Trump on coronavirus: “A lot of people think that goes away in April with the heat. As the heat comes in. Typically that will go away in April. We’re in great shape, though. pic.twitter.com/p4qEGUWB49 — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 10, 2020

Scene at a supermarket in Singapore where the # of known coronavirus cases has spread to 33, including 4 people with no seeming connection to Wuhan. Govt has raised alert level to Code Orange — one level below red, which signifies pandemic. pic.twitter.com/IBMCZlBva5 — Rebecca Tan (@rebtanhs) February 7, 2020

The Dope-In-Chief obviously hasn’t checked the weather in Singapore where the virus is spreading locally and infecting other countries.

Regardless of whether the coronavirus becomes a global pandemic, what is the impact of it going to be on the global economy? The Chinese economy can’t simply go into hiberation without having a massive ripple effect on global supply chains.

New York Times:

“Workers are stuck in their hometowns. Officials want detailed health plans before factories or offices can reopen. Assembly lines that make General Motors cars and Apple iPhones are standing silent. More than two weeks after China locked down a major city to stop a dangerous viral outbreak, one of the world’s largest economies remains largely idle. Much of the country was supposed to have reopened by now, but its empty streets, quiet factories and legions of inactive workers suggest that weeks or months could pass before this vital motor of global growth is humming again. Global growth could suffer the longer China stays in low gear. It has been hampered by both the outbreak and its own containment efforts, a process that has cut off workers from their jobs and factories from their raw materials. The result is a slowdown that is already slashing traffic along the world’s shipping lines and leading to forecasts of a sharp fall in production of everything from cars to smartphones. …”

It remains to be seen how easily the virus can spread among or how lethal it will be to non-East Asians. Even among East Asians, 4 out of 5 people who contract the virus only experience mild symptoms. It is spreading fast on the Diamond Princess cruise ship and it is reasonable to assume that most of the people who are on that ship aren’t East Asians.

If the virus has already hobbled China, what impact will it have on the rest of East Asia? How about the liberal West which balks at the extreme measures that China has already taken to stop the spread of the virus? How about the Third World? Suppose it takes root in India where it is airborne and spreads through fecal matter. What happens to the world economy then?