The US economy has continued to fall into one of the worst recessions in modern American history, according to the Commerce Department’s latest report, which showed a 4.8 percent decline in gross domestic product (GDP).

The first quarter earnings reflect a historic decline in economic output from January through March, as the coronavirus pandemic triggered businesses to close and governors to implement stay-at-home orders across the country.

The loss in GDP marked the first economic contraction in the US in six years, as well as the steepest quarterly downturn since the Great Recession.