'Game Delay' at casinos because of coronavirus

It appears Century Casino Cape Girardeau — and all other gaming operations in Missouri — will remain closed until at least the end of May, extending the casino's closure to a full two-and-a-half months, due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The Missouri Gaming Commission extended its emergency order last week that temporarily closed all 13 of the state's casinos, including those owned by Century Casinos in Cape Girardeau and Caruthersville.

Century Casino closed in mid-March when the commission issued its first order, which was intended to last two weeks. It was later extended to April 6, then to April 24, May 3 and May 15. The latest extension, issued Wednesday, will run through May 31.

When it eventually reopens, casino patrons will notice several changes and additions to the gaming floor, including safety barriers between slot machines and player stations on gaming tables, and there will be a limit of three players on those tables to help maintain social distancing. Thermal cameras have also been installed at the casino's turnstile entrance to alert the staff of anyone with a temperature of 100.4 degrees or higher.

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Statistics.

By this time any other year, I would normally be immersed in baseball statistics such as batting averages and winning percentages (the Cardinals were scheduled to open a seven-game home stand this week with a four-game series against the Braves).

I'd also be tracking Jordan Binnington's "goals against" average, because by now the Blues should have been deep into the NHL postseason playoffs defending their Stanley Cup championship status. (For those of you who don't follow hockey, Binnington is St. Louis' all-star net minder.)

But instead, my thoughts are consumed by statistics related to COVID-19 — state-by-state infection rates, recovery percentages, breakdowns by ages, genders and races, co-morbidity factors and, unfortunately, death rates.

Chances are, you probably know at least one person — a friend, co-worker, relative, church member or other acquaintance — who has been infected. Several of my relatives in the New York area tested positive earlier this spring and have all, fortunately, recovered.

Obviously, the coronavirus pandemic is not only a health crisis, but an economic one as well. When it comes to the economic effect of the coronavirus, the statistics seem endless — business closures, diminished productivity, unemployment hikes, depleted savings, budget cuts, stock declines. Many economists are forecasting things will get worse before society returns to some level of "normal," whatever that means.

I started writing an earlier version of this week's column by citing a litany of economic statistics. Last week, for instance, the U.S. Department of Labor reported another 2.9 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits during the week ending May 8, bringing the eight-week total of first-time unemployment claims to more than 36 million, bumping the nation's unemployment rate to somewhere north of 15%.

Here in Missouri, more than 530,000 jobless claims were filed between mid-March and the first week of this month, roughly 10 or 15 times the normal pace of first-time claims for unemployment benefits.

There are a number of interesting — but depressing — employment statistics on the Missouri Department of Labor & Industrial Relations website, www.labor.mo.gov, and I invite you to look them up yourself. But when you do, be sure you're sitting down. And don't do it just before bedtime because they could lead to bad dreams.

My wife went so far as to suggest you pour yourself a glass of wine before you look up the stats.

Perhaps one day, soon, we'll be able to focus on baseball statistics again.

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J.C. Penney Co. experienced something of a roller-coaster ride last week.

A week ago in this column, I commented on published reports the iconic retailer was on the cusp of bankruptcy under the weight of massive debt and losses accelerated by online competition and store closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was also reported the company would permanently close about 200 of its nearly 850 U.S. stores.

On Friday, it seemed the company bought itself some time when it made a $17 million interest payment on its debt, reported to be in the neighborhood of $3.6 billion.

The company's stock briefly skyrocketed 59% Friday on news of the last-minute interest payment, but shares were still trading at only a fraction of their price at the start of the year, and late Friday, it was announced the 118-year-old retailer would seek bankruptcy protection.

J.C. Penney joins two other national retailers — Neiman Marcus and J. Crew — that have filed for bankruptcy protection this month. Both Neiman Marcus and J. Crew have announced plans to stay in business after restructuring their finances, and it appears J.C. Penney plans to follow suit.

"J.C. Penney is not going out of business," according to a statement Saturday from chief executive officer Jill Soltau to the retailer's credit card holders. "J.C. Penney will continue to be one of the nation's largest apparel and home retailers. Our expansive footprint will still include hundreds of stores across the U.S. and Puerto Rico, as well as our online flagship store, www.jcp.com."

