There is a lot of worry out there. We will get through this, but acting now and genuinely practicing social distancing matters. As Dr. Mukesh Prasad of Weill Cornell Medicine in New York told DealBook: “If this battle ends up being fought in the hospital, we have lost.” Dr. Prasad added: “Come together, care for those vulnerable in the herd, and survive. Every one of us has a role.” (Want this in your inbox each morning? Sign up here.)

Crisis stations

The Fed and other central banks are reopening their 2008 crisis playbooks, as the speed and severity of the coronavirus outbreak threatens to bring the global economy to a halt. But as the former Fed governor Kevin Warsh put it, “If you’ve seen one financial crisis, you’ve seen one financial crisis.” In other words, the tools used to combat a mortgage-driven credit crunch are of limited use to fight a global pandemic.

The Fed will spend $700 billion to shore up markets. In an unscheduled announcement yesterday, the Fed cut its benchmark interest rate to just above zero and unveiled a huge program of bond-buying to smooth out stresses in funding markets and make it easier for banks to lend to customers. It also arranged with other central banks to ease the flow of dollars around the world, which can seize up in times of crisis.

Is that all? Benchmark interest rates in all of the world’s major developed economies are now near — or below — zero. The “firing of so many bazookas at this particular stage,” notes Mohamed El-Erian of Allianz, represents a “monumental policy bet.” In essence, monetary policy has exhausted all of its ammunition. If it doesn’t work, there’s little else they can do.