Coronavirus live updates: California’s two largest school districts to return online in the fall 

FAN Editor

 19 states set record seven-day averages in daily new cases

Across the U.S., 19 states saw new cases reach daily records on Sunday based on an average over the previous seven days, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. That includes Texas, Georgia and Florida, the last of which reported 15,300 new cases on Sunday. 

Coronavirus-related deaths in Texas surged 140% from last week to an average of about 82 deaths per day over the past seven days as of Sunday, according to CNBC’s analysis of data compiled by Hopkins. Arizona has reported an average of about 59 new coronavirus-related deaths per day over the past seven days as of Sunday, up more than 78% compared with a week ago. As of Sunday, the U.S. averaged just over 700 new deaths a day, according to Hopkins data.—Noah Higgins-Dunn

California recloses indoor restaurants and bars statewide

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is ordering some indoor businesses — including restaurants, bars, movie theaters and museums — to reclose statewide as new cases continue to rise. 

The governor previously issued a “watch list” of hot-spot counties and is ordering additional businesses including gyms and places of worship to shutter in those areas for three days. Read more on the latest closures from CNBC’s Noah Higgins-Dunn. —Sara Salinas

Fauci says cases are surging because U.S. didn’t totally shut down

Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S.

Kevin Dietsch | Reuters

New cases are surging across the United States because the nation failed to shut down entirely early in the outbreak, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said. The comment by Fauci came during a Q&A with Stanford Medicine Dean Lloyd Minor. 

Fauci also said that the U.S. hasn’t “even begun to see the end” of the coronavirus pandemic yet, contradicting President Donald Trump, who has previously said the pandemic is nearing its end. 

In recent weeks, Trump and some state leaders have downplayed the threat of the virus, tying the surge in new cases to an increase in testing. However, public health officials and infectious disease experts refute those claims, saying the rate of cases that test positive in the U.S., hospitalizations and deaths remain high in some states. 

Fauci said he expects the public to compare the Covid-19 pandemic to the 1918 pandemic flu, which killed around 50 million people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. –Berkeley Lovelace Jr.

California’s two largest school districts to return online in the fall 

While class will be in session this upcoming August for two of California’s largest school districts, instruction will be strictly online, according to a joint statement from the Los Angeles Unified and San Diego Unified School Districts. In the statement, the school districts said much of the research surrounding the coronavirus and children is still unknown and many of the guidelines for reopening are “vague and contradictory.”

Both school districts said they would reevaluate in the fall whether to invite students back for in-class instruction at some point during the academic year. The decision will be based on whether the virus is sufficiently under control, whether testing is sufficient and whether the federal government provides adequate funding, according to the statement.

California is one of many states seeing a surge in Covid-19 cases, with Los Angeles County, San Diego County and other surrounding counties reporting the most cases

“One fact is clear: those countries that have managed to safely reopen schools have done so with declining infection rates and on-demand testing available. California has neither,” according to the statement. — Noah Higgins-Dunn

NY Gov. Cuomo outlines school reopening rules

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo outlined the state’s plan to allow schools in some regions to reopen this fall, adding that “we’re not going to use our children as guinea pigs.”

The governor’s guidance comes after President Donald Trump vowed to pressure state and local officials into reopening schools for in-person learning even as the outbreak appears to worsen across the country. 

Schools in regions that are in phase four of New York’s reopening plan are eligible to hold in-person classes this fall, but the area has to maintain a daily infection rate below 5%, based on a 14-day average over a sustained period, he said. He added that if the regional infection rate rises above 9%, based on a 7-day average, after the first week of August, schools will not be allowed to reopen. —Will Feuer

Trivago sees decline in travel demand as virus cases rise, CEO says

Trivago CEO Axel Hefer told CNBC the company has observed a decline in travel demand in response to the rising Covid-19 cases in parts of the U.S. 

“With a significant deterioration of the health situation, you see a significant drop in travel activity,” Hefer said on “Squawk on the Street,” while adding the correlation “goes both ways.” 

“You can clearly see that when there is a significant improvement in the health situation, and also clear communication from the government that it is safe to travel, that there is an increase in demand,” he explained. 

Trivago, a platform to search for and book hotels, expects to see a “bumpy ride” for travel in the months ahead as a result of the public health crisis, Hefer said. —Kevin Stankiewicz

How Canada is fighting Covid-19: Ramping up PPE production, U.S. travel ban

Canada has excelled in hospital preparedness and increasing PPE production, CNBC’s Christina Farr reports as part of a CNBC series on how the world is fighting Covid-19.

