restaurants. you're looking at night life. and you're looking at almost a half a million people that don't have jobs, that cannot feed their families, that cannot pay their bills, that don't know where their next meals are coming from. that's despair. that's devastation. >> reporter: how much devastation is estimated by economists as an eventual unemployment rate between 10% and 30%. we found the numbers would be higher if state unemployment offices were not overwhelmed. >> all specialists are busy with other customers. you must call back this week. >> i've done that 50 times every day for two weeks. >> reporter: two weeks ago caitlyn reynolds was a vice president of a firm that nissen

>> 50 times a day since march 16th to get through to the contact center for unemployment to continue my claim, and i have not yet been able to get through. >> reporter: guy halel found the unemployment office website had crashed. >> you would go two or three pages in and before you're out, they will tell you your session is timed out. then you go six pages in, again, they will throw you out, your session is timed out. you will go all the way tells y your session timed out. >> reporter: time ran out on halel at the hotel where he was a manager. he worked in hospitality 20 years. when his hotel at times square closed, he went home to his wife, two children and a new pation, connecting with the unemployment office. >> i think after ten days i was able to submit and go to the

next step, which was a phone call. >> your call cannot be completed as dialed. >> try again. >> 606. >> reporter: no one at the unemployment office is answering his call either. >> we are experiencing a high volume of calls at this time. >> and they hung me up. >> reporter: his credit card company is giving him a break for 90 days. no such luck with his car payment. what is it like after so many years in your industry, bringing home a paycheck every week, what is it like that you're not doing that now? >> it hurts your pride in a way, you know. sleepless ig thinking, worrying about what will be next, how can we get to the next step. >> reporter: have you ever applied for unemployment before? >> never. >> reporter: how do you feel about it? >> ah, at first i was embarrassed. um, i've worked since i was 15.

i've always put work above anything else. i've never -- i never thought i would be in a position like this where i would need to ask for help. >> reporter: are you a month away from being broke? two months away? >> i'd say about a month. yeah. >> reporter: it may take a month or more for the largest government bailout in history to show much effect. federally-backed emergency small business loans will become available through banks, but demand is likely to cause delay. like tho calls to the unployment office. melba wilson applied for a loan. her employees are waiting. >> it was devastating. i was heart broken. i was scared. scared for me, scared for my daughter. >> reporter: alicia na vara owe was laid off at melba's after two years. she's single with a 1 1/2-year-old daughter and a list of questions. >> can i feed my family? how can i pay bills?

you wonder if this last three or four months am i going to become homeless. wave at the camera. >> reporter: unemployment benefits have been temporarily increased for the emergency, about double in many states. but even that leaves navarro about $2,000 a month short. >> sing, rain, rain, go away. >> come back another day. >> this month i won't be able to pay my cable. and i won't be able to pay my phone bill. >> reporter: you got the rent covered? >> i definitely have the rent covered for this month, but i have it covered for the next two months. but after that, what do i do? >> reporter: new york ordered a 90-day stop on evictions. nationwide,delly-backed mortgag delayed 60 days. like most americans, alicia navarro is expecting a one-time check of $1200 from the bailout fund and $500 for her daughter

alia. but those checks are likely six or eight weeks away. as caitlyn reynolds found, the safety net wasn't meant to catch so many millions at once. you know, i'm curious. would you try the unemployment office again? >> yeah, absolutely. let me pull up the number. >> we're sorry. we are experiencing an extremely high volume of calls at this time. >> thank you for calling the new york state contact center. how may i assist you? >> reporter: the high volume of calls is 1.3 million a day, the state office told us. it's completing 61,000 applications a day. >> may i have your first and last name? >> may i also have your address? nswerhe questions lylotr>>er working is discharged or quit? >> reporter: they are attempting to spread calls across different days of the weekased on the applicant's last name. the state is training another 200 reinforcements, some will

take calls from home. >> we're doing everything we can to get people paid as soon as possible. >> we'll have more of scott pelley's report when we come back. you're watching the "cbs [♪]

