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Coronavirus causing economic impacts, gas prices to fall

Although the outbreak is causing negative economic impacts, consumers may end up saving at the pump.

TOLEDO, Ohio — Aside from causing health concerns, the coronavirus is also impacting the economy. After going down 500 points Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the day down 453 points. 

Travel companies were the ones to take the biggest hit. 

While this is bad news for the world economy, consumers may end up saving money when filling up at the pump. The national average price for gas fell about four cents a gallon this week.

Patrick De Haan at GasBuddy predicted that coronavirus' impacts could make prices fall even more as China is the second-largest oil-consuming nation in the world. 

"It's going to mean less petroleum consumed in the world. Whether that's jet fuel or gasoline, etcetera," De Haan said. 

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De Haan added that the fear of the virus spreading in the United States could also lead to falling prices.

"Americans kind of react in a way, similar to a recession, they kind of pause their lives. They start to feel a little depressed, a little worried and that certainly has the implication of the possibility of reducing oil demand," he said. 

So, what are the chances of Coronavirus spreading across the United States? Experts in disease outbreaks from ProMedica are preparing. 

"We're concerned about this. It sounds on the surface concerning. The numbers coming out of China are concerning," Dr. Brian Kaminksi, Vice President of Quality and Safety for ProMedica, said. 

Kaminski said there are still a lot of unknowns about the virus. Right now, ProMedica is taking inventory of emergency procedures, similar to those put in place during the Ebola Virus outbreak in 2014.  

"The best-case scenario is this turns out to be a mild outbreak and it's contained to China and few other countries and a very mild sense, and it's very containable and patients do well. But we're looking past that. We're trying to see what we would do if the worst-case does come about," Kaminski said.

Right now, doctors said people are still are far more likely to get the cold or flu. 

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