Day: March 26, 2020

March 26 marked an unhappy milestone for the United States: We’re now No. 1 in confirmed coronavirus cases.

China, where the novel coronavirus originated, was the previous leader. The country reported 81,782 cases as of Thursday near 6 pm on the coronavirus case counter by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. Until now, second place was held by Italy, which has reported 80,589 cases.

Now the US leapfrogged them both with 82,404 cases. And it’s only going to get worse from here.

In late February, there were 80,000 cases in China and nascent outbreaks in …

Here is a list of coronavirus-related articles, podcasts, and threads from around the internet that caught our eye:

• Nearly 3.3 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, according to the Department of Labor. That’s the biggest single-week jump in new jobless claims in US history. The previous record: about 700,000 new claims, all the way back in 1982.
• Here’s a Vox tracker of where each US state is currently on Covid-19 testing, confirmed cases, and deaths.
• “Saving lives and saving the economy are not in conflict right now,” reads an Economic Strategy Group statement with signatories like

A group of anti-abortion activists wants Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar to have abortion care providers cease operations during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

In a Tuesday letter, signed by the heads of 52 anti-choice advocacy groups including Susan B. Anthony List, National Right to Life, and the Family Research Council, the groups called for restrictions on medication and surgical abortion providers in order to “free up much needed medical equipment” and ease an alleged strain on emergency rooms stemming from patients with complications from abortion care. (Complications from abortion care are rare, according to medical research…

At least 196 million Americans have gotten the same message in recent days: As coronavirus spreads, the safest place for them is at home.

But for all too many, home is actually dangerous. Every year, more than 10 million Americans experience domestic violence, and experts fear that the pandemic and the isolation necessary to combat it could drive those numbers even higher.

Getting out of an abusive home already poses incredible challenges for survivors. But now, shelter-in-place orders could increase the amount of control wielded by abusers, Alejandra Y. Castillo, CEO of the YWCA USA, the nation’s largest provider of …

The Senate on Wednesday evening passed a massive $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package targeting relief toward America’s workers, hospitals, industries, and state and local governments. The legislation, which was approved via a unanimous 96-0 vote, now heads to the House, which is expected to vote on it this Friday.

“We’re going to pass this bipartisan relief package, send it over the House so they can put it on the President’s desk,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday evening. “Our nation obviously is going through a kind of crisis that is totally unprecedented in recent memory.” He added that the …