Health officials are recommending that groups of 50 or more don’t get together. A government expert said a 14-day national shutdown may be necessary. Now governors and mayors are closing restaurants, bars, and schools as the United States sinks deeper into chaos over the Coronavirus pandemic.

Travelers are now returning home from trips abroad and were stuck in lines for hours at major airports for screenings. Ironically, that cause people to be crammed together into the kind of crowded spaces that health officials have been urging people to avoid.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issues a recommendation: it said gatherings of 50 people or more should be canceled or postponed throughout the country for the next eight weeks because large events can fuel the spread of the disease. It added that proper precautions should be taken, including washing your hands and not getting to close to others.

New York mayor Bill de Blasio ordered nightclubs, movie theaters and other entertainment venues to close.

“These places are part of the heart and soul of our city. They are part of what it means to be a New Yorker,” he said in a statement Sunday night. “But our city is facing an unprecedented threat, and we must respond with a wartime mentality.”