The latest AP stories on COVID-19 outbreak in the United States

A second hospital in Alaska is beginning to ration health care as the state deals with a spike in coronavirus cases.

Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corp. in Bethel announced the move Wednesday as it reported it is operating at capacity.

Rationing of care had already been imposed by Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage, which is the state's largest hospital.

Coronavirus infections in Alaska have risen 42% in the last week.

The president of the Bethel region hospital says it did everything possible to delay rationing but had to take the step.

Hospital CEO Dan Winkelman is urging “every resident of the Yukon-Kuskokwim region to get vaccinated, wear a mask in indoor public areas, and social distance.” He warns that “this is our last stand against this virus.” Denver, Sep 30 (AP) A pediatrician and a medical student at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have filed suit challenging denials of their requests for religious exemptions from the school's coronavirus vaccination mandate.

The conservative public interest law firm the Thomas More Society filed the lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court. The suit argues that university administrators judging the sincerity of personal religious beliefs violates their First Amendment rights. The Colorado lawsuit is one of many clashes over private- and public-sector vaccine mandates nationwide that officials are using in an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus, which has killed more than 600,000 people in the U.S.

___ Los Angeles, Sep 30 (AP) The Los Angeles City Council is debating a far-reaching proposal to expand pandemic restrictions, including requiring people to have proof of full vaccination against the coronavirus to enter a wide range of indoor businesses and venues.

Most council members spoke supportively of the plan Wednesday, while saying it had flaws, including questions about the city's ability to enforce it. The ordinance is expected to be considered again next week.

Business groups warned about safety risks for workers who would have to question patrons.

Under the proposal, anyone eligible for vaccination would be required to have had the shots to enter restaurants, bars, nightclubs, gyms, sports arenas, museums, spas, nail salons, indoor city facilities and other locations. Current eligibility includes people ages 12 and up.

Anyone with a religious or medical exemption would have to show a negative coronavirus test done within the preceding 72 hours.

___ Phoenix, Sep 30 (AP) The Arizona Supreme Court has declined to immediately reinstate a series of new laws that include measures blocking schools from requiring masks and restricting the power of local governments to impose pandemic restrictions.

The high court on Wednesday turned down state Attorney General Mark Brnovich's request to stay a lower court ruling that blocked provisions in three state budget bills and an entire budget law from taking effect just after midnight Wednesday.

The Supreme Court decision means schools can continue requiring face masks without facing legal jeopardy.

Nearly 30 Arizona school districts had mask mandates and some are extending them because Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper struck down the new law.

___ Honolulu, Sep 30 (AP) Over 160 Oahu business operators have been cited, warned or arrested in the weeks since Honolulu imposed new pandemic safety rules. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports that most of the cases involved warnings.

The Liquor Commission issued six notices of violation, included three for serving alcohol after 10 p.m., two for not checking vaccination status and one for failing to conduct contact tracing.

Police also issued citations or made arrests for people not wearing masks and not observing required physical distances.

Honolulu Police Department spokesperson Michelle Yu says city officials could not immediately break down the number of arrests vs. citations because they are compiled together in the same records-keeping category.

City spokesperson Tim Sakahara says the great majority of businesses are in compliance with the rules.

___ Des Moines (US), Sep 30(AP) The rise of the delta variant and the new school year have dramatically increased the risks children face during the coronavirus pandemic, according to pediatricians writing in court documents submitted in the federal lawsuit against Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and its Iowa chapter filed a brief Tuesday with the federal court judge who is considering the lawsuit 11 parents of Iowa children and the disability rights group The Arc of Iowa filed last week. It seeks to strike down a measure that Reynolds signed into law in May that prohibits school boards from imposing mask mandates in schools.

The group argues it's clear universal mask policies in schools significantly reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

The AAP says cases of pediatric COVID-19 have skyrocketed since the start of the school year, with 20% of all child cases during the pandemic diagnosed between Aug. 13 and Sept. 16. The document said more than 5.5 million total child COVID-19 cases have been reported in the United States. Iowa has reported more than 56,000 child cases, the group said.

The AAP says nationally among 45 states and New York City, Puerto Rico and Guam reporting data, 498 children have died. It says three children have died in Iowa from COVID-19. Texas leads the nation in child deaths from the virus with 79 and Arizona with 38.

___ Traverse City, (US), Sep 30 (AP) A county medical director in northern Michigan area says he's losing his job, weeks after he criticized elected officials for a policy that bans mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for county employees and controls vaccine messages.

Dr. Michael Collins says his contract wasn't renewed, which means Thursday is his last day after 28 years at the Grand Traverse County Health Department. Collins told the Traverse City Record-Eagle: “Nobody should be in a better position to advise than the health department.” In August, county commissioners approved a resolution that says the county will not require a vaccination or COVID-19 test for county employees, contractors or job applicants. It says any messages about vaccines from the county will encourage people to discuss “risks and benefits” with their doctor and people can make a choice. Local health departments in Michigan typically have been urging people to get vaccinated.

Collins wrote an essay in the newspaper two days later, saying commissioners had “crossed the line from illogical opinion to irresponsibility.” ___ Columbia, Sep 30 (AP) School districts in South Carolina now have the authority to require masks, the state's education chief said Wednesday.

The memo from Education Superintendent Molly Spearman confirmed for districts a federal court ruling on Tuesday siding with parents of disabled students. The parents said a state ban on masks was discriminatory and they didn't feel safe sending them to public schools without required face coverings.

Gov. Henry McMaster and state Attorney General Alan Wilson promised to appeal.

U.S. District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis wrote her decision to side with the parents who sued the state with the help of The American Civil Liberties Union wasn't a close call.

“It is noncontroversial that children need to go to school. And, they are entitled to any reasonable accommodation that allows them to do so. No one can reasonably argue that it is an undue burden to wear a mask to accommodate a child with disabilities,” Lewis wrote.

Lewis compared the General Assembly preventing mask requirements to telling schools they can no longer install wheelchair ramps.

___ Denver, Sep 30 (AP) A judge on Wednesday dismissed an attempt by a group of Denver police officers to block the city's vaccine mandate, a day before it's set to take effect. In a lawsuit filed last week, seven officers claimed the city didn't have the authority to impose the mandate under a local disaster emergency declared by Mayor Michael Hancock at the start of the pandemic, noting that Democratic Gov. Jared Polis rescinded his statewide emergency pandemic order in July. They claim the city should have followed the longer process laid out in state law to impose regulations. However, Judge Shelley Gilman ruled that law only applies to state agencies. Under city law, the officers should have appealed the vaccine mandate, first issued on Aug. 2, at the city level before filing a lawsuit, she said. Since they didn't, Gilman said she had no jurisdiction to decide the case and dismissed it.

Under the Denver public health order, updated Sept. 1, all city employees, workers in public and private schools and people who work for private employers such as hospitals, homeless shelters, childcare centers, must show proof that they are vaccinated. City workers face dismissal if they don't comply. ___ New York, Sep 30