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BY JILL COLVIN

AND DEB RIECHMANN

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Insisting the federal government is not a “shipping clerk,” President Donald Trump on Thursday called on states to do more to secure their own critical-ly needed masks, ventilators and testing supplies as the pressure mounted on hospi-tals struggling to cope with a rising number of coronavirus patients.

During another fast-moving day in the capital, Trump and his administration took addi-tional, once-unthinkable steps to try to contain the pandemic. The State Department issued a new alert urging Americans not to travel abroad under any circumstances. And Trump said the government should take partial ownership of com-panies bailed out during the pandemic, a step that would mark an extraordinary federal reach into the private sector.

Hoping to inject some good news into the dreary outlook, Trump held a White House briefing trying to highlight new efforts underway to find treatments for COVID-19 as infections in the country climbed past 11,000, with at least 168 deaths.

He offered an upbeat pro-motion of therapeutic drugs in early testing that he said could be “a game-changer” in treating those suffering. But critics quickly accused him of spreading misleading infor-mation and overly optimistic projections after the head of

Pressure grows on Trump over hospital suppliesStates asked to secure their own masks, ventilators and testing supplies.

BY ELIZABETH JOHNSON

The Daily Reflector

A North Pitt High School em-ployee who tested positive for the coronavirus worked at the school for two days after trav-eling to a youth conference in Georgia, where he likely was in-fected, officials said Thursday.

He is the first person in Pitt County to test positive for the virus that has killed thousands worldwide and devastated the global economy. More than 100 cases now are confirmed in at least two dozen North Carolina counties, according to state and local reports.

“While the arrival of COVID-19 in Pitt County may be unsettling, it also marks our first step toward the eventual resolution of this situation,” Pitt County Public Health Director Dr. John Silvernail said during a Thursday afternoon news con-ference. “I do not believe this will be our only case and fully expect that we will have more cases in the near future.”

Most people experience mild symptoms, but the virus can be deadly. The U.S. death toll had risen to 168, primarily elderly people, by Thursday. None have died in North Carolina. Johns Hopkins University, which has been tallying the virus’ spread around the world, said the U.S. had more than 11,000 cases, ac-cording to the Associated Press.

Worldwide the death toll crept toward 10,000 on Thurs-day and the total number of in-fections topped 220,000, includ-ing nearly 85,000 people who have recovered.

The North Pitt employee has been in isolation at his home and is resting comfort-ably, Silvernail said. He vis-ited Georgia the weekend of March 6-8 for a youth confer-ence attended by more than a thousand people. He returned

First local COVID-19 case confirmed; more cases assured, officials said.

Man with virus worked at North Pitt

BY KIM GRIZZARD

Staff Writer

Dancer, choreographer and author Twyla Tharp once said, “Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.”

City Art Gallery owner Tor-rey Stroud is putting the idea to the test today by hosting the gallery’s first online “re-ception.” With public gather-ings curtailed to help prevent the spread of the coronavi-rus, Stroud saw moving the opening of the exhibit “2020 Visions” online as the best way for the show to go on.

“Under current circum-stances, I thought it would be better to have our clients and

friends view the show on-line,” Stroud said Thursday in an interview.

Concerns about the coro-navirus have prompted clos-ings of galleries and museums across the globe. The famed Louvre Museum in Paris shut down on March 1. Closer to home, The North Carolina Mu-seum of Art closed on Tues-day. Only the museum park remains open to the public.

Brian Farkas, president of the Greenville Museum of Art Board of Trustees, released a statement on Monday an-nouncing that the museum would remain closed through March 31 at minimum. Emerge Gallery and Art

Center announced on Sun-day that it would be closed through March 30.

Stroud’s gallery on Red Banks Road is one of few businesses in Lynndale Shoppes that remains open for regular business hours. But she was concerned that hosting a scheduled opening reception could make it diffi-cult to maintain recommend-ed social distancing.

Instead, she decided to record the show in a video, which will be released today on the gallery’s Facebook and Instagram accounts. Kin-ston artist Ben Knight, whose work is featured in “2020 Vi-sions” alongside that of Louis

St. Lewis and Margo Balcer-ek, came to the gallery on Thursday to be interviewed for the virtual opening.

Knight and ECU art ed-ucation professor Cynthia Bickley-Green are among 25 artists featured in “Front Burner: Highlights in Con-temporary North Carolina Painting,” on exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of Art through late July.

“When you have an op-portunity to do (something) like this, you have to make the most of it,” Knight said following the filming. “This was not something I was going

Galleries working to maintain virtual presence during social distancing

Above, Officials spaced chairs far apart prior to a news conference about the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus in the Pitt County Office Building on Thursday.

At right, Pitt County Health Director Dr. John Silvernail addresses questions about a case of the COVID-19 coronavirus confirmed Thursday in Pitt County.

ELIZABETH JOHNSON AND MORGAN MURRAY

THE DAILY REFLECTOR

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Artist Ben Knight stands between his works “The Names of Men,” left, and “A Painter’s Home” at City Art Gallery. To prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the gallery is hosting a virtual opening of its new exhibit.

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