US News Roundup: Mickey at a distance as Walt Disney World reopens; U.S. CDC reports 3,173,212 coronavirus cases and more

As Disney World prepares to reopen, Florida posts another daily surge in COVID-19 cases Florida confirmed its place as an emerging epicenter of the COVID pandemic in the United States on Friday by reporting its second sharpest daily rise in cases, while Walt Disney Co. prepared to reopen its flagship theme park in Orlando to the chagrin of some employees.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Mandatory masks, Mickey at a distance as Walt Disney World reopens

Mickey waved from a distance and visitors wore colorful face masks with mouse ears on Saturday as Florida's Walt Disney World opened to the public for the first time in four months amid a surge of coronavirus cases in the state. Walt Disney Co welcomed a limited number of guests to its two most popular parks at the sprawling Orlando complex, the world's most-visited theme park resort, with a host of safety measures designed to reassure visitors and reduce the chances of catching the sometimes deadly virus.

In a first, Trump dons masks in visit to a military medical facility

President Donald Trump, who has avoided wearing a mask in public even as the coronavirus pandemic spread, donned one on Saturday at a military medical facility outside Washington where he was to meet with wounded soldiers and front-line health-care workers. The visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center marked Trump's first public appearance with a face covering since the virus began sweeping across the United States earlier this year.

Fay weakens to tropical depression over southeastern New York, NHC says

Fay weakened to a tropical depression over southeastern New York state early on Saturday and was expected to become a post-tropical low pressure system later in the morning before dissipating on Sunday, the U.S National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. The storm prompted the White House to postpone a campaign rally that President Donald Trump had planned to hold in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on Saturday night. The event will take place in "a week or two," the White House said on Friday.

U.S. CDC reports 3,173,212 coronavirus cases

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 3,173,212 cases of coronavirus as of Friday, an increase of 66,281 from its previous count, and said the number of deaths had risen by 811 to 133,666. The CDC on Saturday reported its tally of cases of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the new coronavirus, as of 4 p.m. ET July 10 compared to its count a day earlier.

As Disney World prepares to reopen, Florida posts another daily surge in COVID-19 cases

Florida confirmed its place as an emerging epicenter of the COVID pandemic in the United States on Friday by reporting its second sharpest daily rise in cases, while Walt Disney Co. prepared to reopen its flagship theme park in Orlando to the chagrin of some employees. Florida recorded 11,433 new coronavirus cases, the state health department said, more evidence that the virus is still spreading largely unchecked throughout parts of the country.

Trump's planned order on 'dreamers' will not include amnesty, White House says

U.S. President Donald Trump's planned executive order on immigration will not include amnesty for migrants who are in the United States illegally but arrived in the country as children, a White House spokesman said on Friday. "This does not include amnesty," White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement, after Trump said in a television interview his planned order would include a road to citizenship for such immigrants, known as "Dreamers."

Trump's push to reopen schools part of bid to boost suburban standing

President Donald Trump's demand for U.S. schools to fully reopen this fall amid the coronavirus pandemic is central to an emerging re-election strategy that seeks to resuscitate his flagging support in the nation's critical suburbs. Trump in recent weeks has taken stances on hot-button issues his campaign hopes will appeal to suburban voters, particularly women, who have soured on the Republican president since his 2016 election and continue to move away as the virus rages across the country and the economy sputters.

Touchless: How the world's busiest airport envisions post-COVID travel

With COVID-19 ravaging the aviation industry, airlines and airports worldwide are reining in costs and halting new spending, except in one area: reassuring pandemic-wary passengers about travel. "Whatever the new normal (...) it's going to be more and more around self-service," Sean Donohue, chief executive of Dallas-Forth Worth International Airport (DFW), told Reuters in an interview.

'Witch Hunt': Trump commutes longtime adviser Roger Stone's prison sentence

President Donald Trump commuted the sentence of his longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone, sparing him from prison after he was convicted of lying under oath to lawmakers investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Trump's decision to commute Stone's sentence days before he was due to report to prison marked the Republican president's most assertive intervention to protect an associate in a criminal case and his latest use of executive clemency to benefit an ally. Democrats condemned Trump's action, announced on Friday evening, as an assault on the rule of law.

Goya chief executive sparks backlash over praise for Trump

Goya Foods Inc, the largest Hispanic-owned U.S. food company and a popular brand among Latino Americans, became the target of a boycott campaign on social media on Friday sparked by its CEO effusively praising President Donald Trump at the White House. The hashtags #Goyaway and #BoycottGoya began trending on Twitter after Robert Unanue, chief executive officer of the New Jersey-based company, appeared with Trump on Thursday for the signing of an executive order creating an advisory panel aimed at spurring Hispanic prosperity.