Rising Infections Mean Rising Economic Worries According to NY Fed

Reuters Reports: NY Fed's Williams: U.S. economy still in 'deep hole' and rising infections pose risk

The U.S. economy seemed to be slowly recovering but it is still in a "deep hole" and rising numbers of COVID-19 cases could put the country in an even worse position, according to New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams.

“The very large rise in COVID cases recently clearly puts a question market on the ability of the economy to weather this period,” Williams said in an interview with the Financial Times. “I would expect the growth in the fourth quarter, and maybe into early next year to slow somewhat.”

Whether or not the U.S. can move past the virus completely depends on vaccines. Recently there has been positive progress on the vaccine front, as Pfizer released results stating that their COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90% effective in their trial results.

Even though things are looking up, Williams is still skeptical.

“Things are looking better, but that’s in context of an economy that took an enormous hit,” Williams said. “Even today unemployment is still very high and we’re still in a deep hole.”