As COVID cases surge: Sharp rise in new US unemployment claims
In the first full week of 2021 new claims for unemployment benefits increased sharply amid the rising toll of the pandemic, with adjusted first-time unemployment claims reached 965,000 for the week ending January 9.
That is the highest weekly number since last August and it was the largest week over week gain in new filings since March. The raw number of new claims surged 231,335 to reach 1.151 million last week. Economists tend to place more confidence in the unadjusted numbers, since the disruptions caused by the pandemic has made the adjusted figure, based on seasonal fluctuations, less reliable.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. (Reuters) - During the 10 months they’ve spent hunkered down in a military barracks turned housing project, the grandson has grown taller and the grandmother has gotten smaller.
Rochelle Woody and her grandson Omari Scott stand for a portrait near the home they share in Washington, U.S. December 9, 2020. Picture taken December 9, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Rochelle Woody has been the towering figure in her grandson’s world since luck brought them together a decade ago when Omari Scott was 6. At age 71, Rochelle now leans over a cane after two recent spinal surgeries. Omari lifts barbells in the living room at night, and hears her praying in bed. She wants to keep a roof over their heads. Their landlord, the District of Columbia Housing Authority, has been seeking their eviction.
Special Report: Sheltering: Grandmother and grandson live under eviction, Covid threats By Joshua Schneyer
Woody and her grandson Scott stand for a portrait near the home they share in Washington
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Reuters) – During the 10 months they’ve spent hunkered down in a military barracks turned housing project, the grandson has grown taller and the grandmother has gotten smaller.
Rochelle Woody has been the towering figure in her grandson’s world since luck brought them together a decade ago when Omari Scott was 6. At age 71, Rochelle now leans over a cane after two recent spinal surgeries. Omari lifts barbells in the living room at night, and hears her praying in bed. She wants to keep a roof over their heads. Their landlord, the District of Columbia Housing Authority, has been seeking their eviction.
Eviction Bans Keep Renters Home, Curb COVID Spread
Dec. 28, 2020 Millions of Americans have struggled to pay their rent since the pandemic started, as the economic crisis brought pay cuts, furloughs, and job losses, adding insult to the coronavirus nightmare. Tenants are being evicted; some end up living in crowded homeless shelters or couch-surfing with family members or friends.
The Eviction Lab at Princeton University estimates there have been more than 150,000 evictions during the pandemic in the 27 cities it tracks.
“I spoke with one woman living with her 12-year-old daughter in an apartment who let a friend who had nowhere else to stay sleep in her living room. She is concerned about the risk of COVID-19 anytime you add a new member to your household, there’s an added risk,” says Danya Keene, PhD, an assistant professor at Yale School of Public Health in New Haven, CT.
Activists Are Mobilizing to Create an Eviction-Free United States
Ronel Remy, an organizer with City Life / Vida Urbana, speaks during a Rally to Stop Evictions and Foreclosures at the Brewer Fountain in Boston on October 11, 2020.
Matthew J. Lee / The Boston Globe via Getty Images
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The signs posted in the first-floor windows of 1234 Pacific Street in Brooklyn tell an increasingly familiar story: “We are striking to cancel rent in New York state during the COVID-19 public health crisis. We are striking because we cannot pay, or in solidarity with those who cannot pay. We will not go hungry or without medical care in order to pay rent.”