Emergence of a Deadly Coronavirus

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World stocks tumbled overnight with investors bracing for the economic fallout of the epidemic, with a shocking all-out price war adding to anxiety.

Meanwhile, members of Congress are becoming increasingly nervous about coronavirus, and there is growing pressure on leadership to take steps to protect lawmakers — even potentially recessing for a period of weeks — two Democratic congressional sources said Sunday.

Dow set to open with a decline of 1,300 points as oil war adds to coronavirus stresses
Wall Street is preparing for a bloodbath on Monday, after oil prices cratered by 30 percent overnight, pushing all three major averages to declines of around 5 percent and adding stress to an economy already feeling intense pressure from the coronavirus epidemic.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average looked set to open down by 1,300 points on Monday morning, with trading on the S&P 500 halted overnight after hitting critical levels that triggered a "circuit-breaker," which prevents further losses.

Investors took shelter in safe havens, pushing gold to a seven-year high and pushing the 10-year Treasury yield to an all-time historic low of 0.3 percent by early morning.

Conditions worsened after the world's oil-producing countries failed to strike a deal at a meeting between cartel members in Vienna last week. The stalemate continued over the weekend, with Saudi Arabia and Russia reportedly planning to ramp up production on their own terms after the current deal expires at the end of the month.

Stock markets around the world plunge as oil price war adds to coronavirus fears
Stocks across the world tumbled early Monday after a shocking all-out oil price war added to anxiety around the economic fallout from the spreading coronavirus.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average indicated an opening drop of more than 1,300 points. The S&P 500 futures indicated a 5 percent drop at Monday’s open. The S&P futures trading was briefly halted overnight. The sharp declines in the futures market signaled more turbulence ahead after a roller-coaster week that saw the S&P 500 swing up or down more than 2.5 percent for four days straight.

The massive sell-off could trigger key market circuit breakers during regular trading hours.

Anxiety in an aging Congress as coronavirus spreads across U.S.
WASHINGTON — Members of Congress are becoming increasingly anxious about coronavirus, and there is growing pressure on leadership to take steps to protect lawmakers — even potentially recessing for a period of weeks — two Democratic congressional sources said Sunday.

"Members are very nervous," a senior Democratic leadership aide said. "There's a lot of concern that members could bring it home."

But some members were urging Congress to stay the course to "show leadership in a time of great anxiety" and conduct oversight of the Trump administration's response.

Rep. Gosar's use of 'Wuhan virus' sparks anger
Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., said he will self-quarantine for 14 days on Sunday after he came into "extended" contact with a person who since been hospitalized for coronavirus, he set off a debate by referring to the disease as "Wuhan virus."

Rep. Gosar called the disease COVID-19 in an official statement, but on his personal Twitter account he wrote that he had "sustained contact...with a person who has since been hospitalized with the Wuhan Virus."

Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., said in a tweet that Gosar's use of "Wuhan virus" is "an example of the myopia that allowed it to spread," adding the virus is "not constrained by country or race."

Many on social media said Gosar's reference was racist, including NARAL president Ilyse Hogue, as anti-Asian bias and xenophobia have been rising as the virus spreads.

Others, particularly figures in conservative media, defended Gosar, saying it is commonplace to refer to diseases by the place from where they originated, citing Lyme, Connecticut as the namesake of Lyme's Disease and Zika Virus, named after the Zika Forest of Uganda.

Gosar himself responded to the criticism on Twitter late Sunday, saying it is "just astoundingly ignorant to have all major media refer to it as #WuhanVirus for months but somehow, today, you’ve decided that’s #racist."

When coronavirus first appeared, many people, including those in the media, referred to it as "Wuhan virus." But in mid-February, the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) put out guidelines for reporting responsibly on the outbreak, and cautioned against saying "Wuhan virus." AAJA cited 2015 guidelines from the World Health Organization which discourage naming illnesses after geographic locations to avoid stigmatizing those who live there.

Japan’s professional baseball season postponed by outbreak
Japan’s professional baseball league decided to postpone the season opening due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The league's commissioner, Atsushi Saito, announced that the season opening matches slated for March 20 will be postponed during a meeting with Japan's twelve professional baseball teams Monday.

