800 million calls/day. 9 billion messages/day. “It is a crisis and the network becomes extremely important,” Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg says about the “enormous traffic” his company is seeing during the coronavirus pandemic.
For some, this might not come as a surprise. Many of these companies likely set the initial end-of-the-month date because they knew they could at least pay workers for two-weeks time, verbally committing to do so, and they had already paid their landlords March rent.
Now, heading into April, we are in uncharted territory. Where the industry goes from here will depend on many factors as the announcements from a number of retailers illustrate. —6:40 pm: Inside the Navy's hospital ships helping to ease the surge of coronavirus patientsMass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Danny Ray Nunez Jr. | US Navy A U.S. military hospital ship arrived in Los Angeles Friday to help local efforts to beat back the spread of the deadly coronavirus., surpassing the national tallies of China and Italy.6:20 pm: Gov. Cuomo, the National Guard and FEMA transform the Javits Center into a hospital New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announces plans to convert the Jacob Javits Center on Manhattans West Side into a field hospital as Coronavirus cases continue to rise on March 23, 2020 in New York.that the construction of a temporary hospital at the Jacob K. Javits Center had been completed with the help of FEMA and the National Guard. The New York City convention center, which usually hosts events like New York Comic Con, is now home to 1,000 hospital beds that will be used to handle patient overflow caused by the coronavirus pandemic. is just the first of several that will be built in New York. Cuomo plans to have a temporary hospital in each of New York City's five boroughs as well as in Westchester, Rockland, Nassau and Suffolk counties.Confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S., doubling in just three days as the pandemic accelerates and the U.S. rolls out broader testing measures. Data from Johns Hopkins University showed the total number of coronavirus cases as 101,707 and the total number of deaths in the U.S. as 1,544. The virus emerged in Wuhan, China, in December. It has since spread to more than half a million people in almost every country around the world and continues to pick up speed, the World Health Organization warned earlier this week. "The pandemic is accelerating," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday at a press briefing from the organization's Geneva headquarters. "It took 67 days from the first reported case to reach 100,000 cases, 11 days for second 100,000 cases, and just four days for the third 100,000 cases."North Carolina Gov. Roy CooperFriday and closed the state's nonessential businesses in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The order goes into effect 5:00 pm Monday, but Cooper urged residents to begin staying at home immediately.Residents will still be able to leave for essential reasons, including to get food or medicine, according to Cooper. People will also be able to leave their homes for outdoor exercise or to help others. North Carolina has 763 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and has had three deaths from the virus, according to data compiled by the state's Department of Health and Human Services.5 pm: Trump signs $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill as the US tries to prevent economic devastation, as Washington tries to blunt economic destruction from the pandemic ripping through the United States. The House earlier passed the stimulus package, believed to be the largest in U.S. history, by voice vote, which simply measures if more lawmakers shout for "aye" or "nay" on whether to support it. The chamber scrambled Friday to block an effort to delay its passage.4:30 pm: California suspends eviction orders for those financially impacted by coronavirus Medical personnel from Riverside University Health Systems hospitals administer a Coronavirus Test to an individual during drive-through testing in the parking lot of Diamond Stadium.California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order banning the enforcement of eviction orders for renters affected by the coronavirus through May 31. The order is effective immediately, providing relief to tenants who have rent due April 1. Landlords are prohibited from evicting tenants for nonpayment of rent and the enforcement of evictions by courts or law enforcement is also banned, according to a statement from the governor's office. Tenants must declare in writing no more than seven days after their rent's due date that they cannot pay all or part of their rent because of COVID-19. Reasons for lack of payment could include being sick from the coronavirus, caring for someone who is sick, experiencing a layoff or needing to miss work to care for a child, among other circumstances. Tenants remain obligated to repay full rent in a timely manner and could still face eviction after the enforcement moratorium is lifted. They must provide documentation that verifies their financial status changed because of the virus.SeaWorld has temporarily furloughed more than 90% of its employees as of April 1, according to an SEC filing. Furloughed employees will not be paid after March 31 and will be eligible for unemployment subject to local regulations. "The furlough period is uncertain at this time due to the temporary park closures and will be reassessed as business conditions dictate," the filing said. SeaWorld said earlier this month that it initially planned to close all of its parks until the end of March. —President Donald Trumpto make ventilators under the Defense Production Act hours after criticizing the company for not acting quickly enough to produce the supplies amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Korean War-era statute can force certain American companies to produce materials that are in short supply in the face of the growing outbreak. The order comes hours after GM announced plans to build critical-care ventilators with Ventec Life Systems at one of the automaker's components plants in Indiana. —Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort will remain closed until further notice, according to an announcement from the WaltCompany. Hourly employees of the parks as well as resort cast members will continue to be paid through April 18, the company said. Universal Orlando Resort previously extended its closure until April 19. After shutting down on March 16, the theme park originally planned to stay closed until the end of March. —3:30: San Francisco's early restrictions seem to be helping hospitals avoid coronavirus overload — so fardoctors are not yet seeing the dire overcrowding"I was on campus today, and it's actually quite mellow," said Dr. Bob Watcher, UC San Francisco's Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine told CNBC on Thursday. "Because we're not doing elective procedures that can be pushed back, it's even quieter than usual." For now, UCSF clinicians are managing a steady trickle of patients entering into the emergency rooms with COVID-19 symptoms. while still bracing for a possible flood. As of Friday, San Francisco has 279 confirmed cases and the city saw its largest increase of COVID-19 diagnoses on Thursday. California now has more than 4,000 known COVID-19 cases.Major stock indexes pared some losses in late trading. The
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