WTF Just Happened Today

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

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• Daily Damage Report.

• Global cases: ~905,000 / Global deaths: ~45,000 (Johns Hopkins University)

• U.S. cases: ~203,000 / U.S. deaths: ~4,500 (CNBC)

• Global projections: Infections will eclipse 1 million with 50,000 deaths in a few days, according to the World Health Organization. (CNBC)

• U.S. projections: 15 days until peak daily deaths of ~2,607. (U.S. state-by-state projections)

• The coronavirus outbreak won’t peak in every state at once. Many states will see their individual peaks for resources well after that the April 16 projection. (Axios)

• Unemployment: The Department of Labor is expected to report between 4.5 million and 5.5 million new unemployment claims tomorrow. Last week, more than 3 million people filed for unemployment from March 15 to March 21 – the largest single-week increase in American history. (New York Times)

• Markets: U.S. stocks fell for the third time in four days. The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all closed more than 4% lower. (CNBC / Bloomberg)

• Live Blogs: New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / The Guardian / Bloomberg /

1/ The national emergency stockpile of respirator masks, gloves, and other medical supplies is nearly exhausted, despite assurances from the White House that there is availability. “The stockpile was designed to respond to handful of cities. It was never built or designed to fight a 50-state pandemic,” a DHS official said. Trump, meanwhile, has forced states into bidding wars for protective equipment pitting them against each other in bidding war. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo condemned the federal government for fueling an “eBay”-style bidding war for ventilators, calling it a “bizarre situation” in which every state buys its own ventilators. (Washington Post / Politico / The Guardian)

• New York City needs 3.3 milli...

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