The New York State Department of Labor says it has streamlined the application process for unemployment benefits.
Applicants can now use a single form to apply at the same time for regular benefits and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.
Until now, applicants had to wait to be rejected for regular benefits before they could apply for the pandemic assistance.
More workers have been brought on to handle the surge in claims. By yesterday, a backlog of 275,000 applications had been reduced to about 4,000.