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back on track. but for many americans, no matter what the fed does, this will still be a long recovery. more now from scott pelley's report for "60 minutes." >> reporter: manufacturing output is dropping at the fastest rate since the great recession. >> we employed about 120 full-time employees. >> reporter: michael be dna rk owns a brooklyn design and fabrication company that makes displays for retailers. >> we laid off about 25% of our staff, about 30 people. we made basically a pay cut across the board for everyone. so a wage reduction. >> reporter: his factory builds in wood, glass, metal and plastic. he has enough contracts at the moment to last about a month and a half. toy p six weeks, and hopefully on the other side there would be something to do. >> reporter: and you found a way. >> we did. >> reporter: overnight, working

with a partner bednark is now manufacturing gear for hospitals. the minimum pay here is $18 an hour. they're making 27,000 face shields a day. the new york department of health wants to buy half a million. so, you were forced to layoff about 30 people, and now you've hired how many? >> we've probably hired close to 100 ourselves. there's probably about 300 or 400 people working on this project. we have truck drivers and we have -- then we have auxiliary people working on it every day. we get lunch served by a local restaurant. they deliver 160 box lunches. >> reporter: a restaurant that was closed except for take-out is now deliveringyouracek ftory >> ephe funds in brooklyn, keep the funds in new york, help people help others. so by, you know, giving them a lunch, we can employ ten, 15 people at a restaurant each day.

>> reporter: we actually heard a lot of stories of empathy. alicia navaro from melba's cooked up one way to help. >> i studied how to do homemade hand sanitizers, lysol, homemade masks to people who are unfortunate and who can't afford those things. and you can make them everyday home supplies. >> reporter: danny meyer started a nonprofit charity making grants to his most needy employees. and michael bednark's people are sacrificing for each other. >> we had some employees offering to split their week so they'd do 20 hours and then have their counterpart do 20 hours that week just so sort of keep people working keep people bits and i getting paid. >> reporter: you had employees volunteer to split their weeks with somebody who was less fortune? >> correct. >> reporter: the best of these stories happened before our eyes. >> a chicken dish, a grilled salmon, and a vegetarian dish, correct?

>> yes. >> okay. >> reporter: an orderor take-out from someone who wanted to remain anonymous. 100 dinners to be delivered to nearby mount sinai hospital. one voice on the phone joining a chorus of americans longing for better days ahead. >> i am so uplifted, first of all, by the fact that you're doing this for the medical staff. and also that you're helping my employees. so it meaorld to me. >> and your name -- you're melba? >> yes, my name is melba. yeah, i just happen to be the owner. thank you so much. and stay safe. may god continue to bless you. thank you. >> yes, bye-bye. >> okay, bye-bye. >> my grandmother always told us this, too, shall pass. and it's times of trials andtri

faith and i lean on my spirit. i don't know how, i don't know

as the coronavirus devastates the u.s. economy, there is one bright spot, if you can call it that. alcohol sales are through the roof, and it's not only liquor stores doing business. a lot of restaurants are now selling drinks to go. joy bennedict has the story. rtsft cocktails.

but the bar is currently empty. however, the liquor still pours. >> this is a -- the base of the red hot and bother. >> reporter: with liters of vodka, james is mixing martin is in a bucket and bottling them to go. >> the way we're creating the cocktails, it's bottled and sealed. it's designed to be shaken and poured over ice. >> reporter: california is one state that allows be of th coronav shutdown theyse five for take-out orders. this general manager is back to his roots as a bartender. >> it's really tough. >> reporter: around the corner trendy burger spot tuning fork is boarded up on the outside, but bagging orders on the inside. they're pouring pints of craft beers and paper cups and sending them out the door. >> people like to get that nice big burger and enjoy it at home

with their beer. >> reporter: the coronavirus pandemic has led to americans buying more booze. u.s. aol sales u 22% during the last week of march compared to the same time in forhat people are buying, kneel son says it's premixed ready to drink cocktails that have the greatest sales growth over this time last year, up more than 100% followed by to keel a. restaurants like black market are looking to capitalize on the higher demand for alcohol. >> we're doing our best to make sure the people we had to let go, all of our friends have jobs to come back cocktail creations keep customers happy and their take-outdoors open a little longer. joy bennedict, cbs news, los angeles. >> and that is the overnight news for this friday. for some of you the news continues. for others, check in later with "cbs this morning" and follow any timenl at in wain, i'ffay

captioning sponsored by cbs >> o'donnell: breaking newstoni. as the death toll from coronavirus crosses another threshold, new york's governor compares the outbreak to 9/11. and pleas for help from funeral directors. >> that is so shocking and painful and breathtaking. i don't even have the word for urgentld tree another social distancing? unemployment surges-- the stark new numbers. more than six million americans filed jobless claims in just the last week. nearly 17 million now out of work since the crisis began.