150,000 Unemployment Claims in Va. This Week

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP)- Nearly 150,000 Virginians filed unemployment claims in the last week. That’s the third straight week of record-setting claims in reaction to the coronavirus outbreak.

The numbers released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Labor show jobless claims increased by about one-third over the previous week, which was itself record-setting.

Before the coronavirus forced so many businesses into stasis, weekly jobless claims in Virginia averaged around 2,600.

Also Thursday, the state health department reported for the first time Thursday that the death toll from the coronavirus has exceeded 100 in Virginia and the number of positive tests for the virus exceeds 4,000.

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