coronavirus

Shameless scammers will try to steal coronavirus stimulus checks, according to federal officials, who say common sense precautions can stop them in their tracks. Officials say con artists will try a wide range of schemes to bilk Americans out of the $1,200 payments the Trump administration has started delivering to help people shore up their …

H&M, the world’s second-biggest fashion retailer, said on Wednesday it had started producing protective aprons at a supplier and would deliver one million aprons to the Swedish health care system over the coming two weeks. The company is one of a number of fashion retailers mobilizing to help fight the coronavirus pandemic. Larger rival Inditex, …

Michael Costello is calling out celebrities who are unwilling to lend a hand in the face of the coronavirus crisis. The fashion designer, 37, is on a mission to create one million face masks to distribute to those in need. But when he enlisted a few of his star clients to help out, it seems …

Cinemark, the third-largest movie theater chain in the US, has laid off half of its corporate staff and furloughed 17,500 hourly workers due to coronavirus pandemic restrictions. Cinemark said the 50 percent of workers who have been furloughed at its Plano, Texas, headquarters will continue to receive 20 percent of their salary as well as …

The Internal Revenue Service’s online tracker for stimulus checks went on the fritz Wednesday as millions wait for the money to hit their accounts, according to frustrated taxpayers. Some Americans were reporting errors with the new tool, Get My Payment, which was launched to help taxpayers figure out when to anticipate their payments. “The IRS …

J.C. Penney is exploring filing for bankruptcy protection after the coronavirus pandemic forced the US retailer to temporarily shut its 850 department stores, upending its turnaround plans, according to people familiar with the matter. The Plano, Texas-based company has access to enough cash to survive in the months ahead, even as revenue dries up because …

US retail sales posted their sharpest drop on record last month as the coronavirus pandemic shuttered shops around the country, stark new data show. Retail and foodservice businesses raked in a seasonally adjusted $483.1 billion in sales in March, an 8.7 percent plunge from February’s revised total, the US Department of Commerce revealed Wednesday. That’s …

Omnnivores, this is on you. According to Queen guitarist and armchair epidemiologist Brian May, the coronavirus outbreak should be blamed squarely on meat eaters. “This pandemic seemed to come from people eating animals, and it’s becoming more well known that eating animals is not the greatest thing for our health,” the 72-year-old tells NME. “We’ve …

DJ Jazzy Jeff opened up to longtime pal Will Smith about his experience with coronavirus-like symptoms. “I came home from my trip, you know, I feel like I’m coming down with something,” the 55-year-old DJ explained to Smith on his Snapchat series, “Will From Home” (via ET). “Got in the bed, don’t remember the next …

Johnson & Johnson says it aims to have more than half a billion coronavirus vaccines ready early next year. The pharmaceutical giant will have 600 to 800 million vaccines available in early 2021, when it expects the US government to approve the drug it plans to start testing in humans this September, chief financial officer …