Health Care

Most large events and gatherings are now banned in Massachusetts, the Boston Marathon will be postponed five months and President Donald Trump declared a national emergency in a whirlwind day of coronavirus pandemic developments.

Gov. Charlie Baker is prohibiting almost all events that would bring 250 or more people together in the same space effective immediately in an effort to limit the spread of coronavirus, but schools are not yet being instructed to shut down, the governor announced Friday afternoon.

As businesses in the Central Mass. economy continue to react to concerns over the coronavirus, the construction of the $132-million Polar Park baseball stadium in Worcester's Canal District is not expected to be impacted.

The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission is closing its offices inside Worcester's Union Station indefinitely because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Instead of holding the marathon on Patriots' Day as is tradition, officials plan to reschedule it to Sept. 14 and will seek legislative approval to declare the day a state holiday. The postponement will be the first in the marathon's 124-year history.

Worcester retail businesses are seeing significantly lower revenues, more order cancellations and diminished foot traffic as the local reaction to the coronavirus pandemic spreads in Central Massachusetts.

Leonard Morse Hospital's planned closure of acute care services in Natick has been put on hold, while UMass Memorial Medical Center has set up a screening tent for coronavirus outside its University Campus in Worcester as medical facilities step up their response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Hospitals in Central Massachusetts and nursing homes statewide are taking extra precautions with visitors in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Marlborough medical device manufacturer Hologic has placed its 1,000th Panther Molecular Diagnostics System in the United States.

Out of an abundance of caution, Worcester Business Journal has decided to reschedule the Business Leader of the Year event and WBJ Hall of Fame induction ceremony, due to concerns over the coronavirus.