The U.S. Needs to Get Out in Front of the Coronavirus Threat
It’s not time to panic, but it is time to prepare. Here’s what needs to happen.
Broader testing is among the steps that need to be taken, and soon.
Photographer: CDC
U.S. markets are now fully awake to the fact that the coronavirus is a threat that isn’t going to abate anytime soon, as witnessed by Monday’s steep sell-off in stocks. The U.S. government can do more to show its eyes are open as well.
The message so far has been that the virus, known as Covid-19, isn’t spreading here and that the risk is low for most Americans. That’s still true. But with cases surging in an growing number of countries, the chances that the disease will develop into a full-blown pandemic are getting higher. Italy's out-of-nowhere outbreak highlights the fact that the Covid-19 virus seems able to spread quietly and pop up anywhere.