Jobless claims skyrocket as coronavirus continues to hammer US economy

WASHINGTON (SBG) – Almost 17 million Americans are out of work as a result of the coronavirus crisis, meaning about one in 10 people has been forced out of a job due to the pandemic.

While the country is in a unique fight to stay healthy, a more common one is underway in Washington.

Republicans and Democrats have blocked each others' proposals for more emergency funding; they're at odds over how much money to provide and where it's needed most, with each side blaming the other.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said that senators don't have to divide along the usual party lines:

"We must not fail them," said McConnell. "My colleagues must not treat working Americans as political hostages. This does not have to be, nor should it be contentious."

But Senator Ben Cardin (D-Maryland) said the bill wasn't enough.

"I'm afraid that this unanimous consent is basically a political stunt because it will not address the immediate need of small businesses in the legislation that we have passed," said Cardin.

This comes on the heels of more alarming news on the job front, as another 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week. The hospitality industry has reported 80% of hotel rooms are sitting empty now.

But hospital rooms continue to fill up. Johns Hopkins University reported that 1,922 people died Wednesday.

The CDC is asking employers of essential staff who are still going in to assess workers and send them home if they're sick.

But President Donald Trump tweeted Thursday that a key coronavirus model is now predicting "far fewer deaths" than shown in earlier models and credited social distancing.

Governors say it's working too. "Had we spiked and had all this stuff right away, it would have been overloading the system, but it also would’ve happened faster," said Governor Larry Hogan (R-Maryland). "So people say, how fast can we get over this? The fact that we’ve dampened down and flattened this curve means it’s a longer period of time, and we have this longer plateau.“

But no one can let up.

Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-New York) said not to underestimate the virus. "I think that is a mistake we made from day one, we as the collective we, we as the global community."

This virus is very, very good at what it does," continued Cuomo. "We lost more lives yesterday than we have to date.

While it's almost impossible to tell if predictions like this are premature, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday there's a chance the economy could reopen in May.