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Coronavirus Daily Update

As of 10:30 p.m. ET

March 27

595,

World-wide cases

104,

U.S. cases

27,

World-wide deaths

1,

U.S. deaths

131,

World-wide recoveries

Source: Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering

the number of infections and

deaths related to the virus

climbed and multiple govern-

ment authorities ordered non-

essential businesses to close

and urged people to stay

home. A record 3.28 million

U.S. workers applied for unem-

ployment benefits just last

week, and forecasters now ex-

pect the unemployment rate to

rise steeply.

The declines in other large

economies would be similar to

that in the U.S, according to

the OECD. The organization’s

economists estimated that

output losses would likely be

greatest in Greece, which has

a large tourism industry, and

least in Ireland, which relies

heavily on digital businesses.

Meanwhile in Italy, busi-

nesses and consumers became

much more gloomy about their

prospects this month, as the

death toll from the coronavi-

rus continued to climb and an

already extensive lockdown

tightened further.

Istat, the official Italian sta-

tistics agency, said Friday its

measure of consumer confi-

dence slumped to 101.0 from

110.9 in February as Italians

saw a significant worsening of

the economic outlook, while

its measure of business confi-

dence plummeted to 81.7 from

97.8. The turn to pessimism

among companies was most

marked among service provid-

ers, many of which have been

almost entirely deprived of

customers by social distanc-

ing.

The consumer confidence

reading was the lowest since

January 2015, while the busi-

ness confidence measure was

the weakest since December

2011.

Consumer sentiment also

soured in the U.S. this month,

according to a University of

Michigan survey released Fri-

day. The survey’s index of con-

sumer sentiment fell to 89.1 in

March—its lowest level since

2016—down from 101.0 in Feb-

ruary.

The index’s drop—the

fourth-largest one-month de-

cline in nearly 50 years—hints

at a broad pullback in spend-

ing as the virus upends daily

life, said Richard Curtin, the

survey’s chief economist.

“The extent of additional

declines in April will depend

on the success in curtailing

the spread of the virus and

how quickly households re-

ceive funds to relieve their fi-

nancial hardships,” he said.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Ste-

ven Mnuchin said Friday he

expects the economy to re-

bound strongly after the wide-

spread shutdown to contain

the coronavirus is lifted, add-

ing that the federal govern-

ment is working at “lightning

speed” to provide support.

Asked if he agreed with

some investors’ view that U.S.

economic output could expand

by 5% in the fourth quarter,

Mr. Mnuchin said, “Abso-

lutely.”

Consumers just last month

were still buoyed by a solid la-

bor market and firming wages,

and in turn boosted spending

as personal income rose.

Personal-consumption ex-

penditures, or household

spending, ticked up by a sea-

sonally adjusted 0.2% from

January and personal income

was up 0.6%, the Commerce

Department reported Friday.

But national leaders continue

to face risks even as they meet

face-to-face in emergency ses-

sions to plot ways to curb the

contagion, with British Prime

Minister Boris Johnson testing

positive for the virus Friday.

The U.S. and Italy have both

now overtaken China as the na-

tions with the most confirmed

infections. Italy, which has the

highest death toll of any coun-

try at 9,134, had nearly 86,

confirmed infections; China,

where the outbreak originated

late last year, had 81,905.

New York remains the cen-

ter of the pandemic in the U.S.,

with more than 46,000 con-

firmed cases, but states includ-

ing Michigan, Illinois, Califor-

nia and Louisiana are poised

for a jump in cases as the rate

of infection—and of testing—

continues to grow.

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome

Adams said cities including De-

troit, Chicago and New Orleans

are expected to have a worse

week next week.

“The virus and the local

community are going to deter-

mine the timeline. It’s not going

to be us from Washington,

D.C.,” Dr. Adams said on CBS on

Friday. “People need to follow

their data. They need to make

the right decisions based on

what their data is telling them.”

