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Officials up and down the Interstate 95 corridor urged residents to hydrate and watch for signs of heat-related illness as people flocked to pools and cooling centers for relief in cities stretching from Boston to D.C. (Venkataramanan, Iati and Shammas, 7/23)

Bryon Backenson, the director of the Bureau of Communicable Disease Control at the state Health Department, said that there was no indication yet of additional cases, though he noted that the state was trying to acquire as many samples as possible to test and was checking wastewater for signs of the virus. (McKinley and Schweber, 7/22)

TennCare, Tennessee’s Medicaid program, said it will abandon a proposal to impose limits on some prescription drugs following pressure from the federal government. The state last year received approval from former President Donald Trump’s administration for a TennCare overhaul that included the change. Officials argued the overhaul could produce flexibility and savings that would then fuel additional health coverage offerings, including prescription drug limits aimed at rising costs. (Matisse, 7/22)

Kentucky’s largest school district will require universal masking on school property as Jefferson County moves into the highest level of COVID-19 community spread. The change begins Monday and lasts until Jefferson County comes out of the red, media outlets reported. It comes a little more than two weeks before classes resume in Jefferson County Public Schools. (7/24)

With more than 6,800 new coronavirus cases reported in the last week, Utah has officially surpassed 1 million cases since the start of the pandemic — but it’s likely that the state met this milestone “months ago” because of a “dramatic undercount” of positive tests amid a surge of the virus’s most transmissible strain yet. (Harkins and Hufham, 7/21)

San Diego’s latest wastewater numbers show that the region is experiencing a massive increase in coronavirus transmission driven by BA.5, the subvariant now causing concern worldwide. (Sisson, 7/23)

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick tested positive for COVID-19 for the second time in the last seven months, his campaign said Sunday. Patrick, 72, tested positive on Saturday and was experiencing mild symptoms, according to a campaign statement. (7/24)

The northeast Houston area in question has suffered for years from the dumping of dead bodies, animals, medical waste, mattresses and other trash that pose health and quality of life risks into Houston’s “Super Neighborhood 48,” known as Trinity/Houston Gardens, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Kristen Clarke said in a call with reporters. (Colman, 7/22)