“While continuing to seek advice from experts, we will aim to start the season some time during April," Saito said.

Japan has so far recorded 488 cases of the virus and 15 deaths.

South Korea's top public health official hopes that the country has already gone through the worst of the novel coronavirus outbreak that has infected thousands inside the country.

"We are hoping that we have passed the peak, taking the numbers into consideration, and cautiously expecting we have passed the peak," South Korean Health Minister Park Neunghoo said in an exclusive interview with CNN.

More than 7,300 coronavirus infections have been confirmed throughout South Korea, killing more than 50. It is one of the largest outbreaks outside mainland China, where the deadly virus was first identified. However, the number of new daily infections in South Korea has declined in recent days.

Park said that while he believes the aggregate number of infections is high, he is confident in the job South Korea did to combat the virus' spread and would advise other governments who are dealing with outbreaks to focus efforts on early testing and global cooperation.

The South Korean government has been among the most ambitious when it comes to providing the public with free and easy testing options. It has the ability run about 15,000 diagnostic test per day and has conducted 196,000 tests to date nationwide, free of charge. Authorities in the city of Goyang even set up drive-thru testing booths.

South Korean authorities also arranged facilities for patients who were only suffering from mild symptoms. Park said only about 10% of coronavirus patients required hospitalization, while the rest had strong enough immune systems to fight the virus on their own.

About three quarters of all the cases have been identified in the city of Daegu and 63% of all cases in the country are directly related to Shinchonji religious group, the South Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

South Korean authorities believe it's possible that the country's outbreak began with Shincheonji. Park said the number of cases linked to Shincheonji could be as high as 90% of all coronavirus infections throughout the country, when counting those directly and indirectly linked to the religious group.

U.S. equity markets were sharply lower Monday morning after an oil price war broke out between Saudi Arabia and Russia and the new coronavirus showed signs of spreading.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down by as many as 2,046 points, or 7.9 percent, in the opening minutes of trading while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were lower by 7.4 percent and 7.3 percent, respectively. Trading, which was already halted for 15 minutes, will see another stoppage if the S&P 500 trades down 13 percent.

The steep slide has caused the New York Federal Reserve to increase its daily cash injections into the banking system to $150 billion from $100 billion.

The stock-market selloff comes after a production dispute between OPEC members, led by Saudi Arabia, and Russia sent West Texas Intermediate crude oil, the U.S. benchmark, plunging by as much as 33.8 percent, the most since the outbreak of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, to a low of $27.34 a barrel in overnight trading. After a small rebound, WTI was trading down 21.4 percent at $32.42 a barrel.

Oil majors, including Exxon Mobil, Chevron and BP, were sharply lower, as were service providers Haliburton and Schlumberger.

Elsewhere, travel-related names remained under pressure after Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned Americans with underlying conditions not to take long plane trips or cruises due to the new coronavirus outbreak.

Some drugmakers working on treatments for COVID-19, including Inovio Pharmaceuticals and BioCryst Pharmaceuticals were sharply higher.

Italian penitentiary police said Monday that six inmates protesting virus containment measures at a northern Italian lockup have died after they broke into the infirmary and overdosed on methadone.

The protest Sunday in Modena was among the first of more than two dozen riots at Italy’s overcrowded lockups that grew Monday. Human rights advocates have been warning that increasing tensions over fears of coronavirus were hitting inmates particularly hard, especially after restrictions were imposed on family visits to prevent transmissions.

On Monday, inmates climbed onto the roof of the San Vittore prison in Milan and held up a painted sheet reading “Indulto,” Italian for pardon.

Donato Capece, secretary general of the penitentiary police union, accused the government of abandoning the prison system, refusing to provide sufficient measures to prevent the spread of the virus among inmates and leaving guards on their own to deal with prisoners who could now only speak to relatives by phone or Skype.

“The administration is completely absent,” he told The Associated Press. “They have left the penitentiary police in jeopardy.”

He confirmed six inmates at the Modena prison had died from overdoses. He ticked off the more than two dozen prisons where protests were underway, including in Foggia where some prisoners had escaped.

