In Miami-Dade County, which has seen more than 1,200 new virus cases a day, Mayor Carlos Gimenez banned restaurants from selling food or drinks after midnight. Over the holiday weekend, hotel
“There is no more patriotic an act than protecting the lives of everyone in our county,” Mr. Gimenez said in a statement.
In California, Dr. Peter L. Beilenson, the director of Sacramento County’s Department of Health Services, has been spending the past few days trying to head off a Fourth of July tradition along the American River in which beer-guzzling revelers lash together dozens of rafts and float gently downstream.
“It’s going to be another beautiful weekend in California,” Dr. Beilenson said. “The most patriotic thing they can do this year is to stay at home.”
The county has hit what Dr. Beilenson calls a tipping point in the pandemic. Sacramento County had around 1,000 cases over the last 10 days compared with 2,000 total cases in the 18 preceding weeks.
Contact tracers have found that a large share of the spike in cases in the Sacramento area came from large parties for graduations and birthdays.
But in some states with rising daily case counts, it will be business as usual this weekend. Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks, which typically attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas for the holiday, is preparing for crowds. There will be fireworks, live music and pool parties, and accommodations are widely sold out.