In Wuhan, the dragon has been tamed. Great news for markets.
Great news for markets: data out of China tells us that the second wave of the coronavirus is unsurfable. It’s flat. There is no wave to catch.
If there is no meaningful second wave months after lifting restrictions in Wuhan, then there might not be any meaningful second waves anywhere else. Markets are already onto this line of thinking.
China’s Coronavirus Dragon Tamed
This week, Wuhan’s public health authorities reported that they are nearly done testing some 11 million city inhabitants for the SARS-CoV-2, the mysterious pathogen first discovered there in December.
Wuhan was ground zero in the pandemic. Now that the dust has settled, only around 300 people have tested positive for the virus, with most being asymptomatic or presenting very few symptoms.
The virus has not come back with a vengeance since opening up as we have been told countless times would occur here in the U. S. if we lifted quarantine orders.
Whether it returns again in December is anybody’s guess. It might. It might be as bad. It might be worse. It might not be bad at all. Remember the first version of SARS ran from November 2002 to July 2003 and was never heard from in a news headline ever again.
According to China’s National Health Commission (NHC), only 16 people tested positive in mainland China on May 31, though that is up from two the day before.
The daily average number of new infections in mainland China rose slightly to five in the last week of May, up one from the previous week. Most of this is due to travelers.
No locally transmitted cases were reported last week, down from a total of 11 cases a week ago.
By contrast, the daily average number of new infections from overseas travelers rose to five in the last week of May from three in the third week of May.
It’s not squeaky clean yet, but it’s getting there. Had their not been a global pandemic, these numbers would be invisible.
As it stands currently, six districts and cities in mainland China have their health emergency levels still put at medium to high. Two districts in Jilin city, not far from the Russian border, are still on high alert.
