Job Losses Continue as House Passes Relief Bill

• The U.S. Labor Department reported on 23 April that another 4.4 million people filed initial unemployment claims last week, bringing the five-week total to more than 26 million. Nearly one in six American workers has lost a job in recent weeks.

States begin lifting restrictions:

• Georgia governor Brian Kemp indicated that some businesses - including gyms, barbers and nail salons - can reopen starting from 24 April. On 27 April, restaurants and theaters will be allowed to reopen. The governor also confirmed that the stay-at-home order in place in Georgia will expire on 30 April as originally planned.

Approximately one month after much of the U.S. went into stay-at-home mode, thousands of protesters gathered in Washington, Michigan, and Colorado to voice their disdain for the restrictions.

In the past four weeks, more than 22 million people filed for new unemployment claims in the U.S., after 5.2 million were added to the tally this last week.

As global cases passed two million, the U.S. reported a plunge in retail sales in the month of March.

Thanks to expanded testing, the U.S. now has over 560,000 confirmed cases, driving the global total near two million.

Total new jobless claims passed 16 million for the last three weeks as social distancing measures and stay-at-home orders extracted a harsh economic toll.

Total confirmed cases in the U.S. have exceeded 400,000 after more than 33,000 new cases were recorded in the last 24hrs.

Global confirmed cases are nearing 1.3 million while deaths in the U.S. approach 10,000.

As confirmed COVID-19 cases continue to grow, uncertainty remains around how long this will last, how it will continue to unfold, and what the socio-economic ramifications will look like.