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Nearly 3.3 million people applied for unemployment benefits last week as the coronavirus crisis slammed the US economy.
The staggering numbers reported by the US Labor Department Thursday are almost five times the previous record set in 1982.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin downplayed the surge in applications, saying it was a “short term” issue after a $2 trillion stimulus bill passed the Senate yesterday. The economic rescue package is expected to be passed by the House of Representatives Friday.
And despite the unemployment figures, US stocks rallied for a third straight day.
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Here’s what else we learned today:
US tops China:
- The US now has more coronavirus cases than any other country with more than 82,000, a running count by Johns Hopkins University researchers showed Thursday evening. China, where the outbreak began, has 81,782.
- As cases are growing across the country, New Orleans now looks poised to become the next epicenter.
- Earlier today, President Trump, pushing to reopen the country by the April 12 holiday, said his administration will rank counties by coronavirus risk and urge low-risk areas to relax social distancing rules.
REUTERS
New York crisis:
- The virus death toll in the Empire State spiked by 100 in just 24 hours to 385.
- As cases skyrocket, hospitals are overrun and workers say they lack basic protective gear. But Gov. Andrew Cuomo today maintained that there’s no shortage of PPE.
- One Manhattan restaurant is giving back to hospital staffers and feeding them for free. He’s our “Hero of the Day.”
Elmhurst Hospital nurses man the front line of the testing site outside Elmhurst.Richard HarbusStaying power:
- A disturbing video shows how COVID-19 ravaged the lungs of a patient who had been asymptomatic just days earlier.
- And experts now say the virus can stick on shoes for up to five days.
COVIDIOTS:
- Apparently, there’s no cure for “covidiotism” either. A wanna-be influencer who went viral for for licking an airplane toilet seat in a “coronavirus challenge” now wants to cough on Dr. Phil.
- When it comes to spraying germs, no one can beat this Pennsylvania woman.
- And then there’s this 21-year-old from Tennessee who boasted about not social-distancing… and then caught COVID-19.
Meanwhile…
- New Wave darlings the Knack released a coronavirus-themed “My Sharona” video today.
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