Coronavirus daily update: Thursday, July 16

The last dominoes

The last of the retail dominoes began to fall today as Target, Harris Teeter and CVS have announced they will require masks on all shoppers in their stores.

Remember, we are four months into the coronavirus epidemic, so this comes a little late. It’s almost as if they were waiting on direction from leadership before making the decision.

You want some more? Bowman Gray Stadium has canceled this year’s racing season, and the MEAC, a college athletic conference of HBCUs that includes NC A&T University, has suspended all fall sports.

The numbers

• North Carolina has 2,160 new cases today. That is a lot, by NC standards — our second highest daily total yet.
  • Our positive test rate has gone up a point to 9 percent.
  • 1,588 deaths so far.
• Guilford County registers 3,844 cases, with 48 new ones today. 129 deaths.
• Forsyth County has 96 new ones, making 3,946. 40 deaths.

A diversion

If you like the old, old, old pop-culture stuff then you’ve got to realize what a great find this reel is — 90 minutes of old Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy bits, one of the most illustrious ventriloquist acts in history, arising when ventriloquism was a very big deal. Bergen and his dummy started in vaudeville, and eventually gained national prominence on the radio — giving rise to the old joke: How can you tell if his lips aren’t moving. In between, the two made a bunch of shorts that ran in movie houses between features. This is all of them. Warning: Not that funny, but interesting from a cultural-anthropology perspective.

Program notes

• Tonight’s featured image is a photograph, “Gathering Water-Lilies,” shot in 1886 by Peter Henry Emerson. Taken from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s public-domain collection.
• If you’d like to help Triad City Beat, please consider becoming a supporter. You could also give us a like on Facebook and share our stories on Twitter.