eResearch | Peak Prosperity has recently published two articles on the coronavirus contagion. The Wuhan coronavirus is now called Covid-19. One article (February 13) asks the question, “Is The Coronavirus (Covid-19) Now Unstoppable?” and the other article (February 14) states, “Why Covid-19 Demands Our Full Attention”.
February 13: Article by Adam Taggart
This is a short article by Adam Taggart which can be accessed HERE. The conclusion is that new data about the virus confirms that it might well proliferate on a large scale globally. Continuing scientific research on the virus indicates that containing the virus will be a super challenge because it could become massively contagious.
Even strict contamination protocol is still resulting in doctors and health-care workers falling sick with the disease. China, in particular, “is clearly facing a public health nightmare of epic proportion.”
China has adopted a strict mandatory home quarantine approach for millions of people as the best way to fight and contain this virus. However, will other countries, particularly the USA, also adopt such strict controls and, even if they did, can they enforce them?
Thus, Taggart concludes that “A full-blown pandemic looks increasingly unstoppable at this point.”
February 14: Article by Chris Martensen
Author Chris Martensen delves into the inter-dependency of global supply-chain economics and its critical balance to keep world economies humming. He argues that the Covid-19 contagion could become the world’s greatest threat. You can read the article HERE.
For instance, the essential shut-down of the auto industry in China has substantial repercussions for the auto industry around the globe. Estimates are that China will forego the production of approximately one million cars. More importantly, since China is the mainstay for global auto parts supply, when current inventories are depleted, how will they be restocked in a timely manner? Already Hyundai has suspended automobile production in some of its plants because of a shortage of necessary made-in-China parts.
Global vulnerability to China-dependent supply chains is not limited only to the auto industry. For instance, the USA is highly dependent on China for pharmaceuticals. A U.S. Department of Commerce study found that the USA is reliant on China for 97% of its required antibiotics. To make matters worse, most of these antibiotics are manufactured in Hubei Province, in which Wuhan is located.
Could the U.S. pharmaceutical companies find another reliable source? India, perhaps? Nope! About 70% of India’s medicines come from China. What do India’s generic drug manufacturers do when their inventory of China’s medicinal supplies run out?
Martensen then turns his discussion to U.S. companies that have operations in China and which could be impacted by the coronavirus shut-down. He ponders why these companies’ stocks continue to go up and up. He goes on to recommend, in the strongest possible terms, that investors take action and insulate themselves and their investments against the possibility that Covid-19 turns into a global pandemic.
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Mapping the Coronavirus (Covid-19)
