President Donald Trump signed a multibillion-dollar bipartisan measure into law on Wednesday to support Americans facing financial hardships from the coronavirus outbreak.
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act increases paid sick leave and childcare leave and mandates free coronavirus testing. The Trump administration still seeks to pass another $500 billion in check payments for affected Americans, plus a stimulus package to assist businesses struggling from outbreak related closures.
“The Act makes emergency supplemental appropriations and other changes to law to help the Nation respond to the coronavirus outbreak,” Trump said in a statement.
If approved, direct checks of $2,000 to vulnerable Americans could begin in early April, accelerated by COVID-19’s devastating effects on the American economy. The president also ordered the Department of Housing and Urban Development to halt evictions and foreclosures until May to give renters and homeowners amnesty as they cope with layoffs and business closures.
Wednesday’s measure provides some cushion for the economic fallout from the coronavirus, with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warning in a press conference that unemployment could reach 20 percent nationwide. State unemployment and food security programs will receive billions in funding as well.
Johns Hopkins University listed more than 9,200 coronavirus cases across the United States as of March 18. Roughly a third of those cases are in New York alone.
With New York’s healthcare system feeling greater pressure as it responds to over 3,000 coronavirus patients in-state, Trump dispatched a U.S. Navy hospital ship to New York Harbor. The facility will expand the number of available hospital beds and the amount of space doctors can use to treat cases.
Despite sustained growth in coronavirus cases, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is pushing back on issuing a statewide shelter-in-place as suggested by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday.
“No one is going to lock you in your home,” Cuomo said in an interview with NY1. “No one is going to tell you you can’t leave the city. That’s not going to happen.”
