Medical workers bring in patients at a special coronavirus intake tent at Maimonides Medical Center in Borough…Read More
WASHINGTON: More than 1000 Americans died of coronavirus infection and related issues in the past 24 hours – the first time the toll has crossed the four-figure mark on single day – as the US death count from the pandemic crossed the 5000 mark on Thursday. The day also brought the grim news that nearly 10 million (one crore) Americans have filed unemployment claims in the past two weeks (6.6 million in the last week in addition to 3.3 million previous week), confirming that besides the death toll, the pandemic is killing the US economy.
The unemployment numbers are expected to tick up further in the coming weeks considering that nearly 80 per cent of the country is now in some form of lockdown and many newly unemployed have not been to access offices, websites, and phone numbers to file claims. So great is the surge in unemployment that some states have reserved days of the week to entertain claims on the basis of last names: for instance, in New York, Monday is reserved for those last names that start with A through F, Tuesday for G-N, and last names s