Approximately 2.1 million Americans have filed new claims for jobless benefits as President Donald Trump and mostly Republican Governors push for some states to lessen coronavirus-related restrictions, according to the numbers released by the Labor Department on Thursday.

Last week, 2,123,000 Americans, seasonally adjusted, filed initial claims from unemployment benefits, falling from a revised total of 2,446,000 applications filed the week before. 

The non-seasonally adjusted number of new unemployment claims, which some economists deem a better gauge of the economic downturn caused by a coronavirus, totaled 1,914,958 in the week ending May 23.

Since the week ending March 22, more than 40 million Americans have filed initial claims for unemployment benefits as the spread of coronavirus and the restrictions imposed to slow it forced thousands of businesses to close up shop. The national unemployment rate rose to 14.7 percent in April and 14.5 percent of the United States workforce had received jobless benefits as of the week ending May 16, according to the Labor Department.

The President has steadily increased pressure for states to ease up on those restrictions and business closures as the unemployment rises past levels last seen in the Great Depression with less than six months until Election Day. Many states have begun to reopen have or announced plans to loosen some restrictions, though public health officials have warned against the risks of reopening too soon.

The United States reported its 100,000th death due to coronavirus on Wednesday and experts have warned that a “slow burn” of cases through the summer could turn into a second spike in the autumn without proper testing and tracing procedures. 

Congressional leaders are also moving toward another bipartisan round of fiscal stimulus and economic rescue spending to support the country through the downturn caused by a coronavirus and the long road to recovery that economists believe will follow.