Georgia has delayed its presidential primary due to coronavirus. The primary, which was originally scheduled for March 24, will now be held on May 19. Georgia is the second state to delay its presidential primary. Louisiana rescheduled its April 4 primary to June 20 on Friday.
Major retailers across the U.S. are shutting down their stores in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Others are reducing store hours or pitching in to offer space for virus testing. The closures come as there are at least 2,952 confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. and at least 57 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Health care and consumer industry groups and even federal agencies have been sounding the alarm that the US may face major problems in keeping basic medical, food and retail supplies available during the coronavirus pandemic.
Hospitals across the United States are erecting triage tents outside emergency rooms, squeezing extra beds into break rooms and physical therapy gyms, and recommending delays in elective surgery to free up capacity as they brace for an anticipated surge in coronavirus patients.
But shortly after taking effect, the measures designed to prevent new infections in the United States created the exact conditions that facilitate the spread of the highly contagious virus, with throngs of people standing shoulder to shoulder in bottlenecks.
Public attitudes about the coronavirus response are split along partisan lines in a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
The science surrounding these apparent reinfections is further complicated by China’s handling of the outbreak, which since January has been marred by faulty testing procedures and questionable case counting methods with shifting definitions. In addition, the overburdened healthcare system has put pressure on doctors to discharge people who may not have fully recovered to free up beds for newly infected patients.
Public worship was curtailed in many places as faith leaders gave sermons to empty pews or moved to online services. Muslim authorities announced that the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City would be closed indefinitely, and the Vatican said next month’s Holy Week services would not be open to the public.
The Federal Reserve announced on Sunday it would drop interest rates to zero and buy at least $700 billion in government and mortgage-related bonds as part of a wide-ranging emergency action to protect the economy from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.
Grocers have been reducing hours, deep-cleaning their stores and offering disinfectant wipes to shoppers. They are also limiting purchases per customer of hand sanitizers, toilet paper and other high-demand products. During a news conference Sunday evening, Trump said grocery firms had urged him to communicate the message to consumers to avoid panic-buying. “You don’t have to buy so much,” he said. “There’s no need for anybody in the country to hoard essential food supplies.”