The Congressional Budget Office, in its latest set of economic projections, said that the effects of the global pandemic mean that annual U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) growth will be 3.4 percent slower than the CBO first projected in January, and that annual unemployment will be about 2 percent higher.

In the January report, the CBO predicted that "[f]rom 2021 to 2030, output is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 1.7 percent." Given the coronavirus, however, the newest report says that "the annual level of real GDP in those years is now projected to be 3.4 percent lower, on average, than it was projected to be in January." Further, while the January report projected an annual unemployment rate of 4.2 percent, it now believes the annual rate will be 6.1 percent.

The CBO added the caveat, though, that the economic situation is highly uncertain even in normal times, let alone during a pandemic, and that the ultimate severity and duration of the pandemic are still unknown.