Panel A of Table 2 presents the descriptive statistics on all variables in the model (2) for the full sample. The median values of the CAR [−1, 1] and CAR [−2, 2] are −0.004 and −0.005, which suggests that during the COVID-19 outbreak period, more than half of the assessments of the firm performance are negative. The mean value of CIPHT is 0.360, which shows that there is 36.0 percent of the observations show the continued increasing public health threats. Panel B of Table 2 reports mean difference test between sub-samples (CIPHT = 0 vs. CIPHT = 1). The mean values of CAR [−1, 1] and CAR [−2, 2] are significantly lower for firm-days with continued increasing public health threats (−0.001 and −0.001) than for those without continued increasing public health threats (0.000 and 0.000). This result provides preliminary support on the negative relationship between continued increasing public health threats and abnormal return. Regarding the determinations of accumulative abnormal return, we find that firms facing continued increasing public health threats are located in the provinces where have more confirmed accumulated COVID-19 cases; have the larger size and better performance; have lower R&D ratio and leverage ratio; and hire CEOs with younger age, higher compensation, longer tenure, and a higher likelihood to hold a concurrent post.