What you need to know today about the virus outbreak
More than 2.4 million people applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week in the latest wave of layoffs from the viral outbreak that triggered widespread business shutdowns and job cuts by major employers like Uber.
The Labor Department says about 38.6 million people have now filed for jobless claims because of the coronavirus. Another 2.2 million people sought aid under a new federal program for self-employed, contractor and gig workers, who are eligible for jobless benefits for the first time.
The continuing trend of heavy job cuts reflects an economy that is sinking into the worst recession since the Great Depression. Uber says it will lay off 3,000 employees, on top of 3,700 it has already cut, because demand for its ride-hailing services has plummeted.
Here are some of AP’s top stories Thursday on the world’s coronavirus pandemic. Follow APNews.com/VirusOutbreak for updates through the day and APNews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak for stories explaining some of its complexities.
WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY:
— Many U.S. colleges are looking to reopen this fall, with dramatic changes like scrapping big lectures, limiting the capacity of dorms and requiring mandatory testing for the coronavirus. At some smaller schools, students may be barred from leaving campus.
— A church in Mississippi has been destroyed by a suspected arson fire about a month after its pastor filed a lawsuit challenging restrictions because of the coronavirus. Investigators at the scene of the First Pentecostal Church in Holly Springs, Mississippi, found graffiti at the scene that read “bet you stay home now you hypokrites.”
— Russian medical workers say they face mistrust, low pay and even hostility as they battle both the coronavirus and a system that fails to support them. Doctors who try to speak out about a lack of...
