pandemic began: Kroger has been doing community testing around the country.

Colleen Lindholz, president of Kroger Health said during this time, “we've observed some individuals do not have access to transportation or live near these community testing locations. To help ease this burden and provide greater accessibility, we will be offering a home testing solution to our associates first followed by other companies and organizations."

Gov. Brian Kemp was asked his opinion on cities across Georgia requiring citizens to wear masks during a news conference in Albany, Georgia, today.

Kemp acknowledged that cases were on the rise in Georgia.

"Our mortality rate continues to decline in the state, and testing continues to increase. That is going to be a key as we continue to fight this disease," the governor said.

There are at least 2,638,338 cases of coronavirus in the US and at least 127,485 people have died from the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally of cases. 

On Wednesday, Johns Hopkins reported 2,921 new cases and 68 reported deaths. 

The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.