CQ Day 77: Over 40,000,000 Without Jobs

The number of jobless claims in the U.S. has now risen to over 40.8 million, so much worse than even the New York Times' front page graph showed earlier this month.

The "Great Recession" of 2008 is almost invisible on this graph. These are numbers economists have never seen, never expected, and don't know what to do with.

CQ: Day 62: What About School??

I posted an article to Facebook today that says the future of universities is online, partnering with major tech companies: 

"The post-pandemic future, he says, will entail partnerships between the largest tech companies in the world and elite universities. Think MIT@Google. iStanford. HarvardxFacebook."

I don't know if that's the future but I do know that brick and mortar universities were losing enrollment before the Coronavirus crisis. Now suddenly they've had to do the last two months of teaching online, and they may have to (at least partially) do it this Fall. People are starting to find out very quickly if they're ready for online learning.

That includes grade school and high school as well, though since those kids are traveling long distances, it's a little more doable, at least in the short term. But if we have to socially distance this Fall, then we're going to have to have school run 3-4 times longer each day and have 3-4 times the staff. That's not going to work.

The local charter school has had this sign out for a while but I didn't get a chance to snap it until May 24, 2020 while on a grocery run. This photo was later added to this blog entry.

CQ: Day 58: Unemployment Falls Off A Cliff

Unemployment numbers have now reached over 20,000,000.  For some perspective, the New York Times from page today showed the "graph" of the numbers, which required the entire front page to show how far the U.S. has dropped. Gulp.

Here's another way to look at it, showing jobs added and lost in the last 10 years: 

CQ: Day 48: Gas For $1, Empty Streets, See You Soon

Gas prices have plunged since oil went negative last week. Sam's Club was selling it for $1.49 a gallon today; $1.89 at Sheetz.

In some places out West, it's fallen below $1, something I never thought I'd see in my lifetime. The National Average is $1.74, a level not seen for any significant length of time since the 1990s (though a few cents above the New Years 2016 low) The $1.74 level is down from $2.62 at the beginning of the year, $3.99 in 2011, and over $4.00 just before the 2008 Recession. Graph from GasBuddy.com:

I took the photo above on a food run today. Wal-Mart finally got the custom stickers for their floor to direct Social distancing, and their isles are now one-way only.

I was the only car on the road several times today, simply unheard of in this college town outside of major holidays. The photos below show only three cars on the main stretch of North Atherton Street, and an empty College Avenue by the Penn State Bookstore. Both are typically bumper-to-bumper this time of day. The students have been gone now for a month. 

It's eerie out there.

Only grocery stores and take-out restaurants remain open. Malls and major retail stores remain closed, as they have for 6 weeks now. I can't believe it's been that long, and it's a weird thing to continue to see.

The Hoss's restaurant, which features a buffet, has a sign that says "SEE YOU SOON"

I'm just not sure that's going to happen.

CQ: Day 43: Sesame Street?

April 25, 2020 NEWSPAPER HEADLINES & GRAPH: There are 4,300 cases of Coronavirus in the U.S.

Blog: Even Sesame Street is now in on the COVID-19 preparation. No doubt weeks too late, CNN had Big Bird, the Count, and Elmo on TV this morning to help kids through the crisis.

*NOTE: This is part of my series "Coronavirus Quarantine" about my family's (and the world's) experience with COVID-19 during the stay-at-home orders and self isolation of Spring 2020. You can read all the blogs in reverse sequence by clicking here. Blogs before April 2020 were written after the fact, but the thoughts and photos are from the publish date indicated. For reference, a graph of cases and news interest in the U.S., and newspaper headlines from each blog publish date are included in each entry.

CQ: Day 36: Masked Emojis Have Arrived

Saw this ad today on Facebook.  I guess face masks are part of our "new normal."

CQ: Day 21: The World Is Empty

(from my AccuWeather.com blog): 

I didn't think it was possible, but as the United States moves into another month of quarantine, 90% of the population of our country (and 50% of the world's) is under stay-at-home orders... and the webcams are even emptier.

Below is a video tour of 45 Earthcams in 31 cities worldwide that I recorded today (most at rush hour). It's next to impossible to find a car or a person in the footage. I can't believe our world has changed this much.