Coronavirus in the united states

Coronavirus pandemic has affected all countries in the world. Severe measures needed to be done in order to slow the coronavirus spread, including strict quarantines. The United States is the country with the most confirmed cases of coronavirus, nearly one million three hundred thousand cases in today’s date (6th May). In addition, it is expected that the deaths caused from the Covid-19 in the US will be around 95,000.

The unemployment rate is the highest one since The Great Depression and the 2008 recession. It went from 4’4% in March to 14’7% in the month of April: Local shops closing, small and big businesses shutdowns have caused 20 million American people to lose their jobs.

Self-quarantine was introduced in many states, in order to stop the expansion of the virus. Now, even though the health professionals have warned that it may cause an increase in the number of people affected by the virus, many states have removed some of the restrictions, and people are able to return to their jobs.

In the end of April, oil prices turned negative due to the quarantine measures around the world, as demand for oil (i.e gasoline) decreased very rapidly causing a strong effect in the oil market. The supply side didn’t react fast -or did, but did not decrease the supply in the same proportion as the demand decreases-, and they kept producing even though there was no space to keep all the barrels that were being produced. This made prices negative, as producers were practically paying for consumers to keep the barrels.

These are bad news for the countries that are producers. All the oil companies in the United States -the majority of them in the state of Texas- are known to be facing high amounts of debt, and the oil crisis has aggraviated the situation. This turn of events, worsened by the COVID-19, might cause the bankruptcy of hundreds of oil companies in the country.

As Donald Trump says, ‘‘We went through the worst attack we've ever had on our country, this is the worst attack we've ever had. There's never been an attack like this.’’