#Roommates, as the coronavirus outbreak continues to impact practically every aspect of our daily lives, many businesses are finding ways to accommodate those in the midst of financial hardships—even as their own businesses are suffering as a result of self-quarantines, lockdowns and increasing closures. As the area with the most coronavirus cases in the U.S., New York has officially announced that all evictions will be suspended indefinitely.
@CNN reports, local officials in New York, as well as Seattle and San Francisco, have all decided to temporarily suspend all evictions to support residents who’ve found themselves out of work or with reduced hours, thus making them unable to pay their rent. Under most of the suspensions, property owners can’t issue new eviction notices, and existing ones can’t be executed. Many courts, like in Chicago’s Cook County, have already shuttered for weeks, so eviction hearings have also been paused.
Most of the suspensions last up to 30 days. Meanwhile, The Real Estate Board of New York, an organization of owners who operate 150,000 rental units in the city, pledged to not execute any eviction warrants for 90 days.
Elsewhere, several other businesses are making adjustments as the reality of mandatory changes to operations are increasing rapidly due to the fallout of the coronavirus outbreak. To match overwhelming shopping demand, Amazon is hiring a record 100,000 new workers to ensure all customers orders are fulfilled.
Dollar General is taking extra care to accommodate seniors, the most vulnerable to coronavirus, buy dedicating the first hour in every store to senior citizens to ensure they have all the essentials they need—essentials that have been recently hard to come by.
On the entertainment front, AMC Theaters announced the difficult, but necessary, decision to close all movie theaters for at six to 12 weeks. Similarly, Regal Cinemas continue to remain closed “until further notice.”
As for Uber, the popular ride-sharing company has decided to officially suspend all Uber pool rides in both the U.S. and Canada to enforce the very crucial act of social distancing, which is one of the main ways to curb the coronavirus.
Roommates, what are your thoughts on this?
