Month: April 2020

SiriusXM radio announced it will be free for all listeners in North America now through May 15, 2020.

To take advantage of this limited offer, new listeners can download the SiriusXM app or go to SiriusXM.com/streamfree to start enjoying all the ad-free channels, including music, sports talk, politics, live news radio, comedy, and religious content. Listen to popular Channels like Today Show Radio, Howard Stern, Trevor Noah on Comedy Central, and a new #StayHome Radio channel starting April 1 featuring feel-good music to stream while you’re spending more time indoors. Plus, tune into The Top 1000 Channel featuring a new genre countdown twice a month.

Source: Listen to SiriusXM Radio for Free Now Through May 15, 2020 – Cord Cutters News

Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday placed all of Pennsylvania under an order to stay at home, dramatically expanding the geographic footprint of the quarantine as state officials combat the coronavirus pandemic.

Source: All of Pennsylvania now under orders to stay home

 

Landlords are bracing for some tough times ahead.

Hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians have lost wages and jobs due to the COVID-19 state of emergency. Government officials at the state and federal level have taken quick action to prohibit landlords from evicting tenants for nonpayment of rent while the pandemic is in effect.

Source: Landlords brace for late and missed rent payments due to massive job losses | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

There are now 592 cases of coronavirus in 13 southwestern Pennsylvania counties.

Source: Coronavirus in Western Pa.: 592 cases in 13 counties, according to PA Dept. of Health

By John Luciew | jluciew@pennlive.com

More and more, coronavirus is finding still-busy convenience stores a convenient target — first Wawa and now Sheetz.

After reporting that as many as a dozen Wawa stores in Pa. and New Jersey had been closed for deep cleaning after employees tested positive for coronavirus, Sheetz had to shut down one of its store for similar reasons.

• BREAKING: Shots fired at Pa. Sheetz after man coughs, doesn’t cover mouth amid coronavirus epidemic: report
• READ MORE: 12 Wawa stores closed for cleaning after workers test positive for coronavirus

As WNEP and WOLF news stations report, it happened at the Sheetz location in Trucksville/Shavertown, Luzerne County, on Monday.

That Sheetz store was closed while undergoing a professional “deep cleaning and disinfecting” — including the gas pumps, WNEP reported.

Source: Pa. Sheetz closes as busy convenience stores see more employees hit with coronavirus – lehighvalleylive.com

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — Closed and not coming back. That’s the fear many bars and restaurants across the state have, whose very survival is in jeopardy because of COVID-19.

In a matter of weeks, anguished restaurant owners have had to lay off their employees, who have had to cope with the financial rug pulled out from under them.

Across the state, the folks who give us food and drink now hunger and thirst for a return to normal.

Fine dining to go?

Survival is very much on the menu at Harrisburg’s Mangia Qui. That means free delivery and curbside pick up.

“We call you when we are outside your home and we will leave it on the doorstep. Curbside pickup, same thing. You call when outside, we glove up and bring it out to your car,” owner Staci Basore said.

Bars, restaurants, and taverns have been served an awful dish called COVID-19 that is not only killing people, but also business.

“I’m hearing maybe a month they can survive like that. But with no revenue, after that it’s gonna be a true struggle and possible disaster for them,” says Chuck Moran, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association.

Moran is sending a letter of encouragement to his 500 members saying federal and state help will soon be on the way.

“That’s our message. ‘Hang in there, keep doing what you can and we’ll get through it together,’” Moran said.

Source: Pennsylvania restaurants and bars concerned of permanent closure | ABC27

Traffic at Walmart Inc., Costco Wholesale Corp. and Target Corp. dropped for the first time in the weeks since the coronavirus pandemic ramped up in the U.S., according to Placer.ai.

Walmart WMT, -1.36% traffic was down 6.7% year-over-year for the third week of March. The previous week, traffic was up 18.4%.

At Costco COST, -2.05% , traffic fell 8.7% year-over-year for the third week of March. The second week of March, traffic jumped 34.7%.

And at Target TGT, -3.16% , traffic slumped 20.5% in the third week of March after climbing 19.2% year-over-year the previous week.

Source: Traffic at Walmart, Costco and Target falls for the first time in weeks as coronavirus stockpiling behavior shifts – MarketWatch

Worldwide, the top priority for masks goes to health workers, who are in close contact with patients. Masks are also recommended for the sick.

For months as the COVID-19 crisis grew and masks disappeared from store shelves, U.S. health officials have agreed. The virus is believed to spread mostly through droplets from coughs or sneezes, and thus the main advice has been to keep your distance — staying 6 feet away — in addition to frequent hand-washing and not touching your face. Health workers who may be doing procedures that generate tinier particles are supposed to get high priority for tight-fitting filtering masks.

“Seriously people – STOP BUYING MASKS!” Surgeon General Jerome Adams wrote in a February 29 tweet. “They are not effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk.”

But mask-wearing has long been common in some countries during respiratory outbreaks, especially in parts of Asia.

Source: Should you wear mask in public if not sick with coronavirus? | PBS NewsHour

Eleven veterans have died at a soldiers’ home in Holyoke, Mass., where a COVID-19 outbreak is now threatening even more residents and staff. At least five of the people who died have tested positive for COVID-19; other tests are still pending in the case, which Gov. Charlie Baker calls “a shuddering loss for us all.”

An additional 11 veterans and five staff members have also tested positive, raising the facility’s overall total to more than 20 confirmed cases. More tests are under way to determine the scope of exposure to the coronavirus.

The Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke’s superintendent, Bennett Walsh, was placed on administrative leave Monday, according to member station WBUR.

The station also reports that Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse says the veterans’ facility did not initially tell city and state officials that residents had died last week. On Tuesday, Morse said it wasn’t until over the weekend, when he began to get anonymous tips, that the gravity of the situation became clear.

Source: 11 Veterans Die At Soldiers’ Home in Massachusetts Amid COVID-19 Outbreak : Coronavirus Live Updates : NPR

Gutfeld on the media and the virus