Coronavirus 2020

You step away from the keyboard for a while and then when you come back, all hell has broken loose.  Coronavirus has hit the collective minds of the smart phone carrying generation with a fury that it will likely not be able to match in reality.

For reasons that elude me, coronavirus has terrorized the  attention of the American public more than the seasonal flu.  According to the CDC and US Health Dept, on average 10,000 or more die every year from the seasonal flu.  That's more than all of the coronavirus deaths combined so far (yes, I know China very forthcoming with data but then why the panic?) yet coronavirus has captured that minds of the public like nothing since the ebola break out a few years ago.

From a sociological point of view, this seems to be rooted in the distrust of all things Chinese.  Chinese produced pet foods a few years ago earned a bad reputation for being manufactured with ingredients that were harmful to pets.  Chinese manufactured products don't have the best reputation for quality control.  China's reputation for human rights abuses (think Tiananmen Massacre in 1989 or the continual riots in Hong Kong) creates a lack of trust in how the Chinese government will deal with a pandemic illness.  Therefore when details of coronavirus first started making the news, most assumed that the Chinese would cover up the information.

The United States and the American public has become extremely polarized under Trump.  You are either for or against, right or left, Republican or Democrat.  No middle road tolerated anymore thank you very much.  Just look at the Democratic candidates going into Super Tuesday.  All moderate candidates have had to sit down and allow Joe Biden to try to save the Democrats from the socialist Bernie Sanders.  The same polarization effects how you perceive coronavirus.  You are either terrified that it will be a global pandemic wiping out mankind or it is nothing more than an over-hyped cold (the same way people view climate change).

How the coronavirus will spread and the severity of its spread remains to be seen, however its economic impacts are already being felt.  Of all places, we can see this hitting Hollywood.  The latest James Bond movie Chinese opening is being delayed indefinitely. No one is going to the movies in China for fear of catching coronavirus.  This means the biggest overseas market for movies is effectively shutdown.  To give you an idea, Avengers Endgame could never have achieved is record breaking $2 billion without China.  The Hollywood types are scared their blockbuster movies won't be able to make back nearly as much money without the Chinese market.

Think about what a shutdown China means to our economy.  We use Chinese manufactured technology everyday, most of our clothing is manufactured in China, as well as auto components, and food.  Prices are going to go up for consumer goods regardless of how severe coronavirus really is.