Winston Salem Times

The once-busy streets of downtown Winston-Salem are now starkly empty as the city deals with the outbreak of the coronavirus.

With people encouraged to stay at home and restaurants and bars closed for dine-in service, downtown Winston-Salem, usually buzzing with life on a Saturday, was deserted, according to a Winston-Salem Journal report on March 21. 

Nearly every business along Trade Street and Fourth Street had a sign in their windows expressing they were closed due to COVID-19, the Journal reported.

The empty streets are reflective of what is happening across the country as efforts to slow COVID-19's spread are seemingly not working as U.S. health officials projected as many as 240,000 deaths. 

As of April 2, there are 56 positive cases and one death in Forsyth County, the state's Health and Human Services Department reported. Statewide, there are 16 deaths and 1,857 positive cases. 

Forsyth County Department of Public Health acknowledged evidence of community spread of the virus on March 21, the Journal reported. 

“This is why it is crucial that people practice social distancing, hand washing, refrain from mass gatherings and monitor themselves for signs and symptoms which are cough, fever and shortness of breath,” County Health Director Joshua Swift said in a statement to the Winston-Salem Journal. “If you believe you have been in contact with someone that has been exposed to COVID-19, voluntarily quarantine yourself. All persons with fever and respiratory symptoms should isolate themselves and call their health-care provider for guidance.”

The health department did not provide any information about where the person who contracted the virus via community spread has visited recently.

Some restaurants are offering take out and some coffee shops are still pouring cups of joe for customers, but the tables have been cleared out of the dining areas, the publication reported. 

Businesses everywhere are feeling the impact of the closures and more North Carolinians continue to file for unemployment, many of them service industry workers who have recently been laid off.