Italy’s overburdened court system has ground to a near halt because of virus containment measures, increasing tensions among prisoners already forced to endure long delays in justice.

The attending physician for the U.S. Capitol said Monday that a coronavirus patient who attended the recent Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington, D.C., had contact with “several” members of Congress -- two of whom are known and have put themselves in self-quarantine.

In a statement released Monday, the attending physician said the individual who has been diagnosed with coronavirus, or COVID-19, was “able to recall specific names of people he had contact with during the meeting.”

Several of these individuals, Members of the Congress, were identified and were contacted on the evening of March 7 by the Office of Attending Physician,” the statement from Dr. Brian Monahan's office said. “Their physical symptoms were reviewed, and arrangements were made for each individual to speak with Centers for Disease Control experts and their local state public health authorities.”

The statement added that authorities “assessed each person’s contact with the ill individual” and noted that “the overall findings are considered to be a 'low risk'" to contract the virus.

It is overhyped. Be more worried about the flu...

In all seriousness, in a week or two it will be old news. It always is.

Not exactly a global pandemic. We took the proper precautions, I believe.

There still has not been a confirmed case in New York City.

And we have five Chinatowns, and people who have (until recently) traveled to and from China on a regular basis.

China has zero new cases outside Hubei province. There are more active cases outside China than inside China. China has started to dismantle some of its temporary hospitals. China has started to ban/quarantine travelers from some countries. Interesting how the table has turned.

So, containment indeed is possible, in the case of China. Is containment possible in Western countries? With the bad habit of Western people not wanting to wear masks, that's hard to say. Europe will be hard hit. US has a few weak spots: New York City, homeless people around the country, and healthcare workers infected in hospitals.

Meanwhile, the virus has already crossed over to the Southern Hemisphere (specifically South America), where all bets are off, due to lack of any kind of infrastructure.

A few things will help. Korea has been extremely creative in it drive-through sample collection, people can get tested without having to get off their cars. US and Taiwan both have sample-testing technologies to return results within 15 minutes (pending approval and mass production, which should happen within 4 months), instead of 4 hours. Mask production has cranked up world-wide. Vaccines will likely to be tested in the Southern Hemisphere first. That is, even though the situation in the Southern Hemisphere will be catastrophic when fall/winter arrives there, we will have a few more tools.

Let us revisit some past comments on this thread:




Yeah right.

Keep up with your five Chinatowns.

The head of the Port Authority — who has been visiting local airports — has the coronavirus, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday.

Cuomo said he himself “could have been in contact” with infected PA Executive Director Rick Cotton but hasn’t been tested because he’s an “improbable positive,” meaning he isn’t likely to have the virus.

The governor didn’t say how Cotton may have contracted the potentially deadly bug but noted that the executive director “has been at the airports, obviously, when many people were coming back with the virus.

Cuomo specifically mentioned JFK Airport in Queens.

Cotton “will be working from home, and now the senior team that works with Rick will also be tested so several of them may be on quarantine and they’ll be working from home,” Cuomo said.

The PA chief and his “senior leadership team” are under a 14-day quarantine, officials later added.

Walmart online has Lysol back in stock in large jugs but looks like toilet paper is out.

In Walmart today people were wiping down shopping carts with disinfectent wipes and some people were wearing masks.

I always use those wipes. People should always use them. If folks were more careful during cold and flu seasons, less people would get sick. So far I have only seen one person with a face mask.

About the only place I go in public is the supermarket. A couple years ago they installed an alcohol-wipe dispenser by the door, and I've been using it every time I leave. Last year I didn't get any cold or flu, and haven't yet this year (knock wood). And even though it's right there at the door, and with all the current news, most people still don't use it.

Italy is extending its strict coronavirus quarantine measures, which include a ban on public gatherings, to the entire country.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said that people would only be permitted to travel for work or family emergencies.

He said the measures, which come into effect on Tuesday, were to defend the most fragile members of society.

Italy's coronavirus death toll jumped on Monday by 97 to 463. It is the worst-hit country after China

In a televised address on Monday, Mr Conte said that the best thing for the citizens of Italy was to stay at home.

He added that all sporting events - including football matches - were being suspended nationwide.