Soltau said J.C. Penney is "safely and gradually reopening" stores across the nation. As of Saturday, however, none of the company's Missouri locations had reopened to foot traffic and just two stores, in Columbia and Springfield, were offering curbside merchandise pickup.

J.C. Penney has had a presence in Cape Girardeau since the 1920s, first with a store on North Main Street. In the mid-1970s, the store moved to the 2100 block of William Street, and in 1981, it became one of the anchor stores at West Park Mall.

It is not clear at this time whether the Cape Girardeau store will be among those the company plans to permanently close.

"We're monitoring the situation closely, but don't have any information about store closures at this time," I was told Friday night by Stacey Keating, senior public relations and marketing director with CBL Properties, which owns the mall.

The Southeast Missourian will be closely following this story.

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Meanwhile, West Park Mall continues to gradually reopen as COVID-19 restrictions are eased. A handful of mall stores opened their doors last week, including anchor store Macy's, and more will be opening this week. You can find a list of open stores and store hours at www.shopwestpark.com.

I walked through the shopping center last week to get a sense of how the reopening was going. Overall, I was impressed by the employees at various stores, all of whom were wearing face masks and observing social distancing from customers. I was especially impressed by the precautions being taken at American Eagle, where an employee at the store entrance briefed each customer on the store's coronavirus safety precautions, passed out face masks and asked customers to maintain distance from each other.

West Park Mall is owned by CBL Properties in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which plans to open two of its other properties in the region — South County Center and West County Center in suburban St. Louis — this week.

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Kohl's is also reopening this week.

An email from the company over the weekend said the retailer's 27 locations in Missouri, including the store in Cape Girardeau, are reopening. Kohl's in Cape Girardeau is on Shirley Drive just west of Seimers Drive.

According to the company's website, dedicated shopping hours will be available from 11 a.m. until noon on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for customers who are age 60 and older as well as those who are pregnant or have underlying health conditions.

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Last week, I covered a meeting of representatives from several social service agencies in the four-county area of Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Scott and Perry. During the meeting, a comment was made by one of the attendees that food needs during the COVID-19 pandemic did not appear to be as pressing as housing and utility needs and mobile food pantries and the Southeast Missouri Food Bank have been able to accommodate any food shortages in the region.

"This is only possible due to our fundraising efforts since our COVID response began," Joey Keys, Southeast Missouri Food Bank president and CEO, told me.

Joey said the number of people in need of food assistance in Southeast Missouri has increased by as much as 100%.

"Our donated product has taken a major hit and we are purchasing more food than ever to meet the increased demand," he said. "For example, a truckload of chicken noodle soup costs almost $25,000."

Kudos to the food bank, its volunteers, donors and all others involved in this vital service.

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Fresh Healthy Cafe is apparently adding a second Cape Girardeau location.

Tom Kelsey of Lorimont Commercial Real Estate has confirmed the franchise has leased space at 201 S. Mount Auburn Road, Suite E, next to Brown Shoe and near Panera Bread Co. A sign on the window there states the cafe, which will feature a variety of healthy food options, will open soon.

The original Fresh Health Cafe location is inside Saint Francis Medical Center near the entrance to Fitness Plus.

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If you've been eating more pizza during the coronavirus outbreak, you're not alone.

Friday was National Pizza Party Day, celebrated annually on the third Friday in May. Although pizza is generally thought of as an Italian food, it's actually believed its origins come from ancient Greece where it is believed Greeks covered bread with oils, herbs and cheese.

Romans subsequently developed a pastry with a sheet of dough topped with cheese and honey, flavored with bay leaves.

The first "pizza parlor" in the United States opened in New York's Little Italy district in 1905, and according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest pizza ever was made in 1990 in South Africa, and it weighed 26,883 tons.

Papa John's reported earlier this month the company had its best sales month ever in April, despite the coronavirus outbreak. According to the company, sales of Papa John's pizzas in North America grew 27% compared to April 2019. Much of that growth, according to Papa John's CEO Rob Lynch, was due to deliveries to people sheltering at home during the pandemic.

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