Warning that a second wave of coronaviurs, AKA SARS CoV-2 or Covid-19, has already hit parts of the U.S., 80-year-old National Institutes of Infectious Disease and Allergy Chief Dr. Anthony Fauci said many people in the U.S. have ignored basic safety. When parts of the country opened up in May, Fauci cautioned that it could be premature if states didn’t practice social distancing, wearing masks and good hygiene. With many citizens suffering cabin fever, Fauci’s nightmare came true with young people off shelter-in-place orders running amok in recently opened, restaurants, bars and nightclubs. Fauci reported that a seven-day average of 40 states showed a 5% increase in Covid-19 cases in states like California, Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma and Florida. Taking surprise actions Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced new closures.
Rolling back last month’s reopening poses real problems to Wall Street, hoping better economic data, especially new claims for unemployment, would keep the rally going. While the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a 217.08 gain ending the session today at 25,812.88, Fauci’s new warnings spell problems tomorrow. Wall Street tries to find a silver lining in the economy, still reeling from three months of shutdowns that drove the unemployment rate from 3.5% to 15% nationwide. Heading into the July 4 weekend, the last thing DeSantis wanted was shut down beaches in Miami Beach. With the area dependent on tourism, it’s been a long three months with the tourism industry hammered by nationwide shutdowns. More evidence of a runaway virus is reason for panic, especially in U.S. financial markets. With only two days left this week, Wall Street looks to head south.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to make some big announcements ahead of the July 4 weekend, maybe shutting down California beaches, certainly shuttering all bars and nightclubs. President Donald Trump has taken the lion’s share of the political heat from the virus second wave, prompting 80-year-old House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and 77-year-old former Vice President and presumptive Democrat nominee Joe Biden (D-Del.) to slam the president. Pelosi and Biden know things would be no different were they in charge of the White House. Yet faced with reelection, Trump’s critics have come out of the woodwork. Trump is blamed by Pelosi and Biden for the inability to contain the coronavirus spread but also recent racial unrest due to the May 25 chokehold death of 46-year-old George Floyd by 44-year-old Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin.
Converging bad news from Covid-19 and racial unrest has driven down Trump’s approval ratings and election polls. Biden leads nationwide and in battleground states by double-digits. Fauci admitted today that Covid-19 has become his worst nightmare, resembling more the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic where some 50 million people died worldwide. What’s most disturbing about Wuhan, China-based coronavirus is its highly contagious nature, spreading human-to-human with airborne particles, spreading largely from breathing, exhaling in enclosed spaces, whether in restaurants, bars, nightclubs and public transportation, like planes, trains and cruise ships. Automobiles are also an easy vehicle to spread the virus when it comes to buses, subways, taxis and ride-sharing like Lyft and Uber. Fauci talked about his hope for a vaccine but offered no specific timetable for its release.
In another ominous development bound to rattle markets, Fauci announced today a new virus strain carried by pigs in China, something he worried could jump from animals to humans, much like the H1N1 Swine flu did in 2009. Calling the new strain G4 EA H1N1, Fauci warned that mutations of the new swine flu strain could start infecting humans. “In other words, when you get a brand new virus that turns out to be a pandemic virus, it’s either due to mutations and/or the reassortment of exchanges of genes,” Fauci warned. With the world not done with the coronavirus, it doesn’t need a new epidemic or pandemic coming from China. “And they’re seeing virus in swine, in pigs now, that have characteristics of the 2009 H1N1, of the original 1918, which many of our flu vruses have remnants of that in it, as well as segments from other hosts, like swine,” Fauci explained.
Fauci’s news today won’t play well on Wall Street tomorrow, where markets see no end in sight for the deadly coronavirus. In some kind of silver lining, Fauci confirmed that death rates and intensive care hospitalizations have dropped since the virus seems to infect younger demographics between 18-40. With over 10,585,152 cases and 513.913 deaths worldwide, the U.S. has become the epicenter of the SARS CoV-2 pandemic with 2.727,953 cases and 130,122 deaths, roughly 25% of worldwide cases and deaths, the U.S. has been hit much harder than most countries. While Trump boasts about more U.S. testing, all the public sees are more outbreaks and more expected shutdowns around the country. Fauci urged all citizens to wear masks, maintain social distancing and practice good hygiene. Even with those orders, the U.S. coronavirus epidemic continues to spiral out of control.
