(NEW YORK) — Here are today’s In Crisis headlines:
Trump threatens to defund cities that are “anarchist jurisdictions”
President Donald Trump Wednesday evening ordered the federal government to begin the process of defunding New York City, Washington, D.C., Seattle and Portland – all Democrat-led cities — claiming officials there allowed “lawless” protests in the so-called “anarchist jurisdictions.” The five-page memo orders all federal agencies to send reports to the White House Office of Management and Budget that lay out funds that can be redirected. “My Administration will not allow Federal tax dollars to fund cities that allow themselves to deteriorate into lawless zones,” Trump said in the memo. Legal experts say the White House is certain to face an uphill legal battle to implement the measures. Cities use federal funds to pay for services including security expenses, law enforcement programs, community policing, housing, poverty, transportation, infrastructure, education programs and more. The cities the president is targeting have all seen ongoing pro-BLM demonstrations since the death in police custody of George Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis.
Unemployment claims down as 881,000 file last week
The number of Americans filing for unemployment was down last week, with the U.S. Department of Labor reporting 881,000 claims filed for the week ending August 29. The number is better than expected, reflecting the lowest number of people applying for unemployment in a single week since the pandemic shut down the economy. It’s also the second week of claims below one million since March. Even so, it represents the 24th straight week of historically high unemployment claims. The number also isn’t wholly comparable to previous numbers due to a new change in the way the Labor Department calculates the number of claims, the effects of which will take several weeks to determine. The monthly jobs report, due Friday, is expected to show that about 1.4 million jobs were added in August, which in turn is expected to bring the U.S. unemployment rate to just shy of 10%, another historically high number previously only seen during recessions.
COVID-19 numbers
Here’s the latest data on COVID-19 coronavirus infections and deaths.
Latest reported numbers globally per Johns Hopkins University
Global diagnosed cases: 26,061,063
Global deaths: 863,722. The United States has the most deaths of any single country, with 185,752.
Number of countries/regions: at least 188
Total patients recovered globally: 17,315,306
Latest reported numbers in the United States per Johns Hopkins University
There are at least 6,115,098 reported cases in 50 states + the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. This is more than in any other country.
U.S. deaths: at least 185,752. New York State has the greatest number of reported deaths in the U.S., with 32,972.
U.S. total patients recovered: 2,231,757
U.S. total people tested: 79,646,008
The greatest number of reported COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is in California, with 722,177 confirmed cases out of a total state population of 39.51 million. That ranks third in the world after Maharashtra, India, which has 825,739 reported cases, and Sao Paulo, Brazil, which has 826,331 reported cases.
COVID-19 headlines
Global COVID-19 infections now exceed 26 million
The number of reported global COVID-19 infections now numbers more than 26 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, which puts the total number at 26,061,063 as of Thursday morning. The milestone was crossed just five days after the number of global infections topped 25 million, last weekend. In the U.S., the number of confirmed COVID-19 infections now numbers 6,115,098, which is just over 23% of the world’s total infections. There were also 185,752 COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. as of Thursday morning, accounting for just over 21% of global deaths. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is currently forecasting between 196,000 and 207,000 COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. by the week ending September 19.
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