The Centers for Disease Control (CDC)’s recent coronavirus warning has spurred sustained stock sell-offs in the days that followed. Apparently, the CDC found it necessary to issue the warning as the Trump administration came out with misleading information that the U.S. government has been able to contain the virus.
Last February 26, 2020, the CDC announced that the spread of the Covid-19 virus in the U.S. is inevitable, and that it is only a question of when it will happen. As a result, values of traded securities went on a rapid decline, as investors in equities are currently on a sell off spree. Up to now, the sell off rampage is ongoing, hitting all three (3) financial markets: the Dow, the Nasdaq and the Standard & Poor’s 500.
Fears have been aggravated by the U.S. Treasury Department’s wait-and-see stance. This became evident during the G-20 Summit in Riyadh. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told reporters that they still need 3 to 4 weeks before they can arrive at a clearer evaluation of how the Covid-19 epidemic will affect the country and its economy.
CDC Advises People to Get Ready and Be Prepared
The CDC’s coronavirus warning was founded by the fact that Covid-19 has infected a Northern Carolina woman by way of person-to-person transmission. That being the case, the CDC fears that the disease is now spreading in the community through people that the infected woman has been in contact with, before she was quarantined.
Tracking of cases spread by way of person-to-person transmission also led to Illinois, where one patient diagnosed with the Covid-19 infection contracted the disease, not by way of travel. The agency shared that the current breakdown of coronavirus-infection cases comprises one each in Arizona, Massachusetts,Washington and Wiconsin; two (2) in Illinois and eight (8) in California.
The Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at CDC, Dr. Nancy Messonnier, said the American public should be ready because
“It is no longer a question of whether this will happen, but more on questions of exactly when the virus spread and of how many people in the U.S. will have severe infection”
The agency also sent out a tweet addressing hospitals, businesses and communities to start preparing now, as there is a possibility that the spread of Covid-19 in the country would reach epidemic proportions.
Businesses Should Be Ready with Their Emergency Response Plans
The CDC warning and the negative reactions of investors should also serve as warning for businesses to stand ready with their Emergency Response Plans, particularly on actions to be taken in case of an infectious disease epidemic.
After all, the well-being of consumers is critical to the survival of businesses. Measures must be taken proactively, in order to curtail the effects of the contagious Covid-19 disease. The public will start avoiding commercial establishments once the spread of the coronavirus is full blown.
More importantly, rental property management companies must also closely guard the estates they manage; particularly in multi-family housing facilities where diverse groups of people reside.