📜 Real history · Intermediate
History: The 2020 Pandemic Recession
February 2020: COVID-19 spreads. States issue stay-at-home orders. Congress passes the $2.2 trillion CARES Act and the Fed cuts rates to zero.
The facts
- Start: January 2020. End: April 2020 (just two months into the shutdowns).
- Then think about how fast things recovered.
- Predict what happened over these months.
Your predictions
What actually happened
Why?
Unemployment exploded from 3.5% to 14.8% in April 2020 — the fastest rise ever recorded. The Fed slashed rates to near zero in March. Stocks plunged about 34% from mid-February to late March, then began a rapid rebound thanks to massive monetary and fiscal support; the April monthly average was still below January’s. It was the shortest U.S. recession on record: just two months.