It's Brian Lehrer, and this is my daily politics podcast from WNYC Studios.

It's Thursday, March 26.

So the unemployment stats for the last week came out this morning with a staggering national number of 3.3 million new

unemployment claims. Now, by comparison, last week it was about 200,000. In the worst week of the

Great Recession, a decade ago, there were 665,000 claims. According to a CUNY Public Health

School survey, 29% of New York City households now have at least

one member unemployed. And the hardest hit are Latino households with 41% reporting an unemployed

member by income. Hardest hit is lower income groups. 34% of people in households making $50,000 or less in the city now have at least one person

out of work.

In New Jersey, more than 150,000 new unemployment claims were filed last week.

America today is voluntarily shutting down the economy as a temporary

measure so people can stay home and flatten the curve of the virus. And Governor Cuomo says

it's actually starting to work. This past Sunday, the projection was that hospitalizations

were doubling every two days.

Okay?

On Monday, the numbers suggested that the hospitalizations were doubling every 3.4 days.

On Tuesday, the projection suggested that the hospitalizations were doubling every 4.7 days. Now, that is almost too good to be true.

The results of not flattening the curve earlier can be seen most intensely in New York and New Jersey.

The federal government predicts that all 1,800 intensive care unit beds in the city will be full by

tomorrow. In New Jersey, there were 62 deaths at last report, with hospitals becoming overburdened,

especially in Bergen, Essex, and Union counties, and the peak in those counties expected to still be

three weeks away. In one instance, New Jersey state health

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