The country reported more than 105,000 coronavirus cases and more than 8,000 deaths. Experts gave the country a score of 6.5/10 in how it has handled the pandemic.

Canada’s economic relief package has surpassed what the U.S. has offered, providing Canadian residents who have lost their jobs or couldn’t work because of the virus up to $2,000 in direct monthly payments for a four-month period. Now, the relief package has been expanded to those who earn up to $1,000 a month.

Canada issued a travel ban on March 20 for visitors from the U.S. Since then, thousands have been turned away at the border, particularly those traveling for nonessential reasons. –Suzanne Blake

WHO warns against using school reopenings as ‘political football’

World Health Organization officials warned global leaders against turning the decision to reopen schools “into yet another political football in this game,” adding that children will be exposed to the virus and some will be infected and spread it to others. 

“My fear in this is that we create these political footballs that get kicked around the place,” Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies program, said at a news conference. “If we suppress the virus in our society, in our communities, then our schools can open safely.”

Current studies show that the coronavirus doesn’t generally make children as sick as adults, but the organization’s research on Covid-19’s impact on children is “still limited,” WHO said. Ryan noted that scientists still don’t know the long-term effect of the coronavirus on children’s health, although they tend to have milder symptoms. —Noah Higgins-Dunn

WHO officials say coronavirus antibodies may not last long in recovered patients

World Health Organization officials said that patients who recover from Covid-19 may be able to get the virus again, adding that studies suggest their immunity may wane after a few months. 

While scientists don’t yet have a complete answer, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of the WHO’s emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, said patients “do mount some level of an immune response.”

But it is unclear “how strong that protection is and for how long that protection will last,” she said at a news conference at the organization’s Geneva headquarters.

Antibodies are generally produced in response to foreign particles or antigens that invade the body and help the body’s immune system fight off infections. When a person gets sick with a virus, they produce antibodies to that particular virus in the recovery process, which generally protects them from getting reinfected. 

In the case of the Covid-19 virus, health officials have said there is insufficient data to indicate that antibodies ensure immunity against the virus. —Jasmine Kim

In June, new home sales jumped 55% annually

The month of June saw a 55% jump annually in sales of newly built homes, according to a survey by John Burns Real Estate Consulting. This marks the largest annual gain since the housing boom more than a decade ago, CNBC’s Diana Olick reports.

The coronavirus’ impact on new housing demand is thought to play a role in the jump, as the supply of existing homes declines and residents prefer new, high-tech homes for easy work from home potential. Many buyers are also fleeing to the suburbs and away from large cities.

“The anecdotal evidence is overwhelming. Sales in the distant commuter areas are the most robust,” said John Burns, founder and CEO of JBRC. “I believe a lot of computer-oriented people have proven to their co-workers that they can be productive from home, and have sensed, or officially been given the green light, to work from home at least a significant portion of the time after a vaccine has been found.”

New home sales were greatest in the Northeast, with an 86% annual jump, and in Florida, which saw an 84% increase, while California lagged behind, the survey found. –Suzanne Blake

‘Too many countries are headed in the wrong direction,’ WHO warns

Executive Director of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) emergencies program Mike Ryan speaks at a news conference on the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Geneva, Switzerland.

Denis Balibouse | Reuters

The World Health Organization warned that too many countries are headed in the “wrong direction” as the coronavirus continues to rapidly spread across the globe. 

The comment by the WHO came after the U.S. and Brazil reported 111,319 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, accounting for roughly half of all the new cases reported worldwide. As of Sunday, U.S. cases are growing by 5% or more in 37 states and also Washington D.C.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the agency’s top official, criticized some countries’ responses to the virus, saying their actions haven’t matched the seriousness of the pandemic. 

 “The only aim of the virus is to find people to infect. Mixed messages from leaders are undermining the most critical ingredient of any response: Trust,” he said during a press conference. The virus “is going to get worse and worse and worse but it doesn’t have to be this way.”  –Berkeley Lovelace Jr.

Hong Kong Disneyland to shutter again on July 15

Disneyland Hong Kong.

Getty Images

Disney‘s theme park in Hong Kong will close temporarily on Wednesday after the island reported a spike in coronavirus cases. 

Hong Kong Disneyland reopened less than a month ago after closing down in January during the first surge of Covid-19 cases in the region.

The local government has limited group gatherings to four people, from 50, and forced 12 different kinds of businesses, including gyms and gaming centers, to shutdown for a week. 

