The signs began appearing around Seattle in the windows of Dick’s Drive-In, the city’s iconic burger chain: “In an abundance of caution, we ask you to please pay with credit or debit card if possible rather than cash.”
Fear of dollars is now palpable in the U.S. epicenter of the coronavirus.
And across the financial industry, a rigorous debate is brewing over how to address the public’s mounting concern that greenbacks might transmit Covid-19. Studies show it’s at least theoretically possible for other coronaviruses to survive on the dollar’s cotton-and-linen weave, though there’s little agreement on the actual risk of ...