Note: Official figures are seasonally adjusted. Source: Department of Labor THE NEW YORK TIMES

’00 ’01 ’02 ’03 ’04 ’05 ’06 ’07 ’08 ’09 ’10 ’11 ’12 ’13 ’14 ’15 ’16 ’17 ’18 ’19 ’20

Nearly 3.3 millionunemployment

claims were filedlast week, a record

number.

WEEKLY AVERAGE: 345,000

Weekly unemployment claims

3,000,000

2,500,000

2,000,000

1,500,000

1,000,000

500,000

0

2008RECESSION

Continued on Page A17

More than three million peoplefiled for unemployment benefitslast week, sending a collectiveshudder throughout the economythat is unlike anything Americanshave experienced.

The alarming numbers, in a re-port released by the Labor De-partment on Thursday, providesome of the first hard data on theeconomic toll of the coronaviruspandemic, which has shut downwhole swaths of American lifefaster than government statisticscan keep track.

Just three weeks ago, barely200,000 people applied for joblessbenefits, a historically low num-ber. In the half-century that thegovernment has tracked applica-tions, the worst week ever, with695,000 so-called initial claims,had been in 1982.

Thursday’s figure of nearly 3.3million set a grim record. “A largepart of the economy just col-lapsed,” said Ben Herzon, execu-tive director of IHS Markit, a busi-ness data and analytics firm.

The numbers provided only thefirst hint of the economic cata-clysm in progress. Even compara-tively optimistic forecasters ex-pect millions more lost jobs, andwith them foreclosures, evictionsand bankruptcies. Thousands ofbusinesses have closed in re-sponse to the pandemic, andmany will never reopen. Someeconomists say the decline ingross domestic product this yearcould rival the worst years of theGreat Depression.

And there was fresh evidenceon Thursday of the relentlesscourse of the virus itself. Cases inthe United States now exceed80,000, the most of any nation,even China and Italy, according toa New York Times database. Morethan 1,000 deaths across the coun-try have been linked to the virus.

At least 160 million people na-

JOB LOSSES SOAR; U.S. VIRUS CASES TOP WORLDNew Data Shows

Staggering Toll of Outbreak

This article is by Ben Casselman,Patricia Cohen and Tiffany Hsu.

C M Y K Nxxx,2020-03-27,A,001,Bs-4C,E2

U(D54G1D)y+=!%!,!$!z

Paul Krugman PAGE A27

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27

WASHINGTON — Of the 75senior positions at the Depart-ment of Homeland Security, 20 areeither vacant or filled by acting of-ficials, including Chad F. Wolf, theacting secretary who recently wasunable to tell a Senate committeehow many respirators and protec-tive face masks were available inthe United States.

The National Park Service,which like many federal agenciesis full of vacancies in key posts,tried this week to fill the job of adirector for the national capital re-gion after hordes of visitorsflocked to see the cherry blossomsnear the National Mall, creating apotential public health hazard asthe coronavirus continues tospread.

At the Department of VeteransAffairs, workers are scrambling toorder medical supplies on Ama-zon after its leaders, lacking expe-rience in disaster responses,failed to prepare for the onslaughtof patients at its medical centers.

Ever since President Trumpcame into office, a record highturnover and unfilled jobs haveemptied offices across wide sec-tions of the federal bureaucracy.Now, current and former adminis-tration officials and disaster ex-perts say the coronavirus has ex-posed those failings as never be-

Under Trump,Unfilled Posts Hinder Action

By JENNIFER STEINHAUERand ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS

Continued on Page A11

Allia Phillips was excited aboutpicking up an iPad from her schoolin Harlem last week. She did notwant to miss any classes andhoped to land on the fourth-gradehonor roll again.

On Monday, the first day thatNew York City public schools be-gan remote learning, the 10-year-old placed her iPad on a tray sheset up over her pillow on a twinbed in a studio that she shareswith her mother and grandmotherinside a homeless shelter on theUpper West Side.

And then, Allia saw nothing.“I went downstairs to find out

that they don’t have any internet,”said Kasha Phillips-Lewis, Allia’smother. “You’re screwing up mydaughter’s education. You want toscrew me up? Fine. But not mydaughter’s education.”

The Department of Education,which runs the largest school sys-tem in the country with more than1.1 million students, began at-tempting to teach all studentsthrough remote learning thisweek because schools were closedto slow the spread of the coro-navirus.

Shuttering the vast system,which includes 1,800 schools, wasa serious challenge for the city,and the large-scale, indefiniteschool closures are uncharted ter-ritory, altering the lives and rou-

Online ClassWith No Way

To Get ThereBy NIKITA STEWART

Continued on Page A16

It was not even 9 in the morningand Dr. Sylvie de Souza’s greenN95 mask, which was supposed toform a seal against her face, wasalready askew.

