What A Day - Viruses Are Taking Our Jobs

Episode Date: April 10, 2020

Another 6.6 million people filed for unemployment benefits last week, meaning that more than 16 million jobs have been lost in the last three weeks. That puts more pressure on Congress to sort out more economic relief. The White House is reportedly going to announce a coronavirus-economic task force to look into when the economy can be re-opened. Then, we're joined by comedian and writer Jamie Loftus for headlines: new jack Bob Dylan tops the Billboard charts for the first time, Biden makes concessions to the left, and Maryland engineers turn breast pumps to ventilators.

It's Friday, April 10th. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick, and this is What A Day, coming to you on Rock and Roll Friday, a.k.a. the release day for Trolls World Tour. Which is exciting for me, because all of my hair's standing up like a troll since I've been home and I haven't used any good products. My environment looks trollish, so I guess I may as well have a film that matches it. On today's show, a look at the economic toll from the coronavirus pandemic, a new CDC report on cases, and then some headlines.

But first, the latest. Stay away from me. Never keep your distance, please. Stay away from me. Words of love in times like these. Wow. All right, well, that was L.A. Legend, and you got a friend in me, crooner Randy Newman, with a new quarantine classic. I love his songs because they sound like I could have written them.

Yes. All right. But now let's talk about the news. So another 6.6 million people filed for unemployment benefits last week. That brings the U.S. up to more than 16 million job losses in the last three weeks. To put that number in perspective, it's more than the last recession saw over the course of two years. This is obviously an economic crisis, and the last relief package that Congress passed hasn't scratched the surface of the bailout required for regular citizens to get back on their feet. Even the relief that is in the bill, though, and I'm talking about extra unemployment money, cash payments, small business loans, none of that has really started flowing yet. I personally don't know anyone who's received a check from the government. And, you know, timing is incredibly important here, given the pace of this slowdown. So Gideon, tell us more about what these numbers mean. Yeah, so some economists are

estimating that the current unemployment rate is around 12 to 15%, which would actually be the worst the country has seen since the Great Depression. And economists are just expecting that the current unemployment rate is around 12 to 15 percent, which would actually be the worst the country has seen since the Great Depression. And economists are just expecting it to rise even further. In terms of that delay that you were talking about for people actually getting assistance, you know, often in a normal situation, processing an unemployment claim can take two to three weeks. But in an emergency situation like this, the process is also being slowed down because state unemployment systems are just way, way overloaded. People are having to call multiple times to get through, and it's difficult to have so many have to be in a situation en masse like

that. In fact, the number of unemployment claims that we're seeing could actually be more of a measure of how many claims the system can actually process each week versus how many people are actually losing their jobs. Dark. All right. Well, we've been tracking how the federal government is responding. We're still waiting on a hopefully giant phase four bill. But what's happening in the meantime? So the White House is pushing for a quick infusion of additional loan money for small businesses. They want Congress to approve $250 billion right away. Now, Democrats said that they wanted to pair that with more money for hospitals and for state and local governments. Republicans said, not so fast to that.

We'll get to that element of it later on. Democrats, in response to that, said no. So for the moment, that particular element is stalled. And also should note that these folks have been on recess and continue to be so. Now, outside of Congress, the Federal Reserve is going to buy municipal bonds to help support states and cities because they've lost a lot of tax revenue from the lockdowns. The Fed is also expanding its efforts to back up corporate debt. A lot of businesses operate with a lot of debt, and the Fed wants to make sure that those businesses don't go bankrupt and cut jobs. These are pretty unprecedented steps for the Fed. I mean, going way, way beyond steps that

they took in 2008. Yeah, cool, cool, cool. I mean, you know, we all know that Trump has been itching to get the economy going again. At one point, he suggested it would happen by Easter, which is this Sunday. So I'm doubting that pretty hard. yes, I don't know. Barring some crazy miracle, that is not going to happen. But on the topic of reopening in general, the White House is reportedly going to announce a coronavirus economic task force that is supposed to focus on some of these current fixes that we've been talking about. And also when social distancing measures might be relaxed, which would in turn simulate the economy because people would be able to go back to work. But those shelter in place guidelines are, as they have been,

