| Need to Know |
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| Unemployment Shatters Records (Again) |
Editor's note: We typically run three top stories, but have focused Fridays on the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Below is our summary of the key events.
More than 6.6 million Americans made initial unemployment claims last week, matching the previous week's record-shattering numbers and bringing the total of newly unemployed workers to more than 16.8 million over the past three weeks. Roughly 10% of the US labor force is now out of work as the effects of the coronavirus pandemic ripple through the US economy.
The numbers came as the Federal Reserve unveiled a $2.3T loan program, available for the vast majority of US businesses and municipal governments. The move represents one of the most aggressive economic support programs in the history of the country's central bank. Separately, Congress failed to reach agreement on an additional $250B in small business funding, but is expected to continue negotiations.
Meanwhile, White House officials said they believed the economy could fully reopen in May, though health experts said the timeline could be overly optimistic.
US COVID-19 deaths continue to rise, with officials reporting more than 466,000 nationwide cases and 16,686 deaths as of this morning, though cases in key hotspots may be slowing. New York reported more than 800 deaths - another single-day high - but hospitalizations grew by just 200, the smallest number in weeks. Detroit has emerged as a new crisis center, with reports of patients dying in the hallways of one overburdened hospital. Finally, officials said the Strategic National Stockpile was almost depleted of medical supplies like N95 makes, face shields, gowns, and more.
In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Boris Johnson moved out of intensive care but remained hospitalized for COVID-19 symptoms.
Separately, the race for treatments against the virus has accelerated. At least 78 vaccine candidates are under development; most are exploratory, but five have moved into clinical testing.
Doctors still aren't sure how COVID-19 kills. We've posted a look at the interplay between the virus and a patient's immune system on our coronavirus resource page. You can also see how the coronavirus would stack up against other leading causes of death, and how New Zealand managed to squash - not just flatten - its curve. |
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| In the Know |
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| Sports, Entertainment, & Culture |
| > Opera singer Andrea Bocelli to perform Easter concert live via YouTube stream from empty Milan cathedral (More) | Joel Osteen’s Easter Sunday service will feature Kanye West, Mariah Carey (More) |
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| > Pioneering LGBTQ rights activist Phyllis Lyon dies at 95; Lyon and her wife were the first same-sex couple to marry in San Francisco (More) |
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| > “Saturday Night Live” to return this weekend for first time since March 7; show will feature new original content which was produced remotely (More) |
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| Science & Technology |
| > Scientists accidentally find gigantic dinosaur tracks on the roof of a French cave; 168-million-year-old prints likely belonged to a species of titanosaur (More) |
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| > Intel and Georgia Tech to lead consortium focusing on the security of AI-based sensors like facial imaging; project funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (More) |
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| > New study on oxygen transfer in bovine lungs sheds light on the elusive relationship between oxygen transfer across lung membranes and associated diseases (More) |
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| Business & Markets |
| > US stock markets up (S&P 500 +1.5%, Dow +1.2%, Nasdaq +0.8%) as S&P 500 sees highest weekly gain since 1974, up 12%; markets closed today for Good Friday (More) |
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| > OPEC and its allies including Russia, collectively known as OPEC+, agree to cut daily oil production by 10 million barrels; oil prices still fall amid drop in demand from the virus-battered global economy (More) |
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| > Jeff Bezos ($113B), Bill Gates ($98B) top Forbes 2020 billionaires list (More) |
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| Politics & World Affairs |
| > Court official says emails detailing an effort by the New Orleans Saints to provide damage control for the city's Roman Catholic archdiocese amid clergy sex abuse scandal should remain confidential (More) |
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| > New locust swarm arrives in East Africa, estimated to be 20 times larger than the first; officials warn of possible widespread famine as bugs threaten food supply (More) |
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| > FDA warns conspiracy theorist Alex Jones over claims that products sold on his InfoWars website can help boost the immune system to fight against COVID-19 (More) |
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| Weekend Reads |
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| One Hundred Days That Changed the World |
| Guardian | Michael Safi. A new coronavirus was noticed circulating in a Chinese market in December. Just over three months later, the world is picking up the pieces. (Read) |
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| The Coronavirus and the Future of Surveillance |
| Foreign Affairs | Nicholas Wright. AI-based surveillance technologies were already advancing more quickly than society could keep up with. With anxiety at an all-time high, is there any hope for privacy in the future? (Read) |
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| How Facebook Groups Turn on Themselves |
| OneZero/Medium | Colleen Hagerty. On paper, Facebook's Groups feature lets people engage with each other around common interests or topics. In practice, many implode, buried by cliquish infighting. (Read) |
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| The Black Widow's Web of Secrets |
| Narratively | Jessica Brown. Professional bank robber Linda Calvey's husbands and lovers kept turning up dead. Now she says she wants to clear her name. (Read/Listen) |
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