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.

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“When you stop planes and ships, trains 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.”

It’s not just airlines that have cut back on business in China. Apple Inc. announced that it was temporarily close all of its offices and its 42 stores in mainland China. Google, Amazon, and Microsoft previously announced plans to temporarily shutter offices, and Starbucks and McDonald’s have closed some chains.