How will a native speaker of American English say this sentence? Will "comma' be replaced with "and" in spoken American English?
Best Buy plans to reopen its stores on Monday in states that have loosened restrictions, joining a handful of other retailers that are limping back to life after the corona virus forced them to close.
If you replace the comma with "and", it becomes grammatically incorrect because we would essentially be saying "Best Buy plans...and joining..." where both verbs are different forms. The comma is necessary.