There figures to be good news and bad news for the U.S. economy on Thursday.
On the day some Americans could begin receiving stimulus checks from the federal government amid the coronavirus pandemic that has eroded the country’s financial footing, economists surveyed by Bloomberg predict the Labor Department will report another 5.5 million initial claims for unemployment insurance.
A record 6.6 million people sought benefits a week ago after 3.3 million claims in the previous week.
The first Americans to receive stimulus payments, meanwhile, will likely be those who have already provided their bank account information to the Internal Revenue Service. Also Thursday, astronauts blasted off for the International Space Station after a “strict quarantine.” The Trump administration loosened restrictions on essential workers.
The U.S. death toll was nearing 15,000 early Thursday, with more than 432,000 confirmed cases, according to the Johns Hopkins University data dashboard. Worldwide, there are close to 1.5 million confirmed cases and more than 88,500 deaths.
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Americans could start receiving stimulus checks starting on April 9
Much-awaited stimulus cash will begin flooding into millions of bank accounts next week in the first wave of payouts to shore up the nation’s wallets. Millions of taxpayers will begin receiving the extra money to pay rent, groceries and other bills next week, or possibly as early as Thursday or Friday. The first group – estimated to cover 50 million to 60 million Americans – would include people who have already given their bank account information to the Internal Revenue Service.
The first group also would include Social Security beneficiaries who filed federal tax returns that included direct deposit information, according to an alert put out today by U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich. Dingell’s announcement said the expectation is that the first direct deposits would hit in mid-April, likely the week beginning April 13.
– Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press
Astronauts blast off for ISS despite pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic is forcing people to stay home, but three astronauts are set to experience a different type of isolation and quarantine – in space. NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and his fellow crewmates, Russia’s Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner, blasted off aboard the Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft at 4:05 a.m. ET from Kazakhstan for a six-hour journey to the International Space Station.
Russian space officials have taken extra precautions to protect the crew during training and pre-flight preparations as the coronavirus pandemic has swept the world. Speaking to journalists via video link Wednesday, Cassidy said the crew has been in “a very strict quarantine” for the past month and so in good health. “We all feel fantastic,” he said.
– Associated Press
Millions of new unemployment claims expected as layoffs continue to surge
There probably won’t be much let-up in the nation’s grim tally of job losses, at least in the short term, as the coronavirus pandemic’s toll on the economy mounts.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg estimate the Labor Department will report Thursday that 5.5 million Americans filed initial applications for unemployment insurance last week, below the record 6.6 million who sought benefits the previous week. Jobless claims provide the best measure of layoffs across the country.
The figures are so outsized that forecasting them has become something of a crapshoot. Michelle Meyer, chief U.S. economist of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, predicts the latest initial claims total Thursday will be 6.5 million, and JPMorgan Chase estimates an all-time-high of 7 million.
– Paul Davidson
Asian shares mixed Thursday after Wall Street gains 3.4%
Shares were mixed in Asia on Thursday after a 3.4% gain on Wall Street as investors chose a positive focus for data about the coronavirus outbreak’s trajectory.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index lost 0.4% after the central bank governor said the economy faces “extremely high” uncertainty over the likely impact of the pandemic. Shares rose in Hong Kong, Sydney and Shanghai.
The prospect for progress in talks among oil producers was a big driver of Wednesday’s rally, along with the signs of virus infections leveling off in several global hotspots and increased clarity in the U.S. presidential race, said Adam Taback, chief investment officer for Wells Fargo Private Bank.
Feds loosen virus rules to let essential workers return
In a first, small step toward reopening the country, the Trump administration issued new guidelines to make it easier for essential workers who have been exposed to COVID-19 to get back to work if they do not have symptoms of the coronavirus.
Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, announced Wednesday at the White House that essential employees, such as health care and food supply workers, who have been within 6 feet of a confirmed or suspected case of the virus can return to work under certain circumstances if they are not experiencing symptoms.
– Associated Press
Ousted Navy chief Thomas Modly’s ill-fated trip to Guam cost $243,000
Any way you slice it, Thomas Modly’s trip to Guam last weekend came at an enormous price.
The then-acting Navy secretary’s journey to address sailors aboard the coronavirus-stricken USS Theodore Roosevelt cost taxpayers more than $243,000 for the 35-hour round trip on a Gulfstream 550, according to a Navy official.
Modly was forced out Tuesday after word spread about his profanity-laced speech to the sailors, during which he branded the fired captain of the aircraft carrier as “too naive or too stupid” to helm the ship because of how he sought aid. Modly is now in quarantine for visiting the Roosevelt.
Modly flew aboard a business jet modified for military use at a cost of $6,946.19 per hour, according to the Navy official who was not authorized to speak publicly. Flight time for the Guam trip was about 35 hours for a cost of $243,116.65.
– Tom Vanden Brook
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House Oversight: 90% of federal protective equipment stockpile has been depleted
According to new documents released Wednesday by the House Oversight Committee, 90% of the federal personal protective equipment stockpile had been depleted as the Health and Human Services Department made its “final shipments” of N95 respirators, surgical and face masks, face shields, gowns, and gloves.
The remaining 10%, HHS said, would be reserved for federal workers and would not be sent to the states.
The documents, which report the distribution of personal protective equipment to state and local governments, show that only 11.7 million N95 respirator masks have been distributed across the nation, and only 7,920 ventilators have been distributed — both small fractions of the estimated amount of protective equipment needed by frontline medical workers.
The Committee also said the private sector was determining how supplies were allocated, rather than the federal government.
“The federal government is not taking control of the supplies flown into the United States in ‘Project Airbridge’ or directing private sector suppliers to send supplies to particular hospitals with urgent needs,” the Committee said.
– Nicholas Wu
Most COVID-19 patients put on ventilators will not survive
While governors, mayors and hospital officials conduct much-publicized life-and-death struggles to acquire ventilators, for most COVID-19 patients the oxygen-providing apparatus will merely serve as a bridge from life to death.
Dennis Carroll, who led the U.S. Agency for International Development’s infectious disease unit for more than a decade, told USA TODAY perhaps one-third of COVID-19 patients on ventilators survive.
But for many, ventilators represent their last chance.
“If you were one of the one-third, I suspect you’d be very appreciative that that capability was available,” Carroll said.
Some patients may be on a ventilator for only a few hours or days, but experts say COVID-19 patients often remain on the ventilators for 10 days or more.
– John Bacon
More coronavirus news from USA TODAY
• Mapping coronavirus: Tracking the U.S. outbreak, state by state.
• When will life return to normal?U.S. testing is too far behind to know, says one expert.
• How the 50 states are responding to coronavirus: And why eight states haven’t issued stay-at-home orders.
• ‘Scotch tape and baling wire’: How some hospitals and companies are responding to meet America’s ventilator shortage.
Contributing: Paul Davidson, USA TODAY; The Associated Press
