US relief checks begin arriving as economic damage piles up

CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, PAUL WISEMAN and MIKE CORDER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Government relief checks began arriving in Americans' bank accounts as the economic damage to the U.S. from the coronavirus piled up Wednesday and sluggish sales at reopened stores in Europe and China made it clear that business won't necessarily bounce right back when the crisis eases. With lockdowns and other restrictions bringing factories to a shuddering halt, American industrial output shriveled in March, registering its biggest decline since the U.S. demobilized in 1946 at the end of World War II. And retail sales fell by an unprecedented 8.7%, with April expected to be far worse. The world's biggest economy this week began issuing one-time payments to tens of millions of people as part of its