HHS pursuing treatment for coronavirus, as many Americans see ‘real threat’

The world gambling capital of Macao braced for a 15-day shutdown of its casinos and Hong Kong reported its first death from the new coronavirus Tuesday as the public health crisis pummeled China and put the rest of the globe on high alert.

Automaker Hyundai announced that it was suspending production at its factories in South Korea because of a parts shortage from China, though President Trump’s chief economic adviser downplayed harm to the U.S. economy.

“It’s not a catastrophe. It’s not a disaster. I mean, people should really, I think, be very calm about this,” Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, told the Fox Business channel.

Likewise, global officials said the situation doesn’t rise to a pandemic and that much of the pain is falling on the most populous country — at least for now.

“This is still first and foremost an emergency for China,” said World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus. “We continue to work closely with the Chinese government to support its efforts to address this outbreak at the epicenter. That is our best chance of preventing a broader global crisis. Of course, the risk of it becoming more widespread globally remains high. Now is the moment for all countries to be preparing themselves.”

Macao Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng said the casino shutdown also would affect cinemas, salons, internet cafes and other gathering places, and that it would be best to avoid public gatherings altogether.

Mr. Ho said the former Portuguese colony on China’s southern coast has enough financial reserves to ride out the difficult situation and will spur economic growth with infrastructure projects once the worst has passed.

Another semiautonomous region, Hong Kong, said a 39-year-old who suffered from an underlying health condition died after returning from travel to Wuhan, a Chinese city in Hubei province where the virus is believed to have first spread to humans inside a live animal market.

It is the second death reported outside of mainland China. A man in the Philippines died after traveling to Wuhan.

The coronavirus has sickened nearly 25,000 people and killed at least 490 in mainland China, exceeding the country’s death toll from the 2002-2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

More than 20 countries beyond China have reported at least 159 cases, including 11 in the U.S., prompting a new series of travel rules — including levels of quarantine — and upending travel plans for foreign nationals hoping to enter the U.S. after traveling in China.

Mr. Kudlow said the economic impact on the U.S. is minimal despite shocks to some supply chains.

“I think it’s going to be much tougher for China,” he said, though he allowed that some supply chains could have disruptions.

“Chipmakers are not going to be affected that much. Pharmaceutical stuff will probably be affected much more,” he said. “Some things kind of in the middle when you get to automobiles and auto parts. But there’s a lot we don’t know. You know, it sounds like the world has stopped. The world hasn’t stopped. We’re a very vibrant economy in the USA.”

Even so, nearly two-thirds of Americans say the coronavirus is a “real threat” and only 27% say the situation has been blown out of proportion, according to a Marist/NPR poll released Tuesday.

About three in five people say the U.S. government is doing enough to combat the disease. Although people are more likely than not to say they are concerned about the virus’ spread in the U.S. — 56% to 43% — a majority, 55%, say they are not concerned about an outbreak in their own community. The poll says 44% show some concern.

Only 1% of those polled said they have changed travel plans because of the outbreak.

Working to ease fears, the Department of Health and Human Services said it is working with a New York pharmaceutical company to develop a potential treatment for the new coronavirus.

The effort is an expansion of an existing collaboration between HHS and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., a company in Tarrytown.

“Emerging infectious diseases can present serious threats to our nation’s health security,” said Rick Bright, director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. “Working as public-private partners like we have with Regeneron since 2014, we can move rapidly to respond to new global health threats.”

The partners are trying to develop monoclonal antibodies that bind to proteins in the coronavirus, reducing its ability to infect human cells.

Regeneron has antibody-producing technology called VelociSuite that showed promise in treating Ebola in Congo and combating Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).

Also, various government agencies, including the Department of Defense, are taking stock of potential vaccines, treatments and diagnostics in the public and private sectors, especially those developed against MERS and SARS, to determine whether they can be leveraged against the new threat, officials said.

HHS alerted Congress last weekend that it might transfer more than $130 million from other accounts to combat the virus as it spends another $100 million in reserve funds.

HHS Secretary Alex Azar is spearheading a task force that Mr. Trump set up to deal with the outbreak, though Sen. Christopher Murphy, Connecticut Democrat, said the arrangement is insufficient and that Congress should take the lead by passing an emergency funding bill to combat the virus. He also faulted Mr. Trump for disbanding a part of his National Security Council tasked with responding to epidemics.

“For years, many of us have warned that Trump’s attacks on global health programs, and his complete disinterest in protecting America from pandemic diseases, would have consequences for our nation’s safety,” Mr. Murphy said. “Now, the day of consequence is arriving.”