Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count
The corona-virus is throttling the global economy.
In a matter of weeks, the highly contagious disease has pushed the world to the brink of a recession more severe than the 2008 financial crisis. The depth and duration of the downturn will depend on many factors, including the behavior of the virus itself, public health responses, and economic interventions.
Given the extraordinary nature of the pandemic-induced crisis, fiscal and monetary policymakers are working without a playbook. Many, however, are moving forward with stunning bailouts that could collectively top $10 trillion.
United States
In a sign of the staggering toll the virus was taking on the U.S. economy, more than thirty million Americans—about one in six U.S. workers—have filed for unemployment since mid-March. Before this crisis, the highest number of filings in a single week was 695,000, in 1982. Economic output plunged by nearly 5 percent in the first three months of 2020, the steepest dive since 2008. Most analysts expect the damage to be far worse in the second quarter, with some suggesting that the unemployment rate could reach as high as 40 percent, significantly higher than its peak of 25 percent during the Great Depression.
While Washington has been criticized for mismanaging the public health response to the pandemic, it’s also been credited with moving decisively to stabilize financial markets. In March, the Federal Reserve indicated that it will do anything within its power to support the economy and provide liquidity. Among the Fed’s historic actions have been: cutting interest rates close to zero, reducing bank reserve requirements to zero, rapidly purchasing nearly $2 trillion in Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities, buying corporate and municipal debt, and extending emergency credit to nonbanks.
Meanwhile, on the fiscal side, lawmakers passed a $2 trillion stimulus package in March that some analysts have characterized as a bridge loan to get the U.S. economy through the crisis. It includes direct payments of up to $1200 to individuals, hundreds of billions of dollars in loans and grants to businesses, increases to unemployment benefits, and support for hospitals and health-care providers. “In effect, this is a wartime level of investment into our nation,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. A month later, Congress signed off on a second bailout package, this one totaling close to a half billion dollars and aimed at providing relief to small businesses and more aid to hospitals.
Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count
Source: The New York Times
Article source: CFR
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