I think handing out cash has two objectives.
1. To help those that lost their jobs pay the mortgage or rent, and buy food. Makes total sense to spot them in times of crisis.
2. To get those that have jobs to boost the economy. The problem is this won't work with a cash payment. Instead, if it's truly the government's objective to get this group spending, they ought to just issue these people credits cards with a cash balance and a time limit (say 60 days) to spend it. I'd also put a couple of restrictions on the spending too, like you can't spend more than 10% at any one store or more than 20% in a day. It'll force people to buy multiple products and services, multiple places on multiple days. If they don't spend it in the allotted time frame, then the card is dead. That's how you get the maximum boost. There is no point in giving free money to someone already employed. They'll either throw it into a retirement fund (dead money) or buy a Gucci belt which does little to help the people and companies most hurt by this crisis.