Covid-19 and the Global Economy Continued
Claudewell S. Thomas, MD, MPH, DLFAPA, is an established psychiatrist who is currently retired ,, He received his medical degree in 1956 at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine and specializes in social psychiatry, public health psychiatry, and forensic psychiatry. Dr. Thomas was board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry... more
Yesterday's 1,023 point decline in the DJI with accompanying similar jolts in the NASDAQ and world markets put us all on notice that the withdrawal of China's > 23% investiture in world trade can cripple the world's economy. An early morning "recovery" today has given way to a resumption of plunging stock and bond prices. A run on U.S. Treasuries has led to their depletion and a fall in their yields. These financial woes are directly related to the over 2,300 deaths in China, the deaths in Iran, Turkey, Cambodia, Italy, India, Japan, Pakistan, South Korea, France, Belgium, England, Thailand, and close to 100 reported U.S. infections with 3 reported deaths.
More is known about the virus, it is an RNA virus that lives in the nose and throat much like its close relative, the common cold. It is mutating rapidly and increasing in infectivity and lethality. It is able to exchange genomes with other viruses and thus able to acquire both infectivity and protective coloration. Upon descent into the lungs, it can wreak pneumonic havoc and can acquire characteristics of SARs in the liver, it can acquire characteristics of MERs and cause fulminating hepatitis. In the kidneys, nephritis, and failure in the heart myocarditis and failure. It is truly a nasty customer. On the other side of this doomsday scenario is a (less than?) 20% chance that it can revert to a common cold status and simply go away. The trail of death that it has left makes this seem unlikely. I can conceive of no manifest destiny or exceptionalism that makes the USA exempt.
A lot of blather has gone on between WHO, CDC, and governments about pandemics, epidemics, emergencies, etc. Much of this is an attempt to avoid panic (You see what is happening to the markets). Talk about some governments not having resources and having the situation made worse by world and prosperous country announcements as to seriousness is absurd. A world effort has to be made. Coronavirus is not alone, Ebola, Epidemic Flu, etc. are coming. As to the economy, a 5 to 10-year recession seems entirely possible. It is sad to watch politicians advising and applying quick economic fixes while invoking health prescriptive nostrums that are either insufficient or entirely unexecutable because of their actions.
For individual and family safety it is wise to stay out of crowds, minimize domestic travel and eliminate foreign travel. Get flu shots, wash hands, minimize hands to face, sneeze in the elbow, don't smoke, don't vape, use alcoholic beverages sparingly, avoid excess carbohydrates and fats. This may be a good time for the faithful to pray for all of us!
