Patagonia shutting down operations, will continue to pay employees
Outdoor outfitter Patagonia announced Friday that all stores, offices and other operations will shut down temporarily starting Friday.
Employees will continue to receive their regular paychecks during this break. The company will reassess and post an update on March 27, according to a statement by CEO and president Rose Marcario.
"Over the years, as our Patagonia community has been faced with challenges, I have always been inspired by how we emerge stronger and with an even deeper sense of purpose. We will persevere through this challenge, too," Marcario said.
Instagram posts spread conspiracy theory about Bill Gates
A video touting an unfounded conspiracy theory that Bill Gates is behind the coronavirus outbreak has gone viral on Instagram with the help of the accounts of celebrities such as Cedric the Entertainer, D.L. Hughley and Derrick Lewis, a mixed martial artist.
The video has been viewed more than 2.2 million times, according to data from social media analyst CrowdTangle. It was reposted by 20 verified Instagram users, and more than 50 other users.
"Bill Gates either predicted or planned the coronavirus outbreak," text on the video reads.
An Instagram spokesperson said the videos had been sent to its fact-checking partners for review.
Boston public schools to close until late April
Boston public school will close starting Tuesday until April 27. School will be in session Monday, according to the school district.
Yelp reports rise in searches for delivery versus eating out
People searching for food on Yelp are turning more of their attention to delivery, in another sign of Americans taking up social distancing to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The search app has been tracking a number it calls the dine in/out ratio: the number of U.S. restaurant searches seeking delivery availability against the number seeking reservations or wait lists. Yelp doesn’t release the exact ratio, but Yelp Data Science Editor Carl Bialik said that the ratio was up 7.7 percent Thursday from a day before and up 31.1 percent since March 1.
The ratio has risen for 11 consecutive days, Bialik said in an email. “It’s higher than at any time this past winter, including much colder periods.”
Reservation app OpenTable said it was seeing a 30 percent drop-off in total seated U.S. diners from a year earlier, with the decline as high as 45 percent in Seattle.
Opinion | Coronavirus is killing the campaign rally. Here's why that helps Biden.
You know it’s bad when President Donald Trump is canceling campaign rallies. The massive gatherings of loyal devotees are events he feeds off and are central to his re-election strategy: Whip up the base to make sure they vote and get as much free media attention as possible while doing it.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., takes a similar approach to rallying the masses, even turning his large crowds into rock concerts to jack up the energy and attract new eyeballs. He purports to be leading a revolution, after all, so he needs to use the power of his personality and bully pulpit to realize that.
Sanders purports to be leading a revolution, after all, so he needs to use the power of his personality and bully pulpit to realize that.
Which means that both Trump and Sanders stand to lose much more by the coronavirus shutting down large public campaign activities than their shared opponent, Joe Biden. The former vice president is more comfortable with a teleprompter than speaking extemporaneously; his trademark is an avuncular one-on-one connection with voters rather than issuing a rabble-rousing call to arms in a cavernous arena.
Cruise lines suspend voyages
President Trump tweeted Friday evening that Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and MSC Cruises agreed to suspend outbound cruises for 30 days at his request. All of these companies had already announced suspended voyages earlier in the day.
The country’s biggest cruise companies announced a spate of suspensions throughout Friday afternoon. Royal Caribbean said it will halt all U.S. voyages for 30 days beginning Saturday. Carnival Corporation said it will stop dozens of voyages, and its subsidiary Princess Cruises will suspend its cruises through April 30. Norwegian said it suspended its ships until April 11. MSC Cruises canceled all its U.S. cruises through April 30.