Local leaders are delivering America's communities through this crisis. That's why Bloomberg Philanthropies created the City Hall COVID-19 Update, to elevate the critical information city leaders need to respond to and recover from the challenges at hand. The newsletter is published twice weekly, on Tuesday and Friday.

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More cities mandate masks as COVID cases continue to spike

The push for mandatory mask wearing in public may be nearing a tipping point as COVID-19 infection rates soar in Arizona, Florida, Texas, and a number of other states. And, in many cases—including in Tampa, Fla., Montgomery, Ala., and Tucson, Ariz.—it’s mayors who are leading the charge. Here’s how city leaders are rebuffing critics and mixed messaging to enact rules they say are needed to save lives as economies reopen during the pandemic.

DATA TRACKER

Johns Hopkins' confirmed U.S. COVID-19 cases as of 8 a.m. EDT on June 23.

TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES

2,312,302

TOTAL DEATHS

120,402

Find more up-to-date case counts and other critical information from the Johns Hopkins University's situation report and interactive map.

Cities to domestic-violence survivors: ‘You aren’t trapped’

In normal times, a decrease in domestic violence calls and fewer people in shelters would be good news for city officials. But in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, cities across the country have grown alarmed that stay-at-home orders and social distancing have presented additional hurdles for abuse survivors to overcome and reach out for help or get away from their abusers. City Halls have implemented a variety of programs and awareness campaigns, and one in Houston is attracting national attention.

CITY ACTIONS

A roundup of responses to the coronavirus crisis. See the
COVID-19: Local Action Tracker for more.

ENTERING PHASE TWO OF RECOVERY
Some of the nation’s largest and hardest-hit cities move to Phase Two of reopening this week. But what that means for residents’ everyday lives varies by city.

In New York City, where as many as 300,000 were expected to return to work yesterday, outdoor dining, playgrounds, and retail reopen.
In Washington, D.C., where the city experienced a 15-day decline in community spread but did not meet its desired metric in contact tracing, residents can resume indoor dining, retail shopping, and churchgoing.
In Baltimore, fitness centers, museums, aquariums, restaurants, bars, clubs, libraries, retail businesses, malls, and nonessential offices can now open at 50-percent capacity.
A week after the rest of Indiana, Indianapolis allows bars to reopen for the first time in three months.

RAMPING UP TESTING
As daily rates of COVID-19 infection continue to rise, mayors are implementing new measures designed to curb outbreaks.

Los Angeles International Airport will pilot passenger thermal-scans in the international terminal.
Denver expands testing to underserved communities by going to where people are, including a local church. “We wanted to make sure that we brought the testing to folks so that way there was no way they would be missed,” says Kim Desmond, the city’s Director of the Office on Equity and Social Innovation.
As Austin, Texas, Mayor Steve Adler warns that his residents are “three times as likely to catch COVID-19 than they were two weeks ago,” the city offers free tests and face masks to 300 construction workers.

GLOBAL OUTLOOK

Mayor Fábio Junqueira of Tangará da Serra, Brazil, suspends the sale of all alcoholic beverages for two weeks to encourage residents to stay home.
Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon confirms a second wave of infection and warns residents that restrictions may be toughened if cases continue to rise.
Beijing, a city of 20 million people, can test as many as 1 million per day for coronavirus, an official says.

Inspired: Silicon Valley Strong

As members of the Dawoodi Bohra religious community in San José, Calif., distributed thousands of handmade masks to area senior centers over the weekend, Mayor Sam Liccardo used their generosity as an opportunity to uplift Silicon Valley Strong, a public-private partnership that has created a one-stop web portal for anyone needing help or looking to lend a hand during the COVID-19 crisis. “Thank you for showing us another way we can help keep each other safe,” Liccardo tweeted.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES

Find more COVID-19 resources for city leaders here. Please suggest new resources to include here.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

The Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund is requesting applications for a cohort of local governments looking to provide financial information and referrals to residents impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and economic fallout. Apply here by June 30.

RESOURCES

COVID-19 Management Metrics for Cities (Johns Hopkins University)
COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Programs in Ten Localities (Local Housing Solutions)
Resources for mayors (African American Mayors Association)
COVID Racial Dataset (The COVID Tracking Projec t)
Free course on contact tracing (Johns Hopkins University)
Partnership for Healthy Cities COVID-19 Response Center (Bloomberg Philanthropies)
Transportation Response Center (NACTO)
Communication tools and resources for advancing social and behavior change (Johns Hopkins University)
Info on which states are breaking down COVID-19 data by race. (Johns Hopkins University)

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