The Virus Economy: The Labor Department announced another 5.2 million Americans have filed for unemployment as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, bringing the number to 22 million in just the last month. Unemployment could be as high as 10 percent through the end of the year, according to some assessments.

  The numbers feed the heated debate about how soon to re-open the country for business in spite of the coronavirus pandemic. 

  Trump and his health advisers say the number of new coronavirus cases in the US appears to have peaked. “These encouraging developments have put us in a very strong position to finalize guidelines for states on reopening the country,” Trump said at yesterday’s daily briefing. He said he will issue guidelines for opening today.

  Testing is the key to corralling the virus. But despite Trump’s claim that the US is doing more and better testing than any other country, the states are reporting widespread shortages and difficulty administering tests. 

 With so many people losing their paychecks, renters and mortgage holders are already missing payments. Banks are warning about the potential for a wave of loan defaults.

  The economy of the United States is largely based on people buying stuff they can live without. The government notes that in March, retail sales dropped 8.7 percent as stores closed and shoppers stayed home. Reality is probably worse. Most states didn’t shut down until mid or late March so the impact of that won’t show until the April report is produced.  

  The Federal Reserve said industrial production and manufacturing output in the United States fell by the most since 1946, when the war economy shut down.

Second Wave:  As of this morning, the United States had logged 639,664 cases of the coronavirus, and 30,985 deaths, the most in the world. But those numbers don’t include the undiagnosed people who died at home.

  Asked at yesterday’s briefing why the US has 20 percent of world coronavirus deaths but only four percent of the population, Trump answered, “Do you think you’re getting honest numbers from some of these countries? Do you really believe those numbers in this vast country called China, and that they have a certain number of cases and a certain number of that? Does anybody really believe that?” 

  New York State and the city are still the biggest hotspots. The state has recorded 14,073 deaths; New York City, 10,899.

  The US should brace for a second wave of the coronavirus next year and it might even become a seasonal affliction, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday. Dr. Robert Redfield said, “I think we have to assume this is like other respiratory viruses, and there will be a seasonality to it.”

  A dependable vaccine may not be available until well into next year.

  As the numbers of dead rise, health officials have noted that deaths at home in the Boston area, Detroit, and New York have dramatically increased. The suspicion is that it’s the result of undiagnosed cases of the coronavirus.

  In Detroit, authorities are responding to four times the number of deaths outside hospitals. In New York, it’s six times what’s been expected in recent years. New York added 3,000 deaths to its statistics that were not previously identified as coronavirus cases.

Authority Rule: Two days after claiming he has “total” authority, President Trump announced that he might invoke a clause in the Constitution to adjourn both houses of Congress so he can ram through roughly 80 stalled political appointments. The clause in Article II has never been used.

  Trump complained at yesterday’s press briefing that, “The Senate should either fulfill its duty and vote on my nominees, or it should formally adjourn so that I can make recess appointments.” Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said it won’t happen. 

 The President also renewed his claim that he has ultimate say over what the states do in re-opening their economies as the pandemic tapers down. 

The Cytokine Storm: Doctors and epidemiologists are learning scary new things about the coronavirus every day.

  What was obvious early was that when the coronavirus kills, it kills by attacking the lungs, cutting off their ability to absorb oxygen. That’s why so many deathly ill patients have been put on ventilators. But medical workers around the world have also seen that the virus causes heart inflammation, kidney disease, neurological problems, blood clots, other liver and intestinal problems.

  What causes all this is something called the “cytokine storm,” a response by the immune system that goes crazy when its fighting an unknown assailant, the coronavirus. The body releases substances called cytokines that essentially go into an over-reaction, damaging healthy parts of the body.

The Bulletin Board: Massachusetts and former presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren has endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for president. — CNN anchor Chris Cuomo has stayed on the air, publicly fighting his own case of the coronavirus. His wife, Cristina, has now tested positive. — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that it will be mandatory for New Yorkers to wear a mask in public when they are likely to come close to other people. Cuomo said it won’t be a criminal offense to go without a mask, but other New Yorkers are likely to enforce the rule “In a nice New York kind of way.”

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