The negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the U.S. economy is already being felt in California, where 1 million unemployment claims have been filed in just the past two weeks.
The discouraging new figure was unveiled on Wednesday by Governor Gavin Newsom, who recently ordered all of the state's non-essential businesses to close their doors for the duration of the crisis.
“We just passed the 1 million mark in terms of the number of [unemployment] claims just since March 13,” Newsom said. “One million Californians have now claimed the need to get unemployment insurance, so this cannot happen soon enough.”
Gov. Newsom also announced that several major banks and financial institutions have agreed to help people out for the time being, by delaying foreclosures and offering mortgage relief to California homeowners.
The revelation also comes one day before the federal government is expected to release its national unemployment numbers, which some analysts predict could be in the millions. If that turns out to be true, it will mark a stark contrast from last week's figure of 285,000.
Read the full report on the Los Angeles Times.