The Salisbury Post has made several changes to ensure publication of the printed newspaper with no interruption as COVID-19 forces many businesses to shut down completely or operate with restrictions.

Effectively immediately, the Salisbury Post will indefinitely cease publication of its weekly Timeout section, which features local events, and the food page. That content will be moved to the Sunday Life section. Sunday’s newspaper will only include color comics, rather than an additional black and white comics page. The Post will also halt publication of a second black and white comics page in Friday’s edition.

The Post will continue to publish one black and white comics and puzzle page in its weekday editions. Half-page crossword puzzles also will appear in Thursday’s and Sunday’s newspaper.

For now, faith news and content normally published on a separate Home and Garden page have been moved into the Post’s Sunday lifestyles section.

Salisbury Post Publisher John Carr said traffic to the Salisbury Post’s website has surged as a result of the excellent work by the newspaper’s reporters — on some days by as much as 100%. The newspaper has also seen growth in digital subscriptions in recent weeks, but those are not enough to make up for current and projected future advertising loses.

“The staff of the Salisbury Post remains focused on producing the best mix of news, sports, opinion and entertainment possible during a difficult time for all businesses across our community,” Carr said. “For now, we need to make changes to ensure the viability of the Salisbury Post. Readers should continue to count on the Post as the best source for thorough, accurate news about the COVID-19 pandemic and how it’s affecting our community. All of us at the Post look forward to the day when our community can return to normal operations.”

Editor Josh Bergeron said the Post will remain focused on its core mission as it navigates the COVID-19 pandemic with other businesses in Salisbury and Rowan County.

“The Post’s core mission of providing local news about Salisbury and Rowan County is more important than ever, and we remain committed to being the best source of original reporting about our community,” Bergeron said.