going to largely be dictated by states and not the White House. So we'll see what they end up actually doing. And the timeline on all of this comes back to the public health crisis. Akilah, what are the updates on that? Okay, so here in the USA, a new CDC report is confirming a lot of the data we've seen about who is contracting and ultimately dying from COVID-19. The report, based on, you know, a survey sample, found that 90% of the hospitalized patients had chronic underlying health conditions, namely hypertension, heart disease, lung disease, and diabetes. Older people infected with the virus were more likely to be hospitalized, men were more likely to have severe symptoms than women, and Black people were hospitalized at a

significantly higher rate than their white counterparts. But to that point specifically, you know, we've got new reporting on communities that are being hit the hardest by COVID-19. One is the Navajo Nation, which has had more deaths amongst its members than all of New Mexico, which is 13 times larger in population. So really dire there. And as we've seen with elderly facilities in Seattle and elsewhere, homes for the disabled are also being hit really hard with the virus. And, you know, that's just a shame for a number of reasons,

but it's really just highlighting that continuously we're seeing these marginalized members of society end up being the most impacted by, you know, these health crises and specifically this coronavirus crisis. Right. It's no longer viewed, as some people were saying, as some sort of great equalizer. It's actually amplifying the deeper problems that we have. So that's the United States. But what else is happening internationally? Internationally, another devastating benchmark was reached as 1.5 million cases have been confirmed worldwide. You know, nearly a third of those cases are in the U.S., so I don't even know what to say. America first.

A week ago, the world had just topped a million cases, so we're just seeing a really sad trajectory. In Botswana, which is a southern African nation, just in case you weren't sure, all members of their parliament have been placed in mandatory quarantine for possible exposure, which is one of the largest actions involving government officials so far that we've seen worldwide. And finally, European officials have agreed to spend more than half a trillion euros to blunt the economic effects of the virus. That converts to nearly $550 billion USD. So that is the latest.

Happy Friday, WOD Squad. Another week at home is coming to a close, and I really hope you all have a great weekend. And to make sure you do, we're going to check in one last time with some recs, some recommendations. So Giddy, what online viewing would you recommend this weekend? Ooh, I saw Parasite again,

because it's now streaming. I watched it at the same time, apparently, as our dear strange friend, Jared Leto. And it was great. It was great again. So I definitely recommend people catch that if they haven't seen it yet.

I mean, I think that's pretty solid. I think that, you know, you can watch what the old Joker is watching. Yes, yes. I need to match whatever Morbius is putting in front of his eyes. But I'm pretty sure that you have something in mind. So why don't you just go ahead

and tell us what you think we should watch? Well, you know, on Comedy Central's social media channels, there's a new show from me and my friend Milana Vayntrub. And we're basically releasing sketches every Friday for the next three weeks. And the first episode is out today.

It is very fun and rhythmic. And so, you know, if you got an extra two minutes and 47 seconds, you got some good viewing to watch. But also, you got to finish Ozark season three. It's imperative. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I am currently nine episodes back, I think. So I'll have to time that with the two minutes and 40

that I need to spend on the sketch. Yeah, honestly, watch the sketch first. I feel like it's going to set the mood for Ozark surely in some capacity. It'll be a palate cleanser between eps every single one. Every single time, watch it again. Yeah, yeah, that's the goal. Oh, my God.

All right, well, that was the final temperature check of the week. Check in with your friends, your family, the people you used to see in daily life, like your barista at your coffee shop or your homies at the bank or I don't know what your life was, whatever. And maybe check your own personal body temperature, too. We're all just trying to stay healthy and keep each other accountable, and we will be back to catch up on what we watched on Monday. Let's wrap up with some headlines.

Headlines. OK, so we have a very special guest today, Jamie Loftus. She's a comedian, TV writer, and co-host of the Bechtelcast podcast. I was on it. I loved it. You're amazing. Thank you for joining us. Of course. Yeah, I'm happy to be in my house again. Yeah, happy to be distant. You want to do some headlines? Let's do it.

All right. Well, a court in Hong Kong held up parts of a ban on wearing face masks in public Thursday, though masks worn for health purposes are still permitted. The mask ban was initially introduced to discourage pro-democracy protesters at the peak of citywide civil unrest last year. An appeals court said later that it was unconstitutional. Flash forward to yesterday, a separate court in Hong Kong overturned parts of the ban, making it illegal all over again to wear face masks during what the government considers unauthorized gatherings. Legal experts are calling for the government to get rid of the ban in order to avoid confusion during the current public health crisis.

