Coronavirus category, Page 259

NEW YORK — With its global scope and its staying power, the coronavirus outbreak poses unprecedented challenges for charities and nonprofit groups that rely on donations. The American Red Cross faces a severe blood shortage due to the cancellation of nearly 2,700 blood drives. The Girl Scouts’ annual cookie sale...

These are places meant for people. New York’s Grand Central Terminal — a common metaphor for “busy” in much of the English-speaking world — dotted with only scattered commuters. The Grand Place in Brussels at twilight, its cobblestones so devoid of foot traffic that the streetlight reflections sprawl for yards...

The world can change a lot in nine months. Last fall, everything seemed normal. Summer was drawing to a close. Work was good. My family took a short trip to Lake Erie. Football season was starting. Relatives visited. And my wife and I found out there was an addition to...

After their August engagement, Greensburg couple Gregory Mertz and Janelle Stayt planned a dream wedding. They were going to marry March 21 in Montgomery County, host their reception at Stateside Vodka Bar in Philadelphia and then depart on a European honeymoon. As the fast-spreading coronavirus raced around the globe, the resulting...

Linda Scruggs and Mike Rustici trained for months to hike the winding trails leading to Machu Picchu’s complex of Inca ruins. So they were thrilled when their flight landed last Friday in the Peruvian capital. They managed to do part of their trek but now they are trapped in a...

As colleges and universities in the region transition to online-only classes in an attempt to stop the spread of the coronavirus, students who haven’t done so already are being asked to move out and gather their belongings from residence halls. A small number of students will remain on campus. Here’s...

ATLANTA — At least 300 cruise ship passengers who had been stranded at sea due to the coronavirus were flown to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Friday. But it wasn’t known late Friday whether any of those passengers would be quarantined or allowed to travel home. Several people aboard the...

NEW YORK — Hospitals have been rushing to stockpile a decades-old antimalarial drug touted by President Donald Trump and others as a treatment for the new coronavirus. Hydroxychloroquine is being snapped up by medical systems at more than twice the typical pace as U.S. hospitals seek to build large inventories...

Environmental groups have long fought for animal rights, rallied against pollution and pushed back on overfishing, but a new message this week urged the nation to eat more seafood as it hunkers down during the coronavirus pandemic. Specifically, many are asking you to please buy American-caught seafood. “Over the past...

Less than three months ago came the first reports of cases of pneumonia related to a virus first detected in Wuhan, China. The outbreak of the virus that causes COVID-19 has caused unprecedented disruptions that have brought an unparalleled shock to the global economy. Following are developments Friday related to...

Drive-thru testing for covid-19 will be available next week at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium. Starting Monday morning, testing by the Central Outreach Wellness Center will be available at the zoo’s main parking lot in Pittsburgh’s Highland Park neighborhood, zoo officials announced Friday night. Referrals or prescriptions are not...

A day after Gov. Tom Wolf imposed an order on all but “non-life-sustaining” businesses to close to thwart the spread of covid-19, local business owners across Western Pennsylvania are scrambling to gauge how the state’s unprecedented shutdown will impact them and navigating how to survive it. Wolf announced Friday night...

As covid-19 cases continue to rise in Allegheny County, so do worries among some emergency personnel who fear being exposed to the virus without knowing it. “Basically, it is frustrating at this time that the Allegheny County Health Department has no system in place to provide municipalities with a confirmed...

The University of Pittsburgh is allowing students to convert their courses to pass/fail grading when classes resume online next week. In a letter to faculty members, Provost Ann Cudd said all undergraduate and graduate students can convert any of their courses to pass/fail grading after the semester ends. Passing grades...

Western Pennsylvania authorities are seeking clarification on how they are supposed to enforce a mandate from Gov. Tom Wolf ordering myriad businesses across the state to shut down. The order affects all businesses deemed non-life-sustaining, and enforcement begins Monday at 8 a.m. It was supposed to start at 12:01 a.m....

Millions of borrowers with federal student loan debt will get a brief break on interest rates for the next 60 days. U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos Friday afternoon announced the terms of the student debt relief President Trump promised last week. For the next two months, all borrowers with...

Carrie Richards tested positive for Type A Influenza more than a week ago. She’s been in quarantine ever since. “It feels like it’s been a month,” she said. With no internet and no computer at her home in Vandergrift, there is little for Richards, 44, to do to occupy her...

Illinois and New York state joined California on Friday in ordering all residents to stay in their homes unless they have vital reasons to go out, restricting the movement of more than 70 million Americans in the most sweeping measures taken yet in the U.S. to contain the coronavirus. The...

Wall Street ended the week the same way it began: in full retreat from the coronavirus. Stocks fell sharply and the price of oil sank Friday as federal and state governments moved to shut down bigger and bigger swaths of the nation’s economy in the hope of limiting the spread...

An Allegheny County sheriff’s deputy who was concerned he might have exposed fellow officers to the coronavirus has tested negative, officials said Friday. Fifteen deputies who had begun self-quarantining in case they had been exposed will return to work Monday, Chief Deputy Kevin Kraus said. “The affected deputy will remain...