Detroit to honor 1,500 who died from virus

Detroit – The city of Detroit is seeking about 400 volunteers to assist with a memorial to honor residents who have died from the coronavirus.

A memorial drive at Belle Isle State Park is scheduled for Monday. Mayor Mike Duggan declared the day as Detroit Memorial Day to remember residents who didn’t have the funerals because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Families will drive in 15 processions past nearly 900 enlarged photos of their loved ones. Hearses will lead the processions. More than 1,500 Detroit residents have died from complications of the virus.

More:Collage of 900 COVID-19 victims to be shown at Belle Isle

The public can visit Belle Isle to see the photos Tuesday and Wednesday. Duggan says, “we felt it was important and necessary to provide an opportunity for members of this community to collectively celebrate the lives of those we’ve lost to this terrible virus. This is how we begin the healing process.

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Here’s what else you need to know about the virus outbreak

– Cases still rise in South Korea, Malaysia stays shut

– Federal Reserve pressed to expand aid to some businesses

– College towns growing alarmed over outbreaks among students

– Arizona surpasses 5,000 coronavirus deaths

– French President Emmanuel Macron is urging European neighbors to better coordinate cross-border virus restrictions as infections surge. Multiple countries have imposed tests or quarantines on visitors from France.

– With lockups across the U.S. closed to visitors because of the coronavirus, faith-based organizations have adapted to maintain their prison ministries.

Here’s what else is happening

Boston – This year’s Boston Marathon is a virtual event because of the coronavirus pandemic, but a weeklong TV special will showcase runners’ stories as they go the distance on their own.

Amazon and WBZ-TV are teaming up on a “Boston Marathon Live” broadcast that will air nightly Sept. 7-13. The show is co-produced by the Boston Athletic Association, which puts on the marathon every year.

Registered runners will complete the 26.2-mile (42.2-kilometer) distance and share accounts of their preparation, motivation and execution. Athletes can use a mobile app the BAA is rolling out to upload their routes and finish times.

The marathon normally is held in April. It was postponed to mid-September because of the pandemic and canceled in May for the first time in its 124-year history.

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Sacramento, Calif. – California Gov. Gavin Newsom and state legislative leaders have reached an agreement on a bill to temporarily protect people from evictions.

The bill would ban evictions for tenants who haven’t paid their rent between the months of March and August because of the coronavirus. Tenants need to sign a document saying they have a financial hardship because of the virus.

The protections would continue beyond August if tenants can pay at least 25% of their cumulatively owed rent between Sept. 1 and Jan. 31. Evictions could resume on Feb. 1.

The bill would not forgive the missed payments. Tenants would still owe the money. Landlords could sue them to get the money back, and a judge could order them to pay it. But tenants could not be evicted.

The California court system has halted most eviction and foreclosure proceedings since April 6 because of the pandemic. But those protections end Tuesday, prompting concerns of a wave of evictions in a state that already has the largest homeless population in the country.

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Phoenix – Arizona has reached a grim milestone of more than 5,000 known coronavirus deaths.

The state Department of Health Services reported 629 confirmed coronavirus cases and 29 more deaths on Saturday to total 5,007.

Meanwhile, Arizona State University President Michael Crow says 452 students have tested positive for the coronavirus. More than half involve students who live off campus in the metro Phoenix area.

Crow says 205 students are currently in quarantine on the Tempe campus.

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Beijing – About one-third of students returned to school in the Chinese capital on Saturday in a staggered start to the new school year because of the coronavirus.

The first batch of 590,000 students in Beijing included all three years of high school, the first and third years of middle school and the first grade of primary school. Another 400,000 students are to start school on Tuesday, and the final 520,000 on Sept. 7.

Both students and teachers are required to wear masks.

China reported nine new coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, bringing its official total to 85,022. All the new cases were overseas arrivals. The country’s death toll remained at 4,634.

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Seoul, South Korea – South Korea has reported 323 new cases of the coronavirus, marking its 16th consecutive day of triple-digit jumps as health officials prepare to tighten social distancing restrictions in the greater capital area.

The numbers released by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Saturday brought the national caseload to 19,400. Fatalities reached 321 after the country added five more deaths overnights.

The KCDC said 249 of the new cases came from the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area, where about half of the country’s 51 million people live, where health workers have struggled to track infections linked to various places, including churches, restaurants, schools and apartment buildings.

The country has added 4,630 cases over the 16 days, raising fears about possible shortages in hospital capacities.

For eight days starting Sunday, the country will allow restaurants to provide only food deliveries and takeout meals after 9 p.m., franchised coffee shops like Starbucks to provide only takeout drinks and food and to shut down gyms and after-school academies to slow the viral spread.

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Atlanta – A 1-year-old boy is now Georgia’s youngest victim to die from COVID-19.

The state Department of Public Health included the suburban Atlanta boy in a table of deaths released Friday.

The department says the boy had a chronic underlying condition that may have contributed to his death, but released no further information. The Cobb County Medical Examiner’s Officer says it can’t release further information until the boy’s death certificate is completed.

He’s one of 5,471 people to die in Georgia so far from the respiratory illness. Deaths from Georgia’s summer spike remain elevated, having averaged 68 over the seven days ending Friday.

The boy displaces a 7-year-old Chatham County boy as the state’s youngest victim of the respiratory illness. A preliminary count by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found only 29 deaths involving coronavirus among children younger than five nationwide.