Weekly Review

As the U.S. unemployment rate rose to 13 percent, the second-highest level since the Great Depression, the S&P 500 experienced its largest weekly gain since 1974.^{1 2 3} Donald Trump rejected a proposed bailout for the United States Postal Service, which employs nearly 600,000 workers, and suggested that its insolvency could be paid off by raising mailing rates for online retailers.⁴ The president also announced plans to lift COVID-19 restrictions by May 1 in order to aid the economy, and stated that the final death toll would be “substantially under” initial projections of 100,000 to 240,000 lives lost.⁵ Trump later explained that the decision to resume normalcy in two weeks would be “based on a lot of facts and a lot of instinct also. Whether we like it or not, there is a certain instinct to it.”⁶ The White House debated halting all financial support for the World Health Organization and creating an independent body for the United States.⁷ The Indian government permitted manufacturers of hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug that Trump has suggested cures COVID-19, to export the drug to the United States, and Joe Pizza, a regular visitor to Mar-a-Lago and the CEO of a pharmaceutical company that manufactures the active ingredient in hydroxychloroquine, was accused of telling the president the drug could help.^{8 9} Americans have lost approximately $12 million to COVID-19 scams that have included bootleg tests, robocalls advertising nonexistent respiratory masks, an app that freezes the user’s phone until they pay a bitcoin ransom, and a silver tincture sold by televangelist Jim Bakker.¹⁰ In Massachusetts, a woman sprayed Lysol into the eyes of a Walmart cashier who informed her that she had exceeded the number of Lysol cans she was legally allowed to purchase.¹¹ In Albertville, Alabama, a Wayne Farms plant held a drive-through chicken sale to offset grocery-store chicken shortages; workers at Wayne Farms facilities have been forced to pay the company 10 cents a day for protective masks.^{12 13} “I think, if I may, it’s cool to work. Your neighbor, your brother-in-law, you know, the guy down the street, working has become cool again,” said White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow.¹⁴ The governor of New Jersey asked for volunteers who knew COBOL, the programming language the state’s 40-year-old unemployment-claim processing system uses.¹⁵

Ecuadorian prisoners were ordered to make coffins out of wood that was seized as part of an anti-deforestation program, and it was revealed that Julian Assange had fathered two children while hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.^{16 17} “Over the past five years I have discovered that love makes the most intolerable circumstances seem bearable but this is different—I am now terrified I will not see him alive again,” said the children’s mother. The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen agreed to a two-week ceasefire in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19; the first reported case of the virus in the country was recorded a day later.^{18 19} In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the most recent person to contract the Ebola virus died, scuttling the government’s plans to officially declare the Ebola outbreak over.²⁰ The 75-year-old president of Uganda released an at-home exercise video.²¹ The 13-year-old leader of the international neo-Nazi group Feuerkrieg Division was discovered by Estonian police, but could not be arrested because he is a minor.²² The 78-year-old senator Bernie Sanders, who has never been accused of sexual assault and who unsuccessfully requested that Wisconsin delay its primary because of COVID-19, suspended his campaign and endorsed the 77-year-old Joe Biden.^{23 24 25} In response to Tara Reade’s accusation that Biden had sexually assaulted her in 1993, the Biden campaign’s official response cited his drafting of the Violence Against Women Act.²⁶ “He firmly believes that women have a right to be heard—and heard respectfully,” said Biden’s deputy campaign manager. “What is clear about this claim: it is untrue.” 

A woman in North Carolina contracted the coronavirus even though she had not left her house in three weeks.²⁷ A woman in Brooklyn who “failed to maintain social distancing” was arrested and held in a small cell with 24 other women for 48 hours; she is currently unable to return to work because she must self-isolate.²⁸ A woman from Skokie, Illinois, has filed a lawsuit against Aer Lingus for allegedly pulling her out of an airplane bathroom with her pants down shortly before takeoff.²⁹ A woman who died alone in a nursing home recorded over 40 messages on an Alexa, many of which asked the device to relieve her pain.³⁰ The U.S. Virgin Islands’ district attorney urged the territory’s probate court not to require women to sign broad liability waivers in order to access the Jeffrey Epstein victims’ fund.³¹ The pope asked Catholics to pray for female victims of domestic violence; reports of domestic violence have increased since the start of the outbreak.³² South Korea reported that, in the past week, at least 116 people who had recovered from COVID-19 have tested positive again.³³—Violet Lucca