Puncturing the Bubble

Kobe and Gianna attended Mass
before boarding the helicopter.

This week I'd been planning to sit back, spend hours each day absorbing Super Bowl minutiae (the 49ers are in Miami), and prepare for my trip next week to the Islands. Also, the rise in the stock market has made me complacent, with no worries about finances for now.

The world has a way of puncturing one's bubble.

Yesterday and today the sports news and commentary were all about the life and death of Kobe Bryant. Listening to the Super Bowl players and coaches answer silly questions wasn't high on my list of priorities.

Meanwhile, the stock market fell sharply today because of worries about the new coronavirus. With quarantines and travel bans the Chinese authorities are behaving as if it could be bad.

Jan 27: not a good day for stocks (WSJ)

Concern about the coronavirus intensified as the tally of infections jumped over the weekend. The virus has infected more than 4,500 people and killed at least 106, mostly in China’s Hubei province. It has spread to other countries including the U.S., Japan and South Korea, and public-health officials have warned that it is growing more contagious.

Shares of tourism-related companies and those with ties to China were among the hardest hit, after the country imposed travel restrictions in response to the outbreak.

Scientists have been very cautious about issuing pronouncements because of limited sample sizes and abbreviated analyses. Here, nevertheless:

WSJ: What to Know About the New Chinese Coronavirus

Yale School of Medicine: 5 Things Everyone Should Know About the 2019 Novel Coronavirus

One thing is certain: after the 2003 SARS outbreak in China killed 774 people and triggered fears world-wide, the old saw, "when America sneezes, the world catches cold", is in need of an Asian-flavored update.