Coronavirus (COVID-19) Discussion Thread

[haxxiy]

SvennoJ said:

haxxiy said:

Since it mostly affects older people (at least for deaths) pension plans are going to like it :/ Life insurance companies, not so much.

The economy is going to be effected by panic and travel restrictions. The tourist sector is going to hurt the most. However most people will be fine. Small companies will probably hurt more from (temporary) loss of employees, big companies shouldn't have much of a problem.

The bigger problem will be the strain on the healthcare system. Countries with free healthcare will feel the drain on their budgets while in a country like the USA you will probably have to file for bankruptcy after surviving 3 weeks on the ICU...

In the US, it has been estimated, for a Spanish Flu-like scenario, that 33% of working age people getting a disease with 2.5% death rate and a three-week recovery time would mean an economic contraction of 5%. The 2009 recession contracted the global economy by 1% in comparison, so that's huge.

Of course, the new Coronavirus isn't that bad, but still... in a global economy, we are talking about the risk of actual shortages of goods with a pandemic. Basically something like what preppers had predicted for the Brexit.