Paul R. La Monica is a digital correspondent for CNN Business. He writes daily about the markets and blue chip companies and also appears regularly on CNNI's business programs. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own.

Investors are in full-blown panic mode about the coronavirus. And while I hate to be the bearer of bad news, people shouldn't count on the Federal Reserve or other central banks to save the day.

Yes, the Fed can do lots of things to help soothe frayed nerves when stocks are in free fall, but there is little that the Fed — or President Trump and Congress, for that matter — can do to solve this biological crisis for the markets and the economy.

I covered the Great Recession in 2008 and 2009. That was a terrifying time — but this seems a lot scarier.

But rate cuts, tax cuts and other stimulus won't stop a virus and the ultimate economic impact it will have.

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