Conrad Black: Getting a handle on COVID-19's economic fallout

U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the coronavirus response daily briefing with members of the administration's coronavirus task force, at the White House in Washington, D.C., on March 20. Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

COVID-19, also known as coronavirus disease, is an infectious disease caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. It was first detected during the 2019 Wuhan epidemic, with coronavirus pneumonia.

Certainly, this disease has caused a stir around the world and is, in fact, generating a great world crisis.

In this way, it is appropriate to indicate that the coronavirus crisis is complicated by the unusual state of panic that has possessed much of the world, and by the somewhat divergent concerns and objectives of those who address medical questions and those who attempt to cope with the economic damage. The American national political media, in its hostility towards the president in an election year, and before the proportions of the pandemic were clear, fanned the fires of public hysteria. At the same time, the Chinese government and media first disguised and lied about the virus and are now engaged in immense work of fabricating fabricated myths.

COVID-19 around the world

Arguably, the American landscape has become clear, with a committee of experts in scientific management and public health developing policies under the vice president’s chairmanship and the president’s sponsorship. Being so, it has been indicated that it is clear that partisanship is completely out of fashion and that the country demands unity and action to face a crisis that threatens everyone. Everyone seems to be observing the spirit of the suddenly threatening times and there is a fair amount of antiquated bipartisan work between Congress and the administration. The atmosphere of the past few weeks briefly reminded veterans like me of the stress of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, when the world seemed on the brink of nuclear war.

Two weeks ago it became clear that South Korea had defeated the coronavirus and that its spread could be contained, and China confirmed this, but the government of the People’s Republic has been so unreliable that no one in their right mind could get much rest. Still, foreign observers in China and renewed production from Chinese manufacturers seem to confirm that the virus has grown there, in the land of its origins.

With these developments and the news that antimalarial medicine can alleviate the coronavirus, the United States has the opportunity to replicate the path of South Korea and is rapidly moving to develop vaccines and increase its supplies of emergency equipment and anticipate what expected number of virus sufferers.

Unfortunately, the scientific and epidemiological experts who are creating and executing the public health war plan in the United States and, to some extent, their Canadian analogs, have little regard for the economic consequences of their recommended actions. Essentially, they want everyone to stay home until everyone who contracted the virus has recovered.

Source: Conrad Black | National Post