Los Angeles Mayor Eric

Garcetti warned residents on

Thursday of the city’s growing

threat, telling residents that

reports and images coming

out of New York would likely

be at their doorstep as early

as next week.

“It’s the most haunting im-

ages any leader could see, and

it’s difficult for me to imagine

that it won’t happen here,” Mr.

Garcetti said.

New York Gov. Andrew

Cuomo said Friday that crisis

there is expected to peak in

three weeks. Hospitals in New

York City are already seeing

massive rises in cases of pa-

tients with Covid-19, the pneu-

monialike disease caused by

the coronavirus.

Mr. Cuomo, who has been

pushing to increase hospital ca-

pacity by at least 50%, said four

additional temporary hospitals

would be built in the city, add-

ing an additional 4,000 beds.

As the need for hospital

equipment increases, the Food

and Drug Administration said

Friday it has approved the

emergency use of devices that

can be modified into ventila-

tors. Roughly 80% of Covid-

cases tend to be mild or moder-

ate, and more than 131,000 peo-

ple globally have recovered. But

those who are older or have un-

derlying health conditions, such

as heart disease, lung disease

or diabetes, are at a higher risk.

Across the world, govern-

ments have closed schools,

shut down nonessential ser-

vices, told people to work from

home and urged that they

avoid going out as much as

possible. Travelers arriving in

many countries have also been

subject to quarantines requir-

ing them to remain in their

homes, hotel rooms or govern-

ment centers for 14 days.

THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

The U.S. surpassed 100,
confirmed cases of the novel
coronavirus Friday, led by a
continued jump in infections in
New York and in new hot spots
across the country.

While testing for the deadly
respiratory virus hasn’t been
uniform across America or
globally, making accurate case
counts hard to pin down, con-
firmed infections in the U.S.
have doubled or tripled every
three days for nearly a month.
Last Friday, the number of
confirmed infections in the
country exceeded 16,000, ac-
cording to data compiled by
Johns Hopkins University. By
Tuesday, that figure was 55,000.
Two days later, it had surpassed
all other countries’ reported to-
tals, with just over 85,000.
The pandemic has swiftly
reverberated across the U.S.,
shutting schools, businesses,
arenas and parks and silencing
once-busy thoroughfares. A re-
cord 3.28 million workers ap-
plied for unemployment bene-
fits last week. Hospital capacity
in places like New York and Se-
attle has already passed a tip-
ping point even as the health
crisis continues to unfold.
President Trump signed a
$2 trillion stimulus bill passed
speedily by House lawmakers
earlier Friday, the largest eco-
nomic-relief package in his-
tory. Major U.S. stock indexes
posted double-digit gains for
the week, but remain down
more than 20% in 2020.
The president also signed an
executive order that authorizes
the Pentagon to identify and
potentially reinstate to active
duty former military medical
personnel and other special-
ized reservists to help the na-
tion during the pandemic.
Authorities around the
world have stepped up en-
forcement of measures de-
signed to help slow the spread
of the virus, which has infected
nearly 596,000 people and
killed more than 27,000, ac-
cording to Johns Hopkins data.

ByTalal Ansari,

Lucy Craymer

andMax Colchester

U.S.’s Confirmed Cases Exceed 100,

Infections continue

to rise in New York

and other hot spots

across the country

U.S. Army personnel sit apart at New York's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, which will be partially converted into a hospital for coronavirus patients.

JEENAH MOON/REUTERS

WASHINGTON—Measures

taken to curb the spread of the

new coronavirus could lower

economic activity in the U.S.

and other developed countries

by a quarter, the Organization

for Economic Cooperation and

Development said Friday.

In a report made available

to leaders of the Group of 20

leading economies for a video

conference they held Thurs-

day, OECD economists esti-

mated the likely impact on the

sectors most affected by wide-

spread business closures and

orders for people to remain at

home, and the size of those

sectors in each national econ-

omy.

