Fox News contributor and expert forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden says he is worried that COVID-19 “could be serious.” At the same time, however, he says that the response by the Trump administration has been good.
“This doesn’t compare to [the Spanish flu] as [of] now, but the problem here is that with the coronavirus, people can be sick and be contagious and have the bug in them and feel healthy,” Baden said.
Baden also said that the novelty of the virus is worrisome because people just don’t know a lot yet about how fast it will spread outside China, where most of the 82,000 current cases are centered.
“I am worried about it, yes, because it’s a new virus that’s come into the community. We have no antibodies against it, no experience with it before,” he said.
Uncertainty affects markets
“We haven’t done enough studies,” Baden went on. “Less than a thousand people [who] have been studied in the United States so far have been tested for it.”
The uncertainty about the future of the outbreak has caused the U.S. stock market to decline more than 10% in just a week on fears that supply chains and local businesses could be affected by the outbreak if it gets bad enough to keep people inside their homes rather than spending money at stores, restaurants, and large-group events.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday put Vice President Mike Pence in charge of the outbreak response to oversee testing, screening, and quarantine processes that are ongoing and have seemed to limit the spread of coronavirus in the U.S. so far.
Trump pointed to an early decision to close borders to people coming from areas of China heavily affected by the coronavirus as having prevented new transmissions over the last month. Currently, only 15 people have developed the virus inside the United States, Politico reported, and most of them had traveled to the Wuhan area of China within the previous few weeks.
Democrats creating panic
Despite the containment of coronavirus in the U.S. so far, Democrats and the media seem to be trying to create a panic in yet another attempt to damage Trump.
Trump addressed these efforts in his press conference, calling House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) “incompetent” and accusing her of using the situation for personal and party gain.
“I think Speaker Pelosi’s incompetent,” he said. “I think she’s not thinking about the country. She should be saying we have to work together.”
While stock markets may be a little bit rattled, the American public is not showing that same nervousness so far. If Trump can hold America together through this latest crisis, he may become even more popular by November.
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