Stories from Friday, March 27, 2020

SIKESTON, Mo. — As of Friday, Scott County has three confirmed positive cases for coronavirus, the Scott County Health Department posted on its Facebook page. No details were provided. The health department said: “Please stay home as much as possible right now, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.”...

SIKESTON — During a recent conversation with her daughter, who is a nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, Scott County resident Tricia Selby decided she wanted to help protect not only her daughter and those in the healthcare industry but anyone else who wanted it...

SIKESTON, Mo. — The bus driver spotted them as he pulled up to the bus stop on March 18, the first day Scott County Central delivered meals to families following the halt of classes due to the coronavirus. Grinning, the students said they got up early — a quarter of seven — so they wouldn’t miss the bus’s arrival...

NEW MADRID, Mo. — The pace was steady. Hands worked rapidly making sandwiches, packing paper bags and filling coolers. In just a few short hours, 2,800 meals were on their way across the New Madrid County R-1 School District Monday morning. It was the first day of what school officials dubbed “NMCR1 Operation Feed the Children.”...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. —Gov. Mike Parson has signed an executive order to begin mobilizing the Missouri National Guard to assist in the state’s COVID-19 response efforts. This will increase the amount of coordination among state government partners in combating the spread of COVID-19...

NEW YORK (AP) — In New York City, they've started dismantling basketball hoops to prevent people from gathering in parks and playing. In Lakewood, New Jersey, police broke up a wedding being held in violation of a ban on large gatherings. And in Austin, Texas, officers are encouraging people to call a hotline to snitch on violators of the city's orders for people to stay home...

CINCINNATI (AP) — In the battle to keep their New York City restaurant going despite sharp restrictions during the coronavirus outbreak, the owners of Il Posto Accanto tried something Beatrice Tosti di Valminuta would have considered sacrilege in normal times...

The 60-something husband works in the food industry and still insists upon leaving every day for work, saying he needs to keep his business afloat. His frightened wife desperately wants him to stay home. For another couple, in the midst of a separation, the bitterly fought issue is the kids and whether they can safely see friends. One parent is allowing it in an effort to be the "fun parent"; the other bitterly opposes it...

SIKESTON — Local law enforcement and emergency personnel have the communities’ best interest in mind. That was the message on Thursday evening, as local police officers and firefighters gathered near the back entrance at the Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo Grounds. There, they displayed a “Thank You” sign as the police cars signaled red and blue lights, with an overall purpose being appreciation...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is poised to approve an unprecedented $2.2 trillion economic rescue package that will provide one-time checks for most Americans and significant enhancements to unemployment benefits. Both will provide much-needed help to those recently laid-off and to financially stressed households as the coronavirus shuts down much of the economy...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Acting swiftly in an extraordinary time, the House rushed President Donald Trump a $2.2 trillion rescue package Friday, tossing a life preserver to a U.S. economy and health care system left flailing by the coronavirus pandemic. The House approved the sweeping measure by voice vote, as strong majorities of both parties lined up behind the most colossal economic relief bill in the nation’s history. ...

SIKESTON — While the coronavirus pandemic is having a huge impact on health across the country, it is also having an impact on local business. During the social distancing order, many local businesses are being forced to reduce hours, adjust policies due to social distancing or close altogether, with many business owners being cautious in an uncertain time...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed an unprecedented $2.2 trillion economic rescue package into law Friday, after swift and near-unanimous action by Congress to support businesses, rush resources to overburdened health care providers and help struggling families during the deepening coronavirus epidemic...

I’m calling about the coronavirus. It reminds me of the movie “War of the Worlds.” It’s something that the doctors don’t know how to contain it because it’s airborne. It’s prayer time America. Pray that God will step in and help out our cities and help out our states also. Thank you.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans rushed to build a makeshift hospital in its convention center Friday as troubling new outbreaks bubbled in the United States, deaths surged in Italy and Spain and the world warily trudged through the pandemic that has sickened more than a half-million people...

BOSTON (AP) — States are pulling back the welcome mat for travelers from the New York area, which is the epicenter of the country's coronavirus outbreak, but some say at least one state's measures are unconstitutional. Governors in Texas, Florida, Maryland and South Carolina this week ordered people arriving from the New York area —including New Jersey and Connecticut — and other virus hot spots to self-quarantine for at least 14 days upon arrival...

DETROIT (AP) — President Donald Trump issued an order Friday that seeks to force General Motors to produce ventilators for coronavirus patients under the Defense Production Act. Trump said negotiations with General Motors had been productive, "but our fight against the virus is too urgent to allow the give-and-take of the contracting process to continue to run its normal course."...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans rushed to build a makeshift hospital in its convention center Friday as troubling new outbreaks bubbled in the United States, deaths surged in Italy and Spain and the world warily trudged through the pandemic that has sickened more than a half-million people...

SEATTLE (AP) — An investigation at a Seattle-area nursing home concluded that symptoms aren't enough to identify who is infected once the coronavirus enters a long-term care facility. Residents without symptoms could have the virus, so it won't work to simply separate those with symptoms from others. Investigators found that screening based on symptoms alone may be failing to identify half the residents who are infected with COVID-19...