Coronavirus live updates: Dog-like robot on social-distancing patrol, cattle rancher in ‘survival game’

FAN Editor

Wall Street got a fresh look at the retail sector Friday morning, with April sales posting another record drop. Restaurants, bars and nongrocery retailers are just starting to reopen in parts of the country — with varying levels of safety measures in place. In Washington, the House is set to vote on a new $3 trillion relief bill, and sources tell CNBC the White House would likely support a second round of stimulus checks for Americans.

This is CNBC’s live blog covering all the latest news on the coronavirus outbreak. All times below are in Eastern time. This blog will be updated throughout the day as the news breaks. 

  • Global cases: More than 4.4 million
  • Global deaths: At least 302,493
  • US cases: More than 1.4 million
  • US deaths: At least 85,906

The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

11:47 am: Manhattan rental market takes a hard hit from pandemic

A Chelsea Tower rental apartments billboard.

Jeff Greenberg | Getty Images

New rentals in Manhattan plummeted by 71% last month, reflecting the serious blow the coronavirus has dealt to New York City’s rental market. Manhattan’s vacancy rate is now at its highest level in 14 years as people leave the city for more spacious suburbs, CNBC’s Robert Frank reports. In order to keep tenants, landlords are making concessions like waiving one month’s rent and reducing security deposits. —Hannah Miller

11:20 am: ‘It’s just become a survival game,’ fourth-generation cattle rancher says

With major meat plants still closed even after President Donald Trump’s executive order to keep them open and low cattle prices on top of that, many cattle ranchers in the U.S. are bleeding money and having to make hard decisions.

Fourth-generation cattle rancher Brett Kenzy says he is six weeks late on his loan payments after he was unable to sell his cattle on April 1.

For the week ending on May 9, meat production — including beef, veal, pork and lamb — was down 31% from the same time the previous year, according to the USDA.

″[T]he executive order had essentially no impact,” Derrell Peel, a livestock economist at Oklahoma State University tells CNBC Make It. The problem may be that many plants are struggling to find healthy workers as many fall sick and others are fearful of getting the virus, according to reports. If this continues, Kenzy believes “meat rationing will occur, definitely” during the summer months. —Jade Scipioni

11:15 am: Mexico to allow auto production to restart

Employees work on the assembly line of the Tiguan model, at the Volkswagen car plant in Puebla, central Mexico in 2018.

PEDRO PARDO | AFP | Getty Images

After days of uncertainty, Mexico will allow automakers and suppliers to resume production as early as next week as long as safety protocols are implemented to protect workers from Covid-19, according to updated guidelines released by the Mexican government.

Safety protocols, according to the guidelines, are expected to include adjustment of workspaces and production processes, as well as establishment of entryways, sanitization and hygiene practices determined by the health ministry. All are similar to measures already being established in U.S. and Mexico factories by automakers. 
Without Mexico production reopening, it was unclear whether U.S. production could successfully resume next week for General Motors, Ford Motor and Fiat Chrysler.

Despite President Donald Trump’s “America First” policies, the U.S. auto industry heavily relies on Mexico for parts and vehicle production.

The guidelines have been changed at least three times this week, including Thursday when the government said production could not begin until June 1. —Michael Wayland

11:00 am: Abbott test missing infections may be due to ‘user error,’ Azar says

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said a coronavirus test used to screen White House staff could be providing inaccurate results due to “user error.” He added the White House still has “confidence” in the test even after a recent study from New York University found it may return a high percentage of false-negative results.

U.S. officials and corporations are pouring money into testing, hoping it will give people the confidence to return to work and reopen parts of the economy. The Abbott test is one of four on the U.S. market.

On Monday, the FDA granted emergency use authorization for Abbott’s new coronavirus test that detects Covid-19 antibodies. The tests can indicate whether a person has had Covid-19 and was either asymptomatic or recovered. —Berkeley Lovelace, Jr.

