Jobless claims smashed a record, U.S deaths surged past 1,000, and those $1,200 stimulus checks were inching closer to America's mailboxes Thursday as coronavirus tightened its grip on America.

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The Labor Department, in announcing the unemployment claims numbers for last week, said what Americans already knew – that layoffs hit the hospitality and food service industries particularly hard. Other industries that struggled included health care and social assistance, arts, entertainment and recreation, transportation and warehousing, and manufacturing industries, Labor said.

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