CLEAR DIRECTION FOR PATRONS AT THE POST OFFICE
April 2. By Dave Yochum. Bars and restaurants are closed. Tissue is still an issue. Countless people are working from home and the traffic is awesome. Meanwhile, parents are trying to home-school their children and Facebook is full of people worried about the results of too much snacking while they stay at home.
There are more than 475 Mecklenburg County residents with COVID-19 and three related deaths.
STATEWIDE AS OF 2 PM
The NC Dept. of Health and Human Services reports 16 COVID-19 deaths, and 1,857 cases statewide. There are 184 people hospitalized, with a total of 83 counties affected in North Carolina.
As of last night there have been two deaths in Mecklenburg related to COVID-19.
NO TENNIS AT JETTON PARK
Around 10 am there was no toilet paper at Harris Teeter/Old Jetton, Food Lion or Publix, but otherwise the shelves and refrigerated cases were mostly stocked.
That said, most stores are not practicing alternating aisles; you can still come face to face with another person coming from the opposite direction. At the Post Office, there are arrows on the floor that help keep people from bumping into each other.
More shoppers are wearing face-masks and gloves.
There are some positive signs even as the economy falls apart—temporarily, we believe—and the spread of the virus deepens.
The nationwide stimulus package includes $1,200 for most Americans, depending on your income.
The full amount goes to individuals who make less than $75,000. Above that, payments decrease until your adjusted gross hits $99,000.
Married couples are eligible for $2,400 as long as their combined salary is not above $150,000. Married couples who earn up to $198,000 will receive reduced checks on a sliding scale.
If you have already filed your tax return for 2019, the IRS will use the direct deposit information on your return to send your payment to your bank account.
If you haven’t filed your 2019 return, the IRS will see if you have filed a 2018 tax return and use that information for a check and to find your bank details or mailing address. You can calculate your check with the help of the Washington Post.
On the healthcare front, the state of North Carolina has lifted a restriction that will allow hospitals to open more beds if needed. “We can temporarily add and relocate beds into any space that meets federal safety requirements if we have a surge,” says Mike Riley, CEO of Novant Huntersville Presbyterian.
However, hydroxychloroquine, the malaria medicine that some doctors have been trying as a treatment against Covid-19, hasn’t shown encouraging results so far at a hospital in France, according to Bloomberg online.
President Trump touted the medicine as promising to curb the Covid-19 pandemic, fueling optimism and prompting some hospitals to stockpile it, but there’s no conclusive evidence that it works against the new coronavirus, according to the report in Bloomberg.
The next two or three weeks will be critical, with COVID-19-related deaths increasing statewide on a daily basis until April 27, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), an independent global health research organization at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
A report from IHME says the NC death rate will decline dramatically in May.
