They couldn’t hold their normal Palm Sunday worship so St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Findlay held a palm branch parade.

Pastor Dan Metzger says people were given a palm branch and then drove by Blanchard Valley Hospital and the Hancock County Courthouse to pray for the healthcare workers, first responders and civic leaders who are helping us through the coronavirus crisis and to pray for the sick and vulnerable.

“We had a great response, not just from our church but from other people in the community who came out to be a part of it.”

He says they also held a Palm Walk and people drew palm branches on the sidewalk and placed them in their windows.

The pastor says it was nice to see and say hello to people they haven’t seen for a while even if it was from a distance.

He says on Sunday they will be holding a drive-in Easter Sunday service at Emory Adams Park.

Cooper Tire is continuing its temporary plant closures as the coronavirus pandemic grows.

Details are in the following media release from the company.

Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE: CTB) today announced that its tire manufacturing plants in the United States and Mexico will remain closed for at least another two weeks to protect the health and safety of employees and to respond to market demand that has been impacted by coronavirus. The company will continue to closely monitor the situation and adjust timing as necessary.

The temporary plant closures were announced March 21, and include facilities in Findlay, Ohio; Clarksdale and Tupelo, Mississippi; Texarkana, Arkansas and El Salto, Mexico.

Cooper plants in Europe continue to be temporarily closed. Its plants in China reopened several weeks ago and have continued to ramp up production and remain in operation.

The company continues to monitor supply chain and product inventory levels, and believes it has sufficient supply of product. Cooper’s distribution centers in the U.S. have continued to operate and flow product to customers.

As coronavirus has continued to spread across the globe, Cooper has put in place measures to protect employees and meet the needs of all stakeholders including remote working when possible, social distancing, staggered schedules, additional cleaning and disinfecting of facilities, restricted visitor access and other necessary steps, all of which remain in effect.

As of Friday afternoon there were 13 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Hancock County.

That total is up one from the previous day.

Hancock Public Health says five of the patients have been hospitalized.

Statewide there were 3,312 confirmed cases as of Friday and 91 deaths.

People experiencing coronavirus symptoms should call the COVID-19 Triage & Testing Center at Blanchard Valley Hospital at 419-423-7890, or the center at Bluffton Hospital at 419-369-2399.

Symptoms of COVID-19 include cough, shortness of breath, fever of 100.4 degrees or greater and fatigue.

Some people have contacted WFIN News asking why the Whirlpool plant in Findlay is still operating during the coronavirus pandemic.

Whirlpool Corporation says it is an “essential” manufacturer and issued a statement saying its consumers need their trusted appliances to take care of their families now more than ever.

The company says it has heightened cleaning protocols at each plant, is adhering to social distancing on the production lines and has implemented temperature screening for its employees.

The full statement is below.

Whirlpool Corporation is working around the clock, and around the world, rapidly responding to coronavirus (COVID-19) developments to ensure that we can continue to take care of our employees and our consumers. We are also deeply committed to supporting the communities in which we operate with donations of our appliances, medical supplies and financial contributions to our local hospitals and shelters where possible.

As the world continues to battle COVID-19, our consumers need our trusted appliances to take care of their families during this turbulent time. They are depending on our products — now more than ever — to clean, cook and provide proper food and medicine storage. Our 77,000 employees globally are continuing to support our consumers, as they themselves are living with the new realities of the situation, and we continue to be proud of their everyday commitment to you.

As such, the health and safety of our employees, our consumers and all those involved in our operations are our first priority. We have teams in place at local, regional and global levels working tirelessly to ensure the safety of our people and our valued consumers who allow our products and services into their homes. In that regard, we have taken several strong actions in response to the rapidly evolving coronavirus outbreak.

We are closely following the World Health Organization’s (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) guidelines and recommendations on the steps we can take to help prevent the spread of the virus.

Officials with the Memorial Tournament say they are looking at moving the event to later in the summer.

Tournament Director Dan Sullivan said that following the PGA’s announcement there will be no golf until the end of May, the Memorial is preparing for a likely postponement.

This year’s tournament is currently scheduled to begin on June 4th, and a decision to move it to a later date could come as early as next week.

Governor Mike DeWine says he is creating an economic advisory board to help the state recover when the coronavirus pandemic ends.

DeWine announced the board was being assembled now to plan ahead and then quickly move forward when the crisis is over.

Frank Sullivan from Medina-based RPM International was selected to lead the board.

In the last two weeks, the Department of Jobs and Family Services says more than 450,000 people have applied for unemployment benefits due to COVID-19.

Findlay High School and Millstream Career Center have donated personal protective equipment in the battle against the coronavirus.

They donated nearly 10,000 pairs of gloves to keep healthcare workers and first responders safe as they go about their jobs.

Ohio’s health director said the state has received its federal shipment of personal protective equipment like masks and gloves but that it doesn’t meet the need.

Dr. Amy Acton said the supply the state got from the Strategic National Stockpile and the amount in its own reserves aren’t enough to meet immediate or future needs as more people are diagnosed with the coronavirus.

With a little help from his neighbors and friends, the fire department and 100.5 WKXA, Briggs still had a memorable 4th birthday despite not being able to have a big party because of the coronavirus going around.

A long line of cars stretched down Briggs’ street on Thursday and slowly went by his house honking their horns and dropping off gifts.

The WKXA van was playing a Happy Birthday song as it slowly went by.

The Findlay Fire Department was there and had their lights and sirens going.

One person even drove by on a lawnmower.

The youngster’s mom, Kayla, says they had a big party planned and Briggs was bummed that it had to be canceled because of the coronavirus.

But she says the parade of cars really brightened his birthday and gave him a memory he’ll never forget.

Happy birthday Briggs!

As of Thursday afternoon there were 12 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Hancock County.

Hancock Public Health said five of the patients have been hospitalized.

Statewide there were 2,902 confirmed cases as of Thursday and 81 deaths.

The governor on Thursday announced that the Stay At Home Order has been extended to May.

People experiencing coronavirus symptoms of shortness of breath, cough, fever of 100.4 or higher and fatigue should call the Blanchard Valley Hospital COVID-19 testing center at 419-423-7890 or the testing center Bluffton Hospital at 419-369-2399.

For local information and resources people can call the Hancock County Resource Call Center at 419-425-9999.

The Ohio Department of Health’s Stay At Home order has been extended through May 1st.

“We are going to continue to see the numbers go up no matter what we do, but we can do all we can to keep the numbers down,” Governor DeWine said on Thursday.

“Today I have asked Dr. Acton to extend the Department of Health’s Stay at Home Order to 11:59pm on May 1st. This extension is necessary.”

The order is essentially the same order that went into effect on March 23rd and was to expire on April 6th.

One change, however, is the new order requires retail businesses to establish the number of people who should be in the business at one time.

The governor says they’re not telling them the number because businesses are all different. But businesses must determine their number and post it.

As of Thursday there were 2,902 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Ohio and 81 deaths.

Hancock Public Health was reporting 9 cases in the county.