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Updated: 5:20 p.m., Thursday, May 14, 2020 University Hospitals is using a new protective tool to conduct COVID-19 tests. The hospital system’s innovation department, UH Ventures, partnered with the Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network (MAGNET) to design and develop innovative COVID-19 testing booths. Workers administer the tests through arms-length gloves attached to a barrier on the booth. This could speed up the testing process, as the workers no longer need to change personal protective equipment in between each test.

Does pandemic isolation have you ready to scream? Perhaps, you might express your frustrations through writing, instead. A Northeast Ohio writers' group wants Clevelanders to record their feelings – and then share them. The project is “Documenting Cleveland,” and it’s coordinated by Literary Cleveland. Associate director Matt Weinkam said the group is taking a look at a random day of our lives.

As different parts of the economy move to reopen, many arts and culture groups are discussing what reopening could look like for museums, theaters and music venues. “We anticipate that we’ll see museums perhaps being more readily prepared to open sooner than performing arts organizations,” said Megan VanVoorhis, president of Arts Cleveland. Museums could limit the number of people in galleries through timed entry and direct people to use different entrances, for instance, to space out the number of visitors.

Local governments are bracing for a financial blow from the across-the-board business shutdowns state health officials say are necessary to stop the spread of the coronavirus. It’s too soon to know exactly how much of a hit state and local agencies will take. But with Ohio unemployment claims soaring to 187,780 last week, government leaders are preparing for a serious impact to their budgets. The plunge in commercial activity across Northeast Ohio will hurt local sales tax revenue, which accounts for 54 percent of Cuyahoga County’s general fund budget.

Marcie Goodman began grieving when the Cleveland International Film Festival was canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak. "We have to honor that and we have to give ourselves time to experience those feelings," the CIFF executive director said. Soon after the March 11 press conference when Mayor Frank Jackson and Goodman made the announcement, she and her CIFF staff realized they weren't the only ones in mourning.

Uber drivers, Airbnb hosts and other gig workers who have lost their livelihoods because of the coronavirus pandemic would get some relief under the proposed new $2 trillion federal rescue package.

Cleveland’s housing market is has made steps toward recovering from the 2008 recession. A study released Tuesday shows residential tax abatements have helped in that tenuous recovery. The number of active tax abatements has dropped significantly since a peak in 2006, but the dollar amounts homeowners save per abatement has gone up, according to the study.

Juanda Mayfield, a former school teacher who gave up the classroom for comedy, loves it when she’s on stage in front of a full crowd ready to hear her takes on life, love and the human condition. “I feed off their energy. The more people, the better for me,” she said. “I need that energy.” She harnesses the energy, concentrates it, and then sends it bounding back through her hand-held microphone. Timid is not a word anyone would use to describe Mayfield.

Cleveland City Council members are calling for hearings after revelations that the city’s curbside recycling goes to the landfill just like regular trash. Mayor Frank Jackson acknowledged this week that the city’s contract for recycling disposal expired at the beginning of April. Only one bid was submitted for a new contract – one that proposed hauling material to Southwest Ohio at a cost too high for the administration’s liking.

Shortly after Ohio Governor Mike DeWine began doing daily coronavirus briefings, Cleveland singer-songwriter Alex Bevan decided to play an online concert every day until the stay-at-home order is lifted. "The governor comes on with his updates at 2 o'clock, so at about 3:30 I start playing," Bevan said. Since March 20, Bevan has performed seven days a week on his Facebook page for about an hour.