EXPERTS: TRAVEL BANS, BUSINESS CLOSURES COULD HURT ECONOMY
Travel restrictions and business closures aimed
at stopping the spread of a new virus that has
killed more than 300 people in China could end
up causing ripple effects that harm the global
economy, experts say.
“When you stop planes and ships, trains and
and motor vehicles from moving, it starts to
shut down the economy — and that can have
a cascading effect throughout society,” Dr. Eric
Toner, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins
Center for Health Security, said after multiple
airlines announced that they would suspend
or cut back on flights to and from China, and
several countries, including the U.S., imposed
travel restrictions. “And it’s not just airline pilots
who get out of work, I mean, it’s you know, it’s
everybody that they depend on.”