And I kind of agree with them. Yeah. So you just like have a mask with you just in case it's legal to have a mask with you. Just in case I can save my own life, I'm going to have to. Right, just in case you're allowed to live. Sounds like a good system. Upstart folk singer Bob Dylan, ever heard of him? Just scored his first Billboard number one hit,

which is a lucky break for him, but let's see if he can really turn that into a career. Have you heard this song? I have not. We're going to play it at the top of the show, actually. How many minutes of it? 17. It's a very long episode.

The song is called Murder Most Foul. It is 17. It's as long as this podcast, but with none of the substance it's about the kennedy assassination and you know is it the exact type of song that goes viral on tiktok the teens are loving i'm shocked it topped the rock digital sales chart with i like bob dylan sometimes does sound like he writes his lyrics in the bathroom and I think this falls into this like there are just lyrics that you're he says rub a

dub dub it's a murder most foul is like as close as it gets to a chorus he's just listing things that existed when President Kennedy died anyways he's been at number one before as a songwriter but never as a solo artist but

has always been number one at keeping a harmonica pushed up against his mouth with a scary metal neck brace. It is pretty scary. Yeah, it looks uncomfortable. I don't know how he's done it for so long. Former Veep and now presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden dropped two new proposals yesterday. One forgives student loan debt for those who attended public colleges and universities who make up to $125,000 a year. A few stipulations in there. The other expands access to health care by lowering the eligibility age of Medicare coverage from 65 to 60.

Now, it's a game of inches, folks. Keep pushing in five years at a time until we get to Medicare for all. Many see these moves as concessions to his recently dropped out progressive opponent, Senator Bernie Sanders and his base. Sanders has not yet commented on the proposals or given a formal endorsement, though he pledged to support Biden if he became the nominee. Yeah, big ifs here. A group of University of Maryland engineers are trying to fight medical equipment shortages by turning unused breast pumps into ventilators. Woo! Move over, breast milk. It's oxygen time to ride this pump.

All right. The basic idea is to reverse the airflow through the breast pumps. So instead of sucking air into the tubes, they blow air into the patient's lungs. You know, breast pumps are sanitizable, reliable, and engineers say they can be converted into ventilators in just four hours for $300. I mean, talk about a deal so this project has very real promise uh the converted pumps will still need fda approval before they can be used on people's faces but it seems obvious they'll get it because what is a face but a breast with eyes faces famously love breasts staples is joining the resistance by refusing to pay rent in the month of april Rest with eyes. Faces famously love breasts.

Staples is joining the resistance by refusing to pay rent in the month of April. I love, okay, awesome example of pencil sharpeners and three ring binders coming together to do some collective bargaining. The office supply store reached out to landlords earlier this week to inform them of their decision, apparently without proposing deferred payments or promising to pay in May. I didn't know that Staples was punk rock, but this is great. I like that there's a precedent being set. They are not the only major chain to skip out in April rent. My favorite, the Cheesecake Factory, has elected to not pay rent along with me in April, while Subway has shown solidarity with me as well by planning to cut and postpone

payment, which illustrates the sad fact that America is the richest nation in the world, but it's mediocre. I resent the choice of that word, but it's cheese-first dry food restaurants can barely keep the lights on. Solidarity to my Cheesecake Factory comrades factory comrades yeah the cheese first dsa we love to see it oh my goodness all right well thank you so much jamie for coming on the podcast you have anything you'd like to plug now's the time all right uh yeah listen to the quarantined bechdel cast uh on every th. It's a feminist movie podcast.

Akilah's in on and it's fun. Yeah, listen to the episode where we talk about Center Stage. We went deep. We could have talked for hours, honestly, now that I have you here. What do you have going on? I've watched Center Stage in the quarantine already. That's just my guess.

I mean, that's fair. You're a dancer. It's your life. Every dance movie. I watched the Misty Copeland masterclass motionless. Just sat there. She was teaching you and you were like, sure. You're like, I could be doing this.

I love. Well, thank you again, Jamie. And those are the headlines. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe leave a review send us more good backgrounds for zoom and tell your friends to listen and if you're into reading and not just where it says soap on soap like me what a day is also a nightly newsletter check it out and subscribe at cricket.com subscribe i'm akilah hughes i'm gideon resnick and we'll see you on

bob dylan's tiktok the my friends, is blowing on the talk. What a day is a product of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tun is our assistant producer. Our head writer is John Milstein, and our senior producer is Katie Long. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.