The COVID-19 pandemic, and the closure of businesses because of it, has resulted in more Texans applying for unemployment benefits this month during the whole of 2019.

During the week that ended on March 7, 65 Hays County residents had filed an unemployment claim. Less than a month later, by April 4, that number had skyrocketed to 2,475.

That increase is greater than any interstate corridor county except Travis County, where the number of claims grew from 420 to 13,507 during the same time period,...