Donald Trump on Sunday further limited travel from the world’s coronavirus hotspots by denying entry to foreigners coming from Brazil, which is second to the US in the number of confirmed cases.

Trump had already banned certain travellers from China, Europe, the United Kingdom and Ireland and, to a lesser extent, Iran. He has not moved to ban travel from Russia, which has the world’s third-highest caseload.

In California, where many businesses and recreational activities are reopening, officials in Los Angeles County said they would maintain tight restrictions until July 4. Some religious leaders took issue with Trump’s declaration that houses of worship are “essential” and should resume in-person services this weekend.

“Being at the epicenter of this pandemic and in order to protect our flock, we advise that congregations remain closed until more accurate and uniform information is provided,” said Bishop Paul Egensteiner, who oversees the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s congregations in the hard-hit New York City region.

As California residents ventured outdoors to take advantage of sunshine and relaxed rules to control the spread of coronavirus, authorities said Memorial Day weekend crowds at beaches and parks were manageable Sunday, with most people wearing face coverings and practicing social distancing.

Stay-at-home restrictions eased across much of the state, which has seen a decline in COVID-19 hospitalizations. Some 47 of 58 counties have received permission to reopen most stores – at least for curbside pickups – and many public spaces by meeting state standards for controlling the virus.

Dozens of counties also got the go-ahead to allow some restaurants, which have survived on deliveries and takeout orders, to reopen limited seating.

The city in the San Bernardino Mountains northeast of Los Angeles announced last week that it had decided to not enforce Gov. Gavin Newsom’s safety orders, arguing it has kept COVID-19 cases manageable and there has been significant economic harm.

Many Southern California beaches were open only for swimming, running and other activities. Sunbathing and group activities such as volleyball were prohibited.

Los Angeles County waterfronts saw lighter crowds than anticipated during the first weekend that officials announced reopened bike paths and some seaside parking lots.

Volunteers acted as “goodwill ambassadors” to remind beachgoers to keep moving and not plant chairs and coolers in the sand. The county partially opened parking lots at popular beaches.

In Orange County, people were out walking dogs, biking and surfing at Huntington Beach. Most were not wearing masks. At nearby Sunset Beach, some people were fishing in the ocean. Despite signs urging people to keep moving, some people sat in chairs on the sand in the early morning.

The easing of the rules are the most drastic scaling back of the stay-at-home orders since the governor issued them in mid-March.

Meanwhile hundreds of protesters rallied outside the state capitol on Saturday to protest against the stay-at-home orders. Demonstrators demanded that Newsom fully lift his restrictions on business, religious gatherings and other activities.

In San Francisco, officials drew large chalk “social distancing” circles on the grass at parks to show people where to sit. Dolores Park has seen large masses of people on sunny weekends, prompting Mayor London Breed to warn that she would shut it down if people weren’t more responsible.

A fire engulfed a warehouse on San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf early Saturday, sending a thick plume of smoke over the waterfront and threatening to spread to a historic World War II-era ship before firefighters brought the flames under control. After the fire subsided, investigators scoured the building to determine whether homeless people were inside.

Suffering economically after more than two months of business shutdowns and fewer crowds, some popular getaway communities welcomed visitors.

But South Lake Tahoe in the northern Sierra Nevada and Mammoth Lakes in the Eastern Sierra urged non-residents to stay away, concerned that swarms of tourists might spur more COVID-19 cases and overwhelm their medical systems.

The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office warned that its beaches would be closed except for a few hours in the morning and strongly discouraged tourism from the San Francisco Bay Area, Central Valley and Sacramento areas.

Statewide, New York reported its lowest number of daily coronavirus deaths – 84 – in many weeks in what Gov. Andrew Cuomo described as a critical benchmark. The daily death tally peaked at 799 on April 8.

“For me, it’s a sign that we’re making real progress,” Cuomo said.

The postponement of the Indianapolis 500 from Memorial Day weekend until late August because of the coronavirus pandemic has created a “void” for businesses near the Indianapolis Motor Speedway that rely on spending by race fans and tourists, local officials said. Chris Gahl, Visit Indy’s senior vice-president for marketing and communications, said this year’s race delay until Aug. 23 will hurt businesses during what is normally their most profitable time of the year.

“Not having that is certainly a void that we will feel from an economic impact standpoint. It’s fair to say it’s hundreds of millions of dollars in economic impact and that’s very conservatively estimated,” said Gahl, though he noted that,

“Their decision to postpone the Indy 500 past the Memorial Day weekend was a smart decision. We know now that just wouldn’t be healthy this weekend to take place in a meaningful way.”

The Indy 500 has taken place on the Sunday before Memorial Day every year since 1974. Tourism and government officials are hoping that the rescheduled date will draw similarly sized crowds as the May race.

A Massachusetts bill that would pressure companies to refund the cost of school trips cancelled because of the coronavirus emergency will be the subject of a virtual public hearing. The bill is set to come before the Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure on Wednesday at 11 a.m.

The bill would label as an unfair or deceptive act “the failure of any travel company, travel agency, tour business, or travel agent acting on behalf of a consumer, to provide a full monetary refund, upon request, for a school-related educational trip, tour or excursion cancelled as a result of a declaration of emergency.”

Hertz: ‘No business is built for zero revenue ‘

Hertz filed for bankruptcy protection Friday, unable to withstand the coronavirus pandemic that has crippled global travel and with it, the heavily indebted 102-year-old car rental company’s business. Hertz and its subsidiaries will continue to operate. Hertz’s principal international operating regions and franchised locations are not included in the filing, the statement said.

By the end of March, Hertz Global Holdings Inc. had racked up more than US $24 billion in debt, according to the bankruptcy filing, with only US $1 billion of available cash.

Starting in mid-March, the company – whose car-rental bands also include Dollar and Thrifty – lost all revenue when travel shut down due to the coronavirus. The company made “significant efforts” but couldn’t raise money on the capital markets, so it started missing payments to creditors in April, the filing said. Hertz has also been plagued by management upheaval, naming its fourth CEO in six years on May 18.

“No business is built for zero revenue,” former CEO Kathryn Marinello said on the company’s first-quarter earnings conference call May 12. “There’s only so long that companies’ reserves will carry them.”

In late March, Hertz shed 12,000 workers and put another 4,000 on furlough, cut vehicle acquisitions by 90% and stopped all nonessential spending. The company said the moves would save US $2.5 billion per year.

But the cuts came too late to save Hertz, the nation’s No. 2 auto rental company founded in 1918 by Walter L. Jacobs, who started in Chicago with a fleet of a dozen Ford Model Ts. Jacobs sold the company, initially called Rent-A-Car Inc., to John D. Hertz in 1923.

In a note to investors in late April, Jefferies analyst Hamzah Mazari predicted that rival Avis would survive the coronavirus crisis but Hertz had only a 50-50 chance “given it was slower to cut costs.”

On May 18, Hertz named operations chief Paul Stone as CEO and announced that Marinello would step down as CEO and from the company’s board. Mazari called the step unusual just days before a potential bankruptcy filing. He also noted that CEO changes have been common at Hertz since financier Carl Icahn entered the company in 2014.

Icahn’s holding company is Hertz’s largest shareholder, with a 38.9% stake in the company, according to FactSet.

Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Woronka credited Marinello with reigniting Hertz’s revenue growth, writing in a note to investors that it rose 16% in 2018 and 2019 combined.