COMMENTS / COLUMNISTS
Washington must act to fight virus, avoid financial crisis
Published: Feb 27, 2020 07:53 PM

Illustration: Luo Xuan/GT



Panic driven by the possible spread of novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) in the US has sent the country's stock market plummeting for days. Only actions to combat the virus, rather than words, can save the US stock market from a meltdown and stop it from once again becoming the center of a global financial crisis.

This week, the US market experienced one of its darkest moments in history. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has fallen for three consecutive days and was down to under 27,000 points by Wednesday. On the same day, the benchmark 10-year treasury yield continued to tumble to a record low, as did the 30-year bond rate. 

The market selloff revealed investor concerns over whether or not the US can bring the situation under control, particularly as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the country's first possible case of community transmission. The US should devote more efforts and at the same time rethink its disease control policy.

The Trump administration's ill-planned move to slash disease control funding and cut manpower have left the country vulnerable and unprepared for the virus. The CDC was forced to reduce its efforts to prevent disease outbreaks by 80 percent in 2018 due to a lack of funding. 

Moreover, the US government did not roll out many effective measures to screen and prevent COVID-19 other than enforcing harsh border controls. Each year in the US many people are diagnosed with or die from flu-related pneumonia. As COVID-19 and pneumonia caused by influenza have similar symptoms, identifying COVID-19 within a limited timeframe is vital to containing its spread. 

However, media reported, citing a public health lab, that only three US states are capable of testing for the coronavirus. There is a possibility that coronavirus cases have been treated and discharged as flu-related pneumonia due to the shortage of test kits.

Closing its borders and hoping for the best will not protect the US from COVID-19. Minding its own business has resulted in the reductions of many international disease cooperation programs in recent years. Communication and collaboration among countries is what the world needs the most in its current situation. 

At a news conference on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump said the coronavirus risk "remains very low" for the American people. However, investors do not buy his attempt to placate the market. US futures on Thursday signaled a further decline for the US economy. If this trend continues, bubbles accumulated in the stock market over years of monetary easing could be burst. The country might once again drag the global financial market into a crisis. There is not much time left and US government should hasten to act. 

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. bizopinion@globaltimes.com.cn