10:55 am: Boston Dynamics’ dog-like robot being used for social-distancing patrol

Boston Dynamics’ dog-like robot, Spot, is being used in a park in Singapore to help encourage social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic.
Marc Raibert, the company’s founder, told CNBC the robot can operate itself but in Singapore, there is a human who is operating it. “The robot isn’t really enforcing in Singapore. It’s just giving people information and encouraging them,” he said. “There’s a human nearby who can do whatever enforcement they decide is appropriate.” —Kevin Stankiewicz

10:45 am: Fed’s Kaplan calls for a ‘dramatic national initiative for testing’

Despite the fact that tens of millions of Americans have lost their jobs as the U.S. economy went into freefall amid the pandemic, the U.S. could still pull off a relatively quick recovery if it does just one thing right, Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan said, according to a Reuters report.

“If we made a dramatic national initiative for testing — and I mean dramatic …that could help create the V,” he said in an online interview with local public TV station KERA. Kaplan was referring to a “v-shaped recession,” which is characterized by a sharp decline in output followed quickly by a steep ramp back up. —Terri Cullen

10:28 am: Number of new US cases remains persistently steady

9:58 am: Microsoft and UnitedHealth offer free app to screen employees for coronavirus

UnitedHealth Group and Microsoft’s ProtectWell coronavirus symptom screener

UnitedHealth Group and Microsoft

UnitedHealth Group and Microsoft are launching a coronavirus screening app for U.S. employers, called ProtectWell, that provides daily symptom checker to help clear employees to go to work, or directs them to be tested if they are at risk for infection.

As companies grapple with new safety requirements to prevent Covid-19 infection when they bring employees back to the workplace, health care and tech companies are rolling new services to connect employers with reliable testing resources, advise them about establishing testing protocols for workers in different jobs, and manage the health privacy regulations surrounding the new safety measures.

UnitedHealth and Microsoft are providing their app free of charge, but for diagnostic companies and health systems providing reopening health services provides a new business opportunity to offset some of the losses caused by the moratorium on non-emergency care due to the pandemic.

The aim is to instill confidence in workers that they’re protected on the job, and through widespread testing help provide a better framework to contain the spread of the virus, so that consumers safe about going back out into their communities. —Bertha Coombs

9:43 am: Curve edges up in U.S. and Singapore 

9:33 am: Fewer borrowers are asking for mortgage relief, but bailout improvements could change the pace

The pace of borrowers still piling into government and private lender mortgage relief programs is finally slowing. However, a change in the way borrowers are required to pay back that relief, could make the programs more enticing over the next few months.

Approximately 4.7 million homeowners were in so-called forbearance plans, as of May 12, up from a revised 4.5 million the week before, according to Black Knight, a mortgage data and analytics company. The vast majority are in the government’s plan, which was set up as part of the CARES Act, the first coronavirus relief legislation. —Diana Olick

8:45 am: Norway could extend travel restrictions to Aug. 20

Norway is likely to extend restrictions on international travel until Aug. 20, Prime Minister Erna Solberg said, according to Reuters. The country has advised against traveling across borders unless necessary and has asked any residents returning from abroad to quarantine for 10 days. Non-Norwegians are largely barred from entering the country, Reuters reports. —Sara Salinas

8:32 am: Denmark records zero Covid-19 deaths in 24 hours

A covid-19 infected patient, who has been hospitalised for a month, talks with medical staff at the lung medical unit at Bispebjerg Hospital in Copenhagen Denmark on May 7, 2020 amid the new coronavirus pandemic.

Olafur Steinar Gestsson | AFP | Getty Images

Denmark recorded zero deaths related to Covid-19 in the past 24 hours for the first time in more than two months, Reuters reported. The Scandinavian country confirmed 78 new cases to bring the national tally to 10,791. The death toll stands at 537, and the number of hospitalizations across the country fell by 10 to 137, according to Reuters. —Sara Salinas

8:30 am: Retail sales plunge 16.4% in April

April retail sales fell a record 16.4%, as the coronavirus pandemic largely kept brick-and-mortar shops closed. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected sales to plunge by 12.3%, compared with a previous record drop in March. 

Nonessential businesses were shuttered in wide swaths across the country during the crisis. Some states are just starting to reopen shops and nongrocery retailers for business or for curbside pickup. —Sara Salinas

7:42 am: Former FDA chief on what experts know about unique symptoms in children

7:37 am: Drive-ins offer haven for moviegoers, as traditional theaters stay shuttered

Cars line up at the ticket booth to enter the Ocala Drive-in Theatre, one of the few Florida movie theaters permitted to operