The intricate schedule of cargo ships carrying everything from apples to auto parts between the U.S. and Southeast Asia has been undone by the coronavirus. Loaded ships are backed up at Chinese ports, where workers have been furloughed to keep from spreading the illness, and businesses that would receive the goods have either remained closed...
Category: TRENDS ON THE COVID WARFRONT
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VIRUS HALTS PLANES, TRAINS, SHIPS
The virus panic has crushed airline travel, with passengers canceling reservations in droves and airlines canceling thousands of flights, including lucrative transatlantic hops. In late February, the industry estimated it had lost $30 billion in canceled flights to and from China alone, which by some estimates totaled 25,000 flights a day. Virgin Atlantic has reported...
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BANKS TAKE ANTI-VIRUS EMERGENCY STEPS
British and U.S. banks are testing the hardiness of their emergency operating and back-up systems, installing trading screens in employees’ homes, and pressing regulators to ease banking rules so banks can continue to operate without interruption if the coronavirus becomes a health pandemic. “You don’t want to wake up and find that the U.S. has...
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VIRUS INTERRUPTS PHARMA SUPPLY CHAIN
About 40 percent of generic drugs are made in India from ingredients that come from China. With Chinese industry only now beginning to revive, and India seeing its coronavirus outbreak growing, India has restricted exports of 26 drugs and drug ingredients, including several common antibiotics as well as acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol. The...
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VIRUS BENEFITS FOOD PROCESSORS AND LOBSTER LOVERS
The Campbell Soup Co., maker of SpagettiOs and other iconic food staples, reports that its products are flying off supermarket shelves as shoppers hoard canned goods and other long-lived basic items to guard against the effects of quarantines and other extreme measures if the coronavirus epidemic worsens. Retailers also report running low on Swanson canned...
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U.S. HOUSE BUDGETS $8.3 BILLION TO BATTLE VIRUS
The U.S. House of Representatives rushed through an $8.3 billion spending measure to fight the coronavirus outbreak and passed the measure to the Senate, which is expected to approve it immediately. The president has said he will sign it. The measure allots $2.2 billion to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention to contain the...
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CORONAVIRUS 9/11: SPREADING TERROR
Last week, you couldn’t open a mainstream newspaper, turn on the TV news, or check out the news online without being met with another blaring headline about the spread of the coronavirus. Some examples: “Coronavirus: Two new cases confirmed in UK” “France bans large gatherings to slow spread of coronavirus” “High school student in Washington...