SEATTLE — Just after dawn on Thursday morning, a Microsoft shuttle bus idled at its regular stop in North Seattle — but no passengers were there to board.

The day went on like that: Coffee shop sales were way down. Schools were closed in one suburban area. The downtown was oddly quiet. Traffic was a breeze.

People were hunkering down.

A new reality has set in for the Seattle area, the first region in the United States where the authorities have issued sweeping recommendations that people stay home to slow the spread of coronavirus.

“It is a weird feeling, being ground zero of this thing,” said Anastasia Scrimgeour, a driver for Lyft and Uber who said her income had dropped by half since a week ago, when a wave of reports of coronavirus cases began in the area. “Everyone is scared of Seattle now.”