Market comment 2020

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The prospect of large-scale epidemics in places like India, sub-Saharan Africa, or Central America is terrifying because the relatively low death rate currently observed among Covid-19 cases is contingent on the availability of respirators and other medical devices to treat acute cases. The disease could be significantly more lethal in countries that are less generously endowed with hospital infrastructure, and in the context of a global outbreak, rich countries are unlikely to offer much help.

It is also possible that the virus will continue to spread only very slowly. And while Trump’s proclamation that warm weather will stop coronavirus is wildly premature, it’s at least plausible. There is unquestionably a happy scenario in which we pass through several scary weeks but infections don’t get out of control, the virus starts to recede in April, and a vaccine is available next winter. The crashing market says that investors are increasingly unwilling to bet on that happening, and scientifically speaking that appears to be the right bet.

 The coronavirus stock market crash, explained - Vox

At least 210 people in Iran have died as a result of the new coronavirus disease, sources in the country's health system have told BBC Persian. Most of the victims are from the capital, Tehran, and the city of Qom, where cases of Covid-19 first emerged. The figure is six times higher than the official death toll of 34 given by the health ministry earlier on Friday. Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour insisted it was being transparent and accused the BBC of spreading lies. It comes after a member of parliament for Qom accused the authorities of a cover-up and the US expressed concern that they may not be sharing information.

 Coronavirus: Iran's deaths at least 210, hospital sources say - BBC News

A federal rule that could have helped protect health-care workers from coronavirus has been stuck in regulatory limbo since the start of the Trump administration. An Occupational Safety and Health Administration rule in the works since 2010 was designed to ensure that employers have in place comprehensive programs to protect health-care workers against infectious diseases. Without such standards, compliance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on infection control can’t be easily enforced. Although OSHA has a rule protecting workers from blood-borne pathogens (and says some provisions of that standard could help limit the spread of pathogens by other means), it has no overarching standard for diseases not spread via blood. With the start of the current administration, the rule was removed from OSHA’s active rule-making agenda and relegated to a list of “long-term actions” with no date for moving forward. “Putting it on the long-term agenda essentially means you’re not going to do it,” said Dr. David Michaels, head of OSHA from 2009 to January 2017 and now a professor at the George Washington University School of Public Health.

 Trump administration has dragged its feet on safety regulations that would protect health-care workers against coronavirus - MarketWatch