U.S. Overview: Michigan lifts restrictions, NY, California open up,. US embassy Kabul locked down

Michigan to lift restrictions next week; US embassy in Afghanistan locked down amid case surge: Latest COVID-19 updates Michigan is lifting indoor restrictions and mask requirements. The US embassy in Afghanistan locked down amid case surge. Latest COVID-19 updates. Elinor Aspegren USA TODAY

Michigan will lift all indoor capacity restrictions and mask requirements next week, 10 days sooner than planned amid vaccinations and plummeting COVID-19 infections, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Thursday.

“Today is a day that we have all been looking forward to, as we can safely get back to normal day-to-day activities and put this pandemic behind us,” Whitmer said in a news release.

Just months ago, the state was considered the worst COVID-19 hot spot in the nation. At mid-April, it was at a record-high for childhood hospitalizations — an alarming virus situation that researchers blamed on the U.K. variant when it first turned up in the state.

Now, Michigan's seven-day case rate has dropped to 18.4 per 100,000 people, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's a 96.7% drop from 551.8 per 100,000 people on April 14. 

Same with New York City. After restrictions opened up Tuesday in the state, the New York Yankees will resume 100% capacity at Yankee Stadium starting with Friday night’s series opener against the Oakland Athletics.

And California regulators approved revised pandemic rules that end mask requirements for fully vaccinated workers, thus giving them the same freedoms as when they are off the job, freedoms granted this week.

But rates of COVID-19 vaccinations are continuing to slow across the United States, data from the CDC shows.

In the past week, only six states reported administering first doses at a pace of at least a quarter of their peak rate. Another six states reported administering first doses at a pace less than a tenth of their peak rate.

Ohio will end its COVID-19 emergency declaration Friday, Gov. Mike DeWine said Thursday. Ohioans continue to die from COVID-19, DeWine said, but cases and hospitalizations have continued to decline. Most of the state's health orders, however, ended June 2. ...

A dangerous surge in COVID-19 cases in Afghanistan has gripped the U.S. embassy in Kabul, forcing an immediate lockdown and the creation of temporary, on-site COVID-19 wards to care for oxygen-dependent patients, according to an internal memo. ...