NEW YORK/CHICAGO (Reuters) – Americans spent Easter Sunday on lockdown as the U.S. toll from the novel coronavirus pandemic surpassed 21,300 deaths and more than half a million confirmed cases.
A young couple pray at sunrise on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, where normally thousands of Christians would gather for worship at Easter sunrise, in Washington, U.S. April 12, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
In the latest sign of the disruption wrought by the disease, one of the nation’s largest pork processing plants was shuttered after workers fell ill, and its owner warned the country was moving “perilously close to the edge” in supplies for grocers.
“It is impossible to keep our grocery stores stocked if our plants are not running,” Ken Sullivan, chief executive of Smithfield Foods, said in a statement on Sunday.
With almost all Americans kept indoors under stay-at-home orders to curb the spread of the disease, many turned to online church services to mark the holiest day in the Christian calendar.
The United States has recorded more fatalities from the COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus than any other country in the world. Roughly 2,000 deaths a day were reported for the last four days in a row, the largest number in and around New York City. Even that is viewed as understated, as New York is still figuring out how best to include a surge in deaths at home in its official statistics.
(Graphic: Tracking the novel coronavirus in the U.S. – here)
As the death toll has mounted, President Donald Trump mulled over when the country might begin to see