Last week Washington saw nearly 144,000 new claims for unemployment, according to the Employment Security Department (ESD), which brings the state's total up to more than 585,000.

The filing rate is down 16% from the previous week, though the department has already paid out more in unemployment—well over a quarter of a million dollars—than they have "since the Great Depression," ESD commissioner Suzi Levine said during a press conference this afternoon.

That money went to nearly 266,000 unemployed workers last week, though the state's total claims then sat at 486,000. That means 220,000 Washingtonians are still waiting for a check—or waiting to see if they're eligible to get a check—two weeks before rent and mortgage payments come due.

Making matters worse, the unemployment office expects to see "several hundred thousand" more applicants in the coming weeks due to provisions in the federal CARES Act coming online this weekend. Those provisions expand unemployment benefits for the next 13 weeks to "self-employed workers, independent contractors and other workers who are not traditionally eligible."

However, Levine said, "a majority of those applicants" will be eligible for benefits after this weekend, when the federal government starts helping to pick up the tab. Levine believes people who were only eligible for the expanded benefits started applying right after the CARES Act was passed last month and ended up getting denied. The department has sent notes to those applicants urging them to apply this weekend.

Some percentage of those people who were initially deemed ineligible, Levine said, could have been fired without cause or they voluntarily quit, which would mean they're not getting the benefit. Others require additional adjudication because they think they worked more hours than the state thinks they did. Twelve thousand of them were students waiting for a waiver, which has since been granted.

Though hundreds of thousands have gotten through, lots of people report "frustration" when dealing with the system.

Levine said a lot of the reason for that frustration is people flooding the hotlines with frequently asked questions they could find online. To help mitigate that situation in the future, though, the department will add 500 more people to handle customer service calls by this weekend, and 1,000 more people in the following days.

If you're one of the 220,000 who've been rejected, or if you think you're about to get laid off pretty soon, the ESD recommends you take the following steps to help make the process smoother this weekend. 1. Sign up to get their email blasts. 2. Review their unemployment eligibility checklist. 3. Make sure you're ready with these materials before you apply. 4. Watch this YouTube vid before creating your account with ESD.

Another thing to note: On Saturday, instead of taking calls, the ESD will be upgrading their software to deal with the "tsunami" of people who are eligible for these expanded benefits. By Sunday the website should be up and running, Levine says, but "it's going to be a very bare-bones experience, and it's going to be clunky." First you will need to fill out a form to apply, and then you will be told you are ineligible. But don't despair. Another link will appear and allow you to apply for the new assistance.

And another thing: ESD will need to review wage data for anyone who doesn't already have that on file with the state. Rather than just tell those people to screw off, they're going to give them the minimum weekly benefit plus the $600 bonus, so right out the gate they'll get $835. After their wage documents are verified, the state will then retroactively pay them for any difference.

People who have direct deposit should see the money within 24 hours, Levine said, while those who need checks mailed will see them in a week.

Meanwhile, in a press release the state's Economic Resiliency Team (ERT) claims Washington's very small business loan program, which was announced last Tuesday, has already dried up after receiving "over 24,000 applications statewide." Because the state aims to achieve geographic equity with their $10,000 grants, some counties—mostly east of the mountains, save Pierce, Pacific, and Wahkiakum—are still taking applications through the end of the week. The few Washingtonians working for those businesses may be stabilized for a month, but the rest may join over half a million Washingtons in the unemployment line this weekend.