Financial Crisis Might Worsen As US Authorities Are Badly Fumbling The Coronavirus Response

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said coronavirus will inevitably infect many Americans. Therefore drastic steps must be taken to fight the epidemic. But stories of unbelievable missteps in the US government’s response to coronavirus abound on social media.

CDC Refuses to Test Nurse Who Cared for Coronavirus Patient

On Thursday, the California Nurses Association read a statement by one of its members. She’s a nurse in Northern California on quarantine after caring for a patient who tested positive for coronavirus. But she says the CDC won’t test her:

“As a nurse I am very concerned that not enough is being done to stop the spread of the coronavirus. I know because I am currently sick in quarantine after caring for a patient who tested positive.

I am awaiting permission from the federal government to allow for my testing even after my physician and county health professional ordered the test. The national CDC would not initiate the test.

They said they would not test me, because if I were wearing the recommended protective equipment, then I would not have the coronavirus.”

Consequently, the nurse concluded the CDC’s response was “ridiculous and uneducated.”

Health Department Lets Wife of Infected Man Roam Town

Someone else claimed Thursday that he has an uncle who contracted coronavirus.

The man lives in Venice, California, and came home with the coronavirus infection after skiing in the Italian Alps with six other guys.

Apparently four of them came down with the virus. One of them is in a coma. As a result, the Venice man had to go under quarantine. But the health department said his wife was free to move about the community, get her hair done, go to the grocery store. Which her nephew says she did.

Meanwhile, a producer for Vice News says she walked right through customs with no questions asked after returning from the epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic in Italy.

Coronavirus Mismanagement Will Worsen The Financial Crisis

There’s no wondering why equities markets crashed after their US stock market’s Feb 19 peak. The coronavirus has raised major uncertainty about the future. Further, it directly threatens supply chains and consumer spending. The effect has been devastating in China, and it’s now spread to US financial markets.

If these three anecdotes are representative of the level of alertness of US authorities, the pandemic could get much worse. Gross incompetence could greatly compound the damage in the midst of a global health emergency. That would likely result in even worse losses to financial markets than would otherwise have been sustained. And potentially drive more investors into safe-haven assets like gold and Bitcoin.