The Morning Dispatch: The Crushing Economic Toll of the Pandemic

Happy Monday! We hope all the mothers out there had the wonderful day they deserved yesterday.

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

  • As of Sunday night, there are now 1,329,260 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States (an increase of 19,710/1.5 percent from yesterday) and 79,526 deaths (an increase of 731/0.93 percent from yesterday), according to the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 Dashboard, leading to a mortality rate among confirmed cases of 6 percent (the true mortality rate is likely lower, but it’s impossible to determine precisely due to incomplete testing regimens). Of 8,987,524 coronavirus tests conducted in the United States (277,904 conducted since yesterday), 14.8 percent have come back positive.

  • The unemployment rate reached 14.7 percent in April, per the Labor Department’s monthly Employment Situation Summary, and nonfarm payroll employment fell by 20.5 million. Both are records since at least the Great Depression, but lots of experts believe the survey does not even capture the full extent of the economic carnage. “Unemployment rates … I think will climb up towards 20 percent by next month,” White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told CBS News on Sunday.

  • The Libertarian Party will choose its presidential and vice presidential candidates at a virtual meeting over Memorial Day weekend, canceling the in-person gathering it had planned for Austin and rescheduling the “business” parts of the convention for July in Orlando, Florida. 

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