Day: April 3, 2020

The emergency legislation enacted by Congress with support from Republicans and President Trump has intensified a long-running debate about whether the United States does enough in ordinary times to protect the needy.

With coronavirus-related job losses, many workers are reluctantly seeking charity and unemployment benefits for the first time in their lives.

“We’re talking about 10 million people filing for unemployment insurance in two weeks. Nobody is prepared for that,” said one finance expert.

The hordes of people trying to apply for jobless benefits in Louisiana continue to encounter long delays and the inability to get through online or over the phone.

The Treasury reversed guidance that would have required millions of Social Security recipients to file returns, but many other low-income people will have to submit them.

The coronavirus relief package includes a number of provisions to help low-income Americans. But advocates for the poor say it’s only a first step.

The economic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic has spurred a record surge in the number of people applying to CalFresh, the state’s food stamp program.

AUSTIN — Texas’ mega-agency for health care and social services, saying it wants to ease state residents’ worries during the coronavirus emergency, has…

A kind of pandemic caste system is rapidly developing in access to health care, child care, education, living space, even internet bandwidth. From nytimes.com. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/27/business/economy/coronavirus-inequality.html

Subway use has plummeted in recent weeks, but in poorer areas of New York City, many people are still riding.

More than a third of U.S. counties have yet to report a single positive test result

Crowded camps, depleted clinics and scarce soap and water make social distancing and even hand-washing impossible for millions of refugees.