U.S. Coronavirus deaths could top 200K

Yahoo Finance's Alexis Christoforous, Brian Sozzi, and Anjalee Khemlani discuss the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak.

Video Transcript

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: I want to check in with Anjalee Khemlani now for the latest on coronavirus by the numbers. And, Anjalee, it seems this morning we're hearing that deaths related to coronavirus could top 200,000 in the US.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Alexis, thanks, Yes, so that number is actually on the higher side. So what we've seen right now is, as we know, the numbers for the number-- for the cases globally is actually now more than 700,000 with the US at about 145,000 this morning. And then the number of deaths right now is only actually-- way below that right now. We're looking at 35,000 this morning. And so that has been within the time span of about-- I guess you could count since January so, right, three full months.

And so we're looking at what that timeline looks like and what the total could be if there is, in fact, not a lot of mitigation steps being taken and if, in fact, we run behind the timeline on drug development and treatment. So looking at it from that vantage point, they're saying it could be as high as 200,000, especially because we were so far behind on the testing front. But the numbers are actually closer to 100,000.

And we did hear from health experts yesterday, especially Anthony Fauci about how, in fact, without the steps that are being taken right now, that number could have been actually more than 2 million. And so these are all just estimates based on all the data available. What it actually rolls out to be, we will obviously eventually see.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: We're also seeing some movement in stocks today. Those companies that are trying to come up with a treatment or vaccine for the virus, including Abbott Labs with this five minute test. And now news breaking this morning that Johnson & Johnson could have a vaccine tested on humans within months. What do we know there?

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Right. So there are actually a number of developments that happened between the weekend and now. Johnson & Johnson is, in fact, the latest. They've identified a vaccine candidate. So that still leaves them with a room before we actually reach a clinical trial. And so they're estimating that their first clinical trial, their phase one, could start by September with a vaccine in early 2021, which does not change the timeline at all from what we have already been reporting and what health experts are saying is the usual 12 to 18 month timeline for a sped up process that we're seeing right now.

We also do have to remember that Moderna is already in clinical trials with its vaccine candidate, and it was the first to get there. So it does potentially have the ability to have a vaccine first. However, it doesn't have the resources per se that Johnson & Johnson does, so it may not be able to reach the ramp up of production that Johnson & Johnson could, which is saying that it's going to already start ramping up production to have a billion doses ready by the time it could be approved for the market.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: And, Anjalee, I understand a senior Wall Street executive died over the weekend of the coronavirus. What can you tell us?

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Yeah, absolutely. Unfortunately, as we know this has been claiming many lives, many high profile lives. People are being affected across the globe. But right now, we do know that-- and we did get confirmation-- that Jefferies CFO Peg Broad-- sorry about that-- Peg Broadbent did, in fact, pass away unfortunately from the virus.

And so this would just put as possibly the first death-- high profile death related to this virus, but we are seeing this play out across the globe, unfortunately. And this speaks to the volume of the potential and the risk right now. And we do know that he was actually outside-- he was actually outside the broad range of the virus death, which is 56 years old, and that's pretty astounding. So that's the news that we have as of right now.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: All right, thank you. And our condolences to Peg Broadbent's family of Jefferies and Company.