The news of the park’s closure comes as Disney’s Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom reopened in Orlando, Florida on Saturday. —Sarah Whitten

U.S. students more vulnerable than kids elsewhere, Dr. Scott Gottlieb says

Children in the U.S. are more likely to become severely sick and die from Covid-19 than kids in other countries because the U.S. has a comparatively unhealthy population, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said.

“We have more co-morbid illness among young people in this country, more asthma, more obesity, more diabetes, so there is going to be higher risk with our school-age population,” Gottlieb said on “Squawk Box.” 

President Donald Trump vowed last week to pressure governors into reopening schools even as the U.S. outbreak continues to balloon, especially in a number of hot-spot states across the South and West. —Will Feuer

Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and is a member of the boards of Pfizer, genetic-testing start-up Tempus and biotech company Illumina. He also serves as co-chair of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings’ and Royal Caribbean’s “Healthy Sail Panel.”

Sen. Marco Rubio says the costs of not reopening schools in Florida are ‘extraordinary’

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

Michael Brochstein | SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images

Quest Diagnostics posts better-than-expected revenue on rising demand for testing

People volunteer for Covid-19 surveillance testing using the Quest Diagnostics self administered PCR test in Livingston, Montana.

William Campbell | Getty Images

Quest Diagnostics reported preliminary revenue for the second quarter above analysts’ estimates, pushing shares up 2.7% before the bell on growing demand for Covid-19 testing. The company’s revenue fell 6% to $1.83 billion, but was still above estimates of $1.52 billion, according to the company.

After more than a 40% decline in testing during the last two weeks of March, the company began seeing a rise in testing volume at a faster-than-expected rate. Quest is expected to report second-quarter results on July 23, according to Reuters.  –Alex Harring

Yelp to bring back furloughed employees

Yelp will bring back “nearly all” of its 1,100 furloughed employees next month, and will restore employee pay and work hours.

The company in April laid of 1,000 employees and furloughed roughly 1,100 more, as the Covid-19 pandemic kept people across the nation home.

“As local economies begin their recovery, we remain cautious but optimistic in the face of continued uncertainty,” Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman wrote in an email to employees that was shared with CNBC.

Coronavirus cases continue to spike in some areas across the nation, and Yelp will extend its office closures into 2021. The company said that will result in a layoff of 63 more employees. —Jessica Bursztynsky

Pepsi sales fall amid virus shutdowns

PepsiCo‘s net sales fell more than 3% in the most recent quarter as the coronavirus kept consumers away from restaurants, convenience stores and sporting events, the company announced in its quarterly report

The company’s North American beverage division reported a 7% drop in organic revenue, which strips out the impact of foreign currency, acquisitions and divestitures. Pepsi’s packaged food units, by contrast, saw increased sales as Americans stayed home. Quaker Foods North America reported organic revenue growth of 23%, and Frito-Lay North America reported organic sales growth of 6%. 

Read more on the quarterly update from CNBC’s Amelia Lucas. —Sara Salinas

Pfizer, BioNTech’s vaccine candidates get FDA ‘fast track’

German biotech firm BioNTech and U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced that two of their vaccine candidates were granted “fast track” status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The companies said in a statement that the designation was based on preliminary data from the candidates’ phases one and two trials, which are still ongoing. On July 1, the companies released early data on the trials. 

“We look forward to continue working closely with the FDA throughout the clinical development of this program, Project Lightspeed, to evaluate the safety and efficacy of these vaccine candidates,” Peter Honig, Pfizer’s senior vice president of global regulatory affair, said in a statement.

The companies said they expect to start late-stage clinical trials that will involve up to 30,000 participants as soon as later this month. —Will Feuer

Germany can prevent a second wave, health minister insists

Citizens walk at the pedestrian zone in Guetersloh, western Germany.

Ina Fassbender | AFP | Getty Images

Germany can prevent a second wave of the coronavirus later this year if people remain vigilant, the country’s health minister said, warning German holidaymakers not to be complacent over the risks.

“We have to try particularly now in the holiday season to prevent infections,” Jens Spahn told a news conference Monday, Reuters reported. “We don’t automatically have to expect a second wave in the autumn and winter. Together, as a society, we can prevent that, as we did once before: breaking the wave and keeping the pandemic in check.”

Spahn said it was important to remain alert when traveling abroad and that he was worried by pictures showing holidaymakers ignoring social distancing rules. —Holly Ellyatt

Read CNBC’s previous coronavirus live coverage here: Record single-day spike in cases; Gottlieb says 1 in 150 Americans are infected

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