According to new data released by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), more than 6.6 million people filed unemployment claims this week—bringing the total number of claims over the past two weeks to almost 10 million as the COVID-19 virus ravages the economy. "This marks the highest level of seasonally adjusted initial claims in history," the DOL said in a release. 

Nearly every state providing comments about its unemployment claims cited the COVID-19 virus as a reason people are filing, the DOL said. Industries most effected are hotels and food services, but the impact of the virus is widening—health care and social assistance, manufacturing, retail, wholesale trade and construction are increasingly continuing to feel the effects of the contracting economy.

Experts are also saying that the global recession that is currently happening could potentially last into 2022. According to The New York Times, the entire world is facing unprecedented ramifications as the economy suddenly and indefinitely grinds to a halt due to COVID-19. 

“I feel like the 2008 financial crisis was just a dry run for this,” Kenneth S. Rogoff, a Harvard economist, told the Times. “Everything depends on how long it lasts, but if this goes on for a long time, it’s certainly going to be the mother of all financial crises.”