The coronavirus death toll surged past 3,800 today, eclipsing the total from the 9/11 terror attacks as New York City traded “Ground Zero” for “epicenter.”
Near where the World Trade Center towers collapsed more than 18 years ago, Wall Street capped a debacle of its own in the month after reaching dizzying heights.
More than 900 people have died from COVID-19 in Manhattan alone, and the city was opening temporary hospitals in a convention center, a Navy ship and Central Park. Refrigeration trucks were serving as temporary morgues.
Still, the nation’s top health expert found some reason for hope, saying social distancing was working and that the rate of increase of New York City cases might be starting to slow.
More than 500 deaths were reported nationwide Monday, the highest daily total since the first American died six weeks ago.
The U.S. death toll has now surpassed China, where the pandemic began late last year.
Cities and states tightened stay-at-home restrictions.
Thousands of retailers across the nation, large and small, closed their doors, and many furloughed employees.
The United States had more than 186,000 confirmed cases Tuesday afternoon, according to the Johns Hopkins University data dashboard.
Worldwide, more than 855,000 people have been infected with the virus and more than 42,000 have died.
Stocks fell today, the last day of the first quarter, as investors wrapped up a period of historic market volatility sparked by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 410.32 points lower, or 1.8%, at 21,917.16.
The S&P 500 dropped 1.6% to 2,584.59.
The Nasdaq Composite fell nearly 1% to 7,700.10.
The 30-stock benchmark was up as much as 152 points earlier in the day.
The Dow and S&P 500 had their worst first-quarter performances ever, losing 23.2 and 20%, respectively.
The Dow also had its worst overall quarter since 1987 while the S&P 500 had its biggest quarterly loss since 2008.