Ugh. And the worst thing about this is it’s only going to get (a lot) worse before it gets better. Especially since we’re talking about this COVID-19 cases curve from hell, and also given that Gov. Ralph Northam said yesterday that this crisis probably won’t peak in Virginia until next month. Double ugh.
In sum:
- To quote Ali Velshi of MSNBC: “A record 6.6 MILLION Americans filed for unemployment last week, adding to 3.28 MILLION from the prior week, for a total of of nearly 10 MILLION people in two weeks.”
- From the Department of Labor press release (see below): “This marks the highest level of seasonally adjusted initial claims in the history of the seasonally adjusted series.”
- Here in Virginia, initial claims filed during the week (see state statistics, below, from the Department of Labor) ended 3/28 were 114,104, up 67,827 from the previous week’s 46,277.
- The “State Supplied Comment” (see below) from Virginia for the previous week notes “Layoffs in the accommodation and food services industry.”
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