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.

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The digital divide: How cities are closing the gap for students

When K-12 schools moved online in a rush last spring, it laid bare the long-festering problem of unequal access to high-speed internet. From Chicago, to Los Angeles, to Philadelphia, school participation plunged, especially among Black and Latinx students, in part because so many families lack broadband access at home. Now, cities across the country are launching dozens of initiatives aimed at chipping away at the digital divide. With many school systems returning again to online instruction, they’re hoping to start the new year strong and allay fears that COVID-19 will only deepen an already troubling racial academic achievement gap.

DATA TRACKER

Johns Hopkins' confirmed U.S. COVID-19 cases as of 8 a.m. EDT on September 15.

TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES

6,555,247

TOTAL DEATHS

194,545

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

CITY ACTIONS

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

PROTECTING STUDENTS
With "back to school" in full swing, cities continue to search for the best ways to protect students.

Saying they are gravely concerned about a COVID outbreak at Boston College, city officials in Newton, Mass., ask the university to transfer oversight of positive-case investigations and contact tracing to the city.
East Lansing, Mich., Mayor Aaron Stephens voices support for asking all Michigan State University students to quarantine due to "exponential growth" of COVID-19.
About 800 schools have applied to be part of New York City's "outdoor learning" program, and about 160 of them have asked to use streets outside their school buildings.

ADAPTING TRADITIONS
Six months into the pandemic, mayors are still making changes to rituals that once seemed unchangeable.

New York City’s famed Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade will be taped and go without crowds this year.
Denver is delaying the National Western Stock Show until January 2022. The 16-day livestock, rodeo, and horse show, which was expected to bring 700,000 people to Denver, has only been postponed once before—in 1915 when a disease struck livestock across the country.
Wausau, Wis., Mayor Katie Rosenberg says the city will decide on Wednesday whether to institute drive-thru voting for the November presidential election.

GLOBAL OUTLOOK

The city of Melbourne, Australia, announces a $100-million recovery fund to reactivate its central business district, a plan inspired by successful work in New York City.
In-person school resumes in Codogno, Italy's initial virus hotspot.
Toronto Mayor John Tory wants to extend hours of COVID-19 testing centers after reports of long lines.

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Inspired: Addressing racism in Napa Valley

With COVID-19 and civil-rights protests spotlighting racial disparities in cities everywhere, Americans are looking for answers and solutions. In Napa, Calif., that quest has resulted in a Neighborhood Conversation for Civil Rights Solutions, a backyard conversation that included Mayor Jill Techel, an immigrant mother, a county library director, an ethnic studies professor, and others. The group’s aim: to learn more about how "people who share a community and little else understand one another’s views," the Napa Valley Register reported. Organizer Dina Greenberg told the paper, "As COVID hit us and the gulf between ethnicities became obvious, I decided to do something to make conversations between neighbors who don't think the same, easier," Watch the group’s discussion on Facebook here.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES

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

RESOURCES

COVID-19 Crisis Leadership Essentials for Mayors (Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative and Johns Hopkins University)
Answers to Mayors' Top Questions (Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative and Johns Hopkins University)
COVID-19 Management Metrics for Cities (Johns Hopkins University) Access webinars on using data and this metric set to tackle COVID in your community.
See how social distancing measures may have influenced trends in COVID-19 cases and deaths in every state. (Johns Hopkins University)
Streets for Pandemic Response and Recovery (NACTO)
COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Programs in Ten Localities (Local Housing Solutions)
Free course on contact tracing (Johns Hopkins University)
Partnership for Healthy Cities COVID-19 Response Center (Bloomberg Philanthropies)
Transportation Response Center (NACTO)

CDC'S LATEST GUIDANCE FOR: