CORONAVIRUS — FLASH ALERT
March 12, 2020 — Coronavirus slammed into the United States like a hurricane this week.
Over a thousand Americans have already been diagnosed — and the virus is confirmed to be spreading person-to-person inside the US. In New York City, the financial epicenter of the country, the mayor has issued a warning about transmission risks on the subways; the governor of New York has declared a state of emergency in the suburbs outside the city and deployed the National Guard. Classes, events, celebrations, and travel are being canceled across the country.
Globally, the human toll is skyrocketing. Over 120,000 people are infected around the world. Thousands have already died. The Communist Party of China has put large swaths of the country’s critical industrial cities on total lockdown. Italy has a national quarantine. There have been hundreds of deaths in Iran, including in the most senior leadership of the government of the Islamic Republic. The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel has said up to 70% of Germans could become infected with the disease.
Over 1,000 Americans have been diagnosed with the virus — but that number may be far higher already, because of the mishandling of testing kits. As the government struggles to solve Coronavirus test challenges, fears are rising that hospitals in the US may be overrun by the sheer number of victims.
Analysts, including Raoul Paul, Real Vision’s Co-Founder & CEO, have expressed concerns that Coronavirus could be the most significant economic event of our lifetime. Markets have whipsawed wildly — with explosive volatility — reflecting panic not seen in markets since the Great Financial Crisis. PMIs in China have absolutely cratered. The Fed has cut rates, as have The Bank of England, Bank of Canada, and The Reserve Bank of Australia, amid reports that the virus is mutating.
For context on Coronavirus, the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918 infected about half a billion people globally, which was one-third of the world’s population, according to official CDC Estimates. During that epidemic, 50 million people died — included nearly 700,000 people in the United States, according to the CDC. With the global fear factor rising, more comparisons to Spanish Flu seem inevitable.
What will be the impact of Coronavirus going forward? Will the rate of transmission continue to explode — and who will be affected next? What will happen to the global economy? How will the virus itself, as well as the sweeping social and economic changes that may follow in its wake, impact your family and your investments?
In the days and weeks ahead, Real Vision will continue to stay highly targeted on the financial and economic impact of Coronavirus, as well as providing expanded coverage of the underlying science and potential social impacts of the disease. We will continue to deliver the deep dives and in-depth interviews our subscribers have come to expect — but with enhanced coverage that expands not only the scope of our reporting but the speed and regularity of live coverage, flash updates, and enhanced analysis and surveillance.