Some authorities are predicting that half or more of the world's population will be infected within a year. If that happens, there will probably be 50-100 million deaths. But if that does happen, it will testify to the lack of political will in the Western democracies. China has brought the rise of cases almost to a standstill. Even in Hubei, the epicenter, the incidence of infection is only slightly more than 0.1%.
There also seems to be some fake or at least sensationalist news. CNN has reported several times that there are more than 900 infections in Japan. That includes the 700 cases from the Diamond Princess, which was an unusual situation, and doesn't reflect the spread on land. Take that away, and there is nothing particularly alarming about the situation in Japan, not yet. It shouldn't be compared to S. Korea or Italy, where there are real problems.
The lucky people right now are those who have been infected, and recovered. They can go anywhere, travel anywhere, without any risk of either becoming infected, or infecting others. Probably. But now there is a report of one case of someone who was infected, recovered, then infected again.
I don't know about that, Hundreds of millions of Chinese are basically confined to their homes. These aren't white collar workers who can telecommute (which Japan is encouraging to some extent).. It has to have an effect on China's economy, which will certainly impact the Anerican and other economies. Japan and Hong Kong have closed all their schools, which will have ripple effects on their economies. If the number of cases in S. Korea continues to arise at its current rate, the country will have to consider severe lockdown measures like China.
In the absence of a vaccine, which is at least a year away, the only way to halt the spread is through measures that have to reduce economic activity. Wall Street anticipates this.