In freezing rain on Monday, shetrudged in clogs between theemergency department shechairs at the Brooklyn HospitalCenter and a tent outside, keepinga sharp eye on the trainee doctors,nurses and other staff memberswho would screen nearly 100walk-in patients for the coro-navirus that day.

Inside her E.R., more than adozen people showing signs of in-fection waited for evaluation in anarea used just a few weeks ago forstitches and casts. Another dozen

lay on gurneys arranged one infront of the next, like a New YorkCity car park. One man on a venti-lator was waiting for space in theintensive care unit.

Minutes before paramedicswheeled in a heart attack patient,Dr. de Souza pointed to beds re-served for serious emergencies,separated by a newly constructedwall from the suspected viruscases. “This is our safe area,” shetold a reporter. Then she cor-rected herself: “This is thought tobe safe.” There was really no way

Courage at a Brooklyn Hospital,At the Front of an Invisible War

With Supplies Waning,Workers Soldier On

Since the coronavirus descended on Brooklyn Hospital Center three weeks ago, the staff has handled over 800 potential cases.VICTOR J. BLUE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A14

By SHERI FINK

President Trump told gover-nors he planned to classify coun-ties according to the danger of co-ronavirus infection. Page A11.

Labeling Regions by Risk

Professional baseball greeted anew season this afternoon with anOpening Day game for the ages,an extra-inning masterpiece thatvividly unfolded on the sun-dap-pled field of the imagination. Thecrack of the bat could almost beheard, the blur of white almostseen, the communal joy nearlyfelt.

From the moment the first bat-ter tipped his helmet — and a birdflew out — to the walk-off homerun by a faltering pinch-hitter, this11-inning affair redefined whatconstitutes a perfect game. Noone cared about the outcome; thedistraction was reward enough.

Don’t misunderstand: This

game between the New YorkGothams and the CincinnatiGreens mattered, but in ineffableways beyond the columns of winsand losses. It mattered so muchthat complaints about baseball’sslow pace yielded to the universalwish that this game would last for-ever.

“I could’ve played into thenight,” said the redeemed Goth-ams left fielder Sammy Sosa, whomissed part of last season aftersneezing so hard that he straineda ligament in his back. “I didn’t

No Crowd, but I’ll Take You Out to the BallgameBy DAN BARRY A Fan Writes a Fantasy

for Opening Day

Continued on Page A13

A chaotic mismatch between supply anddemand for oil means the world is run-ning out of places to store it. PAGE B9

A Gusher Can’t Be ContainedDonald Judd’s installation, below, at theGagosian Gallery is impressive, inperson or, for now, online. PAGE C13

It’s Virtually Perfect

With hospitals desperate for masks,people are pulling out their sewingmachines to fill the void. PAGE B4

BUSINESS B1-9

Armed With Sewing MachinesLike dinosaurs? Have crayons? Take apeek at two pages reprinted from TheNew York Times for Kids. PAGE C8

WEEKEND ARTS C1-16

For Pint-Size PaleontologistsFederal prosecutors accused the Vene-zuelan president, whom the U.S. nolonger recognizes, of participating in anarco-terrorism conspiracy. PAGE A20

INTERNATIONAL A18-20

Maduro Is Indicted in U.S.The pandemic gives added urgency to acentral issue that was already a maintalking point for Joseph R. Biden Jr. andother Democrats. PAGE A21

NATIONAL A21-23

New Focus on Health System

The Israeli prime minister was set tomaintain power after his rival reversedcourse, citing the pandemic. PAGE A19

Netanyahu Rival Relents

Russia and China, which often revel ingrudges against other countries, areemploying selective memory to addressa massacre that occurred on their bor-der in 1900. PAGE A18

Brushing Aside a Slaughter

Athletes question why U.S. Olympicleaders took so long to join calls topostpone the Tokyo Games. PAGE B11

SPORTSFRIDAY B11-15

Slow to Embrace a Delay

A lawsuit led New Mexico to remake itsfailing system into one advocates hopewill serve as a national model. PAGE A22

Starting Over on Foster Care

Richard Reeves’s books on Nixon, Clin-ton and others could be as unsparing ashis column. He was 83. PAGE A24

OBITUARIES A24-25

Chronicler of U.S. History

Fred “Curly” Neal dazzled fans with hisball-handling wizardry in more than6,000 games. He was 77. PAGE A25

Globetrotters’ Dean of Dribble

VOL. CLXIX . . . No. 58,645 © 2020 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2020

Late EditionToday, clouds giving way to somesunshine, morning rain, high 63. To-night, clear early, increasing cloudslate, low 44. Tomorrow, rain, high 52.Weather map appears on Page B16.

$3.00