Some 22 million Americans have filed unemployment claims in the four weeks since the novel coronavirus pandemic forced the shutdown of large parts of the U.S. economy, according to the latest horrifying figures released Thursday. The weekly unemployment numbers from the Department of Labor showed an additional 5.2 million Americans filed claims last week. Just under 17 million workers applied for aid in the three weeks ended April 4. Before the pandemic swept across the nation in March, the largest number of Americans to ask for unemployment benefits in a four-week stretch was 2.7 million, back in 1982. “It might take until mid-May or longer before we see claims declining,” University of Michigan labor economist Daniil Manaenkov told The Wall Street Journal.