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On Thursday, the U.S Labor Department said Americans are looking for jobless benefits at a breakneck pace during the coronavirus outburst. The department said more than 281,000 people applied for assistance last week and it was a 33% increase from the previous 7 days. The new data indicates just how deeply laid off employees of bars, restaurants, and other service industry sector entities could hobble the U.S economy during the Covid-19 outbreak. The federal and state officials earlier said it could last several more months. President Trump has said the country could be dealing with COVID-19’s effects until July or August 2020.

Trump tweeted on Thursday morning and said, “We are going to WIN, sooner rather than later”! The White House officials and senior legislators from Republican and Democratic parties are negotiating a massive economic stimulus bill. It could be on the House and Senate floor during the next week and will likely include provisions allowing payments of up to $2,000 to some Americans. The move would supplement any unemployment benefits they might receive. The U.S Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin said, “The president and I worked on a very significant economic stimulus plan”. He added, “We look forward to having bipartisan support. We’re now working with the Senate to pass this legislation very quickly”.

The Trump administration needs to include help for small and large business, banking those firms would pass along benefits to their employees. Mnuchin also said, “And these will be payments to small businesses. We’ve talked about loan guarantees to critical industries such as airlines and hotels, and we have also talked about a stimulus package to the American worker. You can think of this as something like business interruption payments for the American workers”. Democrats continue to criticize Trump and his administration for a slow response. They slammed the White House for opting against airport screening and ordering millions of test kits and equipment for hospitals even though there was evidence the virus was headed to U.S soil.