Much of this is due to quarantine mandates. Our leaders need to develop a more rational quarantine/screening procedure that restarts the normal flow of products to the greatest extent possible without spreading the disease to keep the system from breaking down.
The strict quarantine is not a rational response as cargo is probably not a high risk transmission vector
This needs to occur before ships start off loading distressed cargo in large quantities which is imminent. If we do not deal with issue it may become the 21century version of Smoot - Hawley debacle Helped convert the 1929 Stock Market crash into the Great Depression. Nobody really fully understands how our massively interconnected world economy with its transnational trade and manufacturing system works and what the total impact of massive disruptions could look like. No wanting to be a hysteric, but the downside risks are potentially very severe
“Our leaders need to develop a more rational quarantine/screening procedure that restarts the normal flow of products to the greatest extent possible without spreading the disease to keep the system from breaking down.”
Rational action is not possible when the world population looks to their governments to protect them from everything.
50 years ago this would be a complete non-issue and only rumor of China quarantine would have reached US media.
Today, if 1 million die, people will be screaming in the streets and generally going crazy, putting every government at risk. Personally.
Rational action is not possible. It’s all the irrational from here on out.