"COVID-19 Lights a Fuse"

From the April 2020 Global Debt Monitor: COVID-19 Lights a Fuse at the Institute of International Finance:

• With the COVID-19 fiscal response in full swing, the global debt burden is set to rise dramatically in 2020; gross government debt issuance soared to a record high of over $2.1 trillion last month, more than double the 2017-19 average of $0.9 trillion.
   
• As social distancing becomes the norm across most mature economies, global recession looms: a recession which would begin with $87 trillion more in global debt than at the onset of the 2008 financial crisis.
   
• Using a simple top-down estimation, if net government borrowing doubles from 2019 levels—and there is a 3% contraction in global economic activity (nominal terms)—the world’s debt pile would surge from 322% of GDP to over 342% this year.

That's Global numbers, remember, and not just for the US.

I like the way they say it: They make sure we understand that debt is rising and that GDP is liable to decline, and that both of these changes contribute to the growth of debt-to-GDP.