As Coronavirus concerns rise, financial expert: ‘Do not get caught up in the fear’

California officials are working to figure out how a Solano County woman contracted the coronavirus since she hasn’t traveled to China and doesn’t know anyone else infected. And some experts are sounding the alarm because despite being placed on a ventilator, it took health officials four days to test her for the virus.

“Every single delay in testing means potentially the virus could go to hundreds or thousands more people,” says Eric Feigl-Ding with the Harvard School of Public Health.

In California, 33 people have tested positive as the state monitors at least 8,400 others. However, the governor says he needs more supplies

“We have just a few hundred testing kits in the state of California and that’s surveillance testing, not diagnostic testing. It’s simply inadequate,” said California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D).

Still, California health officials stress the risk to the American public remains low.

 

Sacramento Patient May Have Come Into Contact with Exposed Traveler

In a press briefing on Friday, Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the director of the center for the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD),  said upon further investigation the Sacramento patient may have come into contact with an exposed traveler who had returned from an affected area, so it’s possible the patient was not infected from a person who developed the virus locally.

Messonnier said the CDC considers the reduced and sustained number of new cases in China “good news and hopes the trend continues not only for the people of China but also to help us learn what we can do to control its spread.”

In response to CBN News’s question for the CDC reaction to the lower death rate outside China than within, Messonnier answered, “We continue to analyze a whole bunch of data from China and elsewhere, hoping to understand what we can expect here.”  She also said, “Our cases are doing generally very well.”

 

Federal Government Responds

President Trump is seeking $2.5 billion from Congress to prevent and battle the virus.

“Coming close to a bipartisan agreement in the Congress as to how we can go forward,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told reporters Thursday.

This as Vice President Mike Pence begins his efforts to contain the virus.

“In the days ahead we’re going to make sure that the full resources of the federal government continue to be brought to bear on confronting the coronavirus here at home,” Pence said during a meeting at the White House with his newly formed Coronavirus panel.

As concerns rise, now a whistle-blower at the Department of Health and Human Services says federal health employees who processed Americans evacuated from virus hot spots didn’t have proper medical training or protective gear.

 

Markets Shudder 

Fears about the virus are sending shockwaves through markets around the world.

Here at home the Dow Jones suffering its worse days since the 2008 financial crisis — down nearly 1,200 points amid warnings from top Wall Street firms about the impact of the virus on businesses and earnings.

Financial expert Dan Celia tells CBN News while the short-term market looks bad, investors looking long term shouldn’t be fearful.

“My advice is don’t change anything – please, please do not get caught up in the fear of what might happen or for that matter what is happening in your investments, your 401ks, your portfolios, your IRAs,” Celia says.

For now, uncertainties about the impact of the virus are still hurting stocks as investors and people around the world wait and see how long it takes before the disease is contained.

–CBN News

 

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