COVID-19: Overview, Economic Implications and Federal Response

On December 31, 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) was informed of a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. Illnesses have since been linked to a disease caused by a previously unidentified strain of coronavirus, designated Coronavirus Disease 2019, or COVID-19. The disease has spread to other countries, including the United States. On March 11, the WHO announced that the outbreak was officially a pandemic, the highest level of health emergency and has led to tens of thousands of cases and thousands of deaths worldwide. This book discusses a wide variety of topics related to the outbreak including: selected actions taken by the U.S. federal government to quell the introduction and spread of COVID-19 in the United States, economic implications and government assistance.