With the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, parts of the economy came to a screeching halt. Retail outlets that did not sell groceries or other essential goods were closed. Entertainment, drinking at bars, dining at restaurants, and cultural events ceased. Schools and day cares closed, and parents lost many available child care options. Almost immediately, there were declines in demands for other services like mass transit. It therefore comes as no surprise that unemployment insurance claims immediately skyrocketed as people were furloughed, laid off, experienced pay-cuts, or left work for health and family care reasons. In essence a partial economic shutdown was enacted to keep people home and curb the spread of the virus. Enhanced financial support was necessary for those who could not work remotely or work and juggle health and family care needs to avoid widespread material deprivation, and there was widespread uptake of enhanced unemployment insurance benefits. The purpose of this brief is to better understand the nature of pandemic-related high unemployment: where it was first felt in terms of industry, occupation, geography, and demographic characteristics, and how it varied across the New England states. We begin by exploring trends in the weekly unemployment insurance (UI) claims data for regular state benefits, excluding special programs, the quickest available source for monitoring unemployment. We then turn to monthly UI data to make more nuanced comparisons within the region. Throughout our analysis, we consider how observed patterns vary by gender, race-ethnicity, and age, to the extent the data allow such comparisons, and consider some of the potential mechanisms behind observed differences.