ROMEOVILLE, IL—A group of 20 workers at an auto parts assembly plant here walked off the job April 6 and announced they will quarantine themselves after a co-worker tested positive for the coronavirus.

SEATTLE—Thirty thousand Boeing employees must start taking vacation or sick time, or apply for unemployment, after the airplane maker decided to keep its Puget Sound plants closed indefinitely.

DETROIT—This week, union workers at a Ford manufacturing plant outside Detroit raced to set up new assembly lines. But instead of making hybrid car batteries, the usual output from the factory, they are preparing to churn out tens of thousands of ventilators, joining the sprint against the clock to fight the coronavirus.