The OECD calculated that

the activities most directly af-

fected by the shutdowns—

ranging from restaurants to

automobile makers—account

for between 30% and 40% of

total output in most of the de-

veloped economies. With ac-

tivity in many of those sectors

curtailed, it calculated that

output was likely to be be-

tween 20% and 25% lower

than is usual in large, devel-

oped economies.

If the measures are sus-

tained for three months, the

OECD forecast total annual

output would be 6% lower in

the developed economies. Un-

der this scenario for the U.S.,

where the economy was fore-

cast to grow 2% this year be-

fore the virus struck, the

OECD estimates output would

fall 4% in 2020.

“Our analysis further un-

derpins the need for sharper

action to absorb the shock,

and a more coordinated re-

sponse by governments to

maintain a lifeline to people

and a private sector that will

emerge in a very fragile state

when the health crisis is past,”

OECD Secretary-General Angel

Gurría said in the report.

Signs already point to a de-

terioration in U.S. economic

conditions during March, as

BYPAULHANNON

ANDAMARAOMEOKWE

OECD Warns on Growth Outlook

Costco signs greeted shoppers with messages about inventory in Overland Park, Kansas, this week.

JAMIE SQUIRE/GETTY IMAGES

gests that the stresses facing

the nation’s unemployment

system could grow in the

months and weeks ahead, as

other states catch up on pro-

cessing claims and more work-

ers pursue those benefits.

A spokeswoman with the

Pennsylvania Labor Depart-

ment and Industry said the

state system didn’t suffer ma-

jor disruptions like those re-

ported in states such as Cali-

fornia and New York. The state

also relaxed the requirement

that the unemployed be ac-

tively seeking work to qualify

for benefits.

Holly Chapman, 62, of Jef-

ferson Hills, Pa., said she filed

a claim online last Tuesday af-

ter being laid off from a cater-

ing company when a spate of

weddings and other events

were canceled.

“I think because I was

Johnny on the spot, it was rel-

atively painless for me,” she

said. She added that co-work-

ers who waited a couple of

days encountered delays, but

were eventually able to com-

plete their claims.

There is also still plenty of

time for workers to file claims.

Some applying last week may

have been laid off before the

pandemic hit, but sought ben-

efits as job prospects dimmed.

Ohio had the second-high-

est number of claims with

187,784, narrowly ahead of

California with 186,809. By

contrast, in New York, which

has nearly seven million more

residents than Pennsylvania,

80,334 workers, or about 0.8%

of the labor force, filed for

jobless benefits.

Pennsylvania, the nation’s
fifth-most populous state, re-
corded the largest number of
unemployment claims in the
U.S., an outsize jump that sug-
gests other states could report
higher numbers ahead.
Jobless claims in the Key-
stone State rose to 378,
last week, up from 15,439 the
prior week, as the state’s
economy reels from layoffs be-
cause of the novel coronavi-
rus.
The number of people fil-
ing for benefits represented
nearly 5.8% of the state’s labor
force.
State officials said jobless
claims were so high because
they actively pushed workers
to file for unemployment bene-
fits and didn’t see the kinds of
disruptions in filing other
states experienced. Workers in
many parts of the country
complained they were unable
to access websites and get
through on phone lines, mean-
ing other states may be accept-
ing a high volume of delayed
filings in the coming weeks.
Also, workers still have
plenty of time to file such
claims, meaning numbers could
rise everywhere as economic
prospects dim because of the
pandemic. Workers aren’t re-
quired to file for claims the
week they are laid off.
“I think Pennsylvania is in-
dicative of what you’re going
to see elsewhere,” said James
Sweeney, chief economist at
Credit Suisse. “I think you’re
going to see claims pick up in
a lot of other states in the
coming weeks, and that’s
pretty sobering considering
the level we just saw.”
Pennsylvania’s numbers
came out Thursday along with
a record number of workers
nationwide, nearly 3.3 million,
filing for jobless benefits last
week.
The state’s experience sug-

BYKRISMAHER
ANDERICMORATH

State’s Jobless Surge

Signals Wider Trouble

5.8%

Portion of Pennsylvania’s

workers filing jobless claims