JERSEY CITY, NJ - APRIL 1: A person wearing a medical mask walks in front of the Empire State ... [+]
(This story was updated at 1:00 p.m. EDT on Sunday, April 5)
Topline: New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said Friday that the state is about one week away from experiencing an outbreak like what’s currently happening in New York and the U.S. surgeon general says now about 90 percent of the country is now under stay-at-home orders; here are the latest numbers:
- World: Total confirmed cases as of 1:00 p.m. EDT: 1,237,420 — Total deaths: 67,260 — Total recoveries: 252, 944.
- U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 1:00 p.m. EDT: 321, 762 — Total deaths: 9,132 — Total recoveries: 15,044.
- Trending up ▲: New Jersey is the new coronavirus hotspot, reports the New York Times
NYT ; New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said Friday the state was about one week behind New York, the hardest hit state in the entire nation (847 people have died and 34, 124 people have been infected in New Jersey so far.) - Trending down ▼: New York, possibly — New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said Sunday that there are indications the spread might be slowing as there were fewer recorded fatalities in the state on Saturday than Friday (Cuomo cautioned it was too soon to draw conclusions from the data.)
- U.S. unemployment: The latest figures showed that some 10 million Americans have filed for unemployment over the last two weeks (Forbes’ colleague Sergei Klebnikov reports that some economists say the unemployment rate could reach 30% due to the crisis.)
Key background: The Washington Post reports the death count in the U.S. is likely higher than current figures indicate because not everyone who dies of the virus is being tested.
“We know that it is an underestimation,” Centers for Disease Control spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund told the Post.
Crucial quote: “This is going to be the hardest and saddest week of most Americans’ lives, quite frankly,” Surgeon General Jerome Adams said on Fox News Sunday. “This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment, only it’s not going to be localized. It’s going to be happening all over the country. "
Surprising fact: Adams added that about 90 percent of the country is now under stay-at-home orders.
Just nine states do not have any formal statewide stay-at-home orders in place: Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Oklahoma and South Carolina. (Wyoming, Utah, Oklahoma, and South Carolina have only issued orders in part of their states.)
Big number: 29% of the U.S. economy has been shut down, according to a study reported by the Wall Street Journal.
