Record 3.3M Americans file for unemployment benefits due to coronavirus layoffs
A record 3.3 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, the Labor Department said, as restaurants, hotels, barber shops, gyms and more shut down nationwide to help slow the spread of coronavirus. It was the biggest jump in new jobless claims in U.S. history. The nation’s unemployment rate was 3.5% in February, but has likely already risen to 5.5%, according to Martha Gimbel, a labor economist at Schmidt Futures. “We may well be in a recession,” said Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, on a television appearance. “The first order of business is to get the virus under control and then resume economic activity.” Read more.
State Department asks other countries for excess materials needed to fight pandemic
The U.S. State Department is asking to purchase from other countries excess materials to fight the coronavirus pandemic. The State Department has set up a tracker to organize which countries have available supplies and the information is sent to other agencies like FEMA. The effort is an attempt to offset supply chain issues. This came after President Donald Trump had a call with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday in which he allegedly asked his counterpart to send any spare medical equipment that could help combat the coronavirus. Read more.
U.S. Army soldiers deploy to NY to help fight coronavirus
More than 200 U.S. Army soldiers are deploying to New York to provide a full range of health services to the state fighting the most coronavirus cases in the country. Medical personnel from the 531st Hospital Center (Fort Campbell, KY) will be dispatched to local hospitals that are becoming overcrowded. New York had more than 33,000 cases statewide as of Thursday morning. New York City is temporarily converting two miles of roadway across four of its boroughs to pedestrian-only ways – closed to vehicles from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. beginning Friday. The police department has been encouraging social distancing in parks by sending messages over loudspeakers. Read more.
NYC’s Elmhurst Hospital, at center of crisis, at breaking point
At least 13 patients have died from COVID-19 at Elmhurst Hospital (New York, NY) in a 24-hour span. Elmhurst said the number of deaths were consistent with the number of ICU patients the hospitals was treating at the time. As of Wednesday, New York City had more than 20,000 cases and 280 deaths. “Elmhurst is at the center of the crisis. It’s the number one priority of our public hospital system right now,” a spokesperson told NBC New York. Read more.
‘We ended up getting our first positive patients – and that’s when all hell broke loose’
One New York City doctor, speaking to CNN on condition of anonymity, described a hospital unprepared for an influx of COVID-19 patients that began approximately two weeks ago. “We ended up getting our first positive patients – and that’s when all hell broke loose,” he said. “We don’t have the machines; we don’t have the beds. To think that we’re in New York City and this is happening. It’s like a third-world country type of scenario. It’s mind-blowing.” The first patients were in the 70-plus age group, but there have been several patients under 50 years old in the past week. “I don’t think they understand the severity of the disease,” he said of the younger patients. Read more.