The Small Business Administration (SBA) and Treasury Department announced the initiation of the Paycheck Protection Program, established through the CARES Act. This program mobilizes banks and other lending institutions to provide small businesses with the capital they need to keep their workforce employed and pay operating expenses during COVID-19. Read more here.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued an open letter to the healthcare community asking they implement measures to maximize the number of ventilators available during the coronavirus pandemic. The measures include adhering to social distancing practices, optimizing the use of mechanical ventilators, ensuring data-driven requests and usage of the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) of ventilators and equipment, and increasing the capacity of the SNS. Read more here.

Find several resources for rural communities during the COVID-19 response. Rural Assembly will continue to add to this list, and they hope you’ll send your favorites, too. Find the list here.

Reopening closed rural hospitals could be faster and more efficient than building temporary hospitals, says a rural healthcare advocate. But the cancellation of normal hospital services is straining the financial resources of rural facilities even more. Read more here.

Rural America was slower to report cases of COVID-19. But the disease is now spreading at least as quickly in rural areas as urban ones. Read more here.

The COVID-19 crisis is forcing layoffs at rural hospitals at a time when clinics need more help caring for coronavirus patients. Will the system respond in time? Read more here.

With the U.S. experiencing a record number of initial unemployment claims, WalletHub today released its report on the States with the Biggest Increases in Unemployment Due to Coronavirus, along with accompanying videos.

To identify which states have experienced the largest unemployment increases, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across two key metrics. These metrics compare initial unemployment claim increases for the week of March 23, 2020 to both the same week in 2019 and the first week of 2020. Below, you can see highlights from the report, along with a WalletHub Q&A.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released interim guidance for responding to COVID-19 among people experiencing unsheltered homelessness. The guidance provides information and actions for health departments, homeless service organizations, housing authorities and others serving people without homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. You can also access resources on the National Health Care for the Homeless website.

The U.S. Department of Education announced on March 20 that the Office of Federal Student Aid is providing student loan relief to tens of millions of borrowers during the COVID-19 national emergency. All borrowers with federally held student loans will automatically have their interest rates set to 0% for a period of at least 60 days. In addition, each of these borrowers will have the option to suspend their payments for at least two months to allow them greater flexibility during the national emergency. This will allow borrowers to temporarily stop their payments without worrying about accruing interest. Sec. DeVos has directed all federal student loan servicers to grant an administrative forbearance to any borrower with a federally held loan who requests one. The forbearance will be in effect for a period of at least 60 days, beginning on March 13, 2020. To request this forbearance, borrowers should contact their loan servicer online or by phone. The Secretary has also authorized an automatic suspension of payments for any borrower more than 31 days delinquent as of March 13, 2020, or who becomes more than 31 days delinquent, essentially giving borrowers a safety net during the national emergency. See the Department of Education website for more information.