On March 27, 2020, President Trump signed a $2 trillion emergency spending bill into law, which promised to deliver a wave of cash to individual Americans, businesses, and healthcare facilities reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic. This spending bill was called the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, the largest emergency relief bill in American history.

Friday, April 24, 2020, Trump signed a follow-up to the CARES Act. The president signed an interim coronavirus act providing $500 billion that provides additional money for the small-business loan program. This also includes more funding for hospitals and testing.

So what exactly is a coronavirus stimulus check? The payment, which the IRS is referring to as an “economic impact payment,” is an advance tax credit that is meant to offset your federal income taxes in 2020. The package provides a one-time cash payment of $1,200  to eligible Americans. For every minor age 16 or under, an additional $500 is included. The check is received if you have a social security number; have filed taxes in 2018 or 2019; earned less than $99,000 for single filers, $136,500, for heads of household, or $198,000, for married filers according to the most recent tax return filed; or are not claimed by someone else as a dependent. As this is positive news to most of America, the number of COVID-19 cases continues to grow.

As of right now, there are over 955,000 confirmed cases of the virus in the United States, a recovery count of around 102,000, and a death count of around 54,000.

by Ryan Yi