The state Department of Labor had some good news on Thursday: New York's unemployment rate in February declined from 3.8 percent to 3.7 percent. 

But that last month, before the coronavirus pandemic wrecked Wall Street and Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other states ordered non-essential workers to stay home and businesses to close to prevent the spread of the disease.

“We reached both a new record high private sector job count and a new record low jobless rate in February 2020," Bohdan M. Wynnyk, Director of the New York State Department of Labor’s Division of Research and Statistics. However, it is important to note that these latest monthly labor market data do not yet reflect the economic impact of the current coronavirus outbreak.” 

The gains in jobs from February will almost surely be wiped away when New York-specific data is released. Preliminarly, it's been known jobless claims have flooded the state's unemployment hotline. 

Earlier in the day the federal government announced 3.3 million jobless claims were filed in the last week, shattering a record from 1982. 

The question remains how bad it will be fore New York, an engine of the national economy as tax receipts have largely dried up. 

Asked what his message is to people who have lost their jobs, Gov. Andrew Cuomo at his daily press briefing said everyone was in the same position given the destabilizing force of the pandemic. 

"I'm sure it is a terrible feeling and a frightening feeling for everyone," Cuomo said. "No one has been here before. This is going to change us. It is going to help form a new generation."