ANOTHER 5.2 million Americans have filed for unemployment this week – bringing the total number of jobless claims to more than 22 million over just the last four weeks.

The number of claims from the U.S. Labor Department comes as more than 95 percent of America is under stay-at-home orders due to coronavirus shutdowns.

In the previous three weeks, more than 16.8 million Americans had filed for unemployment.

This week, the U.S. Department of Labor announced another 5.2 million Americans filed for unemployment, bringing the total number of jobless claims to over 22 million just over the past four weeks.

Three weeks ago, over 3.3. million people filed for unemployment in just seven days – and the next week, that figure doubled.

Last week, another 6.6 million filed for unemployment, for the second week in a row.

Although the number of jobless claims soared past 22 million on Thursday, the total number is likely far higher as millions more people are out of work due to the virus.

This puts the current

Businesses across the U.S. remain shuttered amid virus lockdowns, as U.S. cases have grown to more than 639,000.

More than 30,000 Americans have died from COVID-19.

Many workers have lost hours, been furloughed, or lost their jobs entirely as non-essential businesses closed and others have been impacted financially due to the virus.

As many Americans struggle financially amid lost hours or jobs, stimulus checks have begun to arrive in waves – providing some much-needed financial for people around the nation.

Some economic experts have warned that even as shutdowns end after coronavirus peaks and cases have slowed, the economic impacts may be devastating.

One expert has warned of potential depression-era unemployment levels – with a rate that could hit as high as 12 or 13 percent, or more.

Other experts have cautioned in April, the unemployment rate could hit 20 percent – impacting one in five Americans.

While some people – including President Trump – have pushed to reopen the economy soon – health officials have warned that doing so could be fatal for hundreds of millions Americans, as it could cause COVID-19 cases to rise back up.

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