AP reports from New York that economic pain from the coronavirus pandemic spread even more widely Thursday, weighing heavily on nations, businesses and ordinary people as countries struggled to restore confidence that stores, factories, airplanes, and schools could reopen safely.
In France, Amazon suspended operations altogether after a court ruled it wasn’t doing enough to protect its workers in the country. The online retailer, which operates six warehouses in France, said it would evaluate the court decision.
Cargo traffic at Europe’s massive port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands dropped by 9.3% in the first quarter to 112.4 million metric tons from the same period a year ago.
The International Monetary Fund notes fallout from what it calls the “Great Lockdown” will be the most devastating since the Great Depression during the 1930s.
Still, leaders are anxious to send people back to work and school and to rebuild economies devastated by the pandemic that has infected over 2 million people and claimed more than 137,000 lives, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
Nevertheless, in China and the handful of countries in Europe that have partially reopened their economies, even people who still have jobs are wary of spending much or going out. In nearly empty stores and streets, people eye each other from a distance, their faces covered by masks.
The U.S. began issuing one-time payments this week to tens of millions of people as part of its $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package. But another part of the relief package, a $350 billion paycheck protection program aimed at small businesses, is running dry after being open for only a matter of days. Negotiations were accelerating in Washington over a $250 billion emergency request to assist.
Read the full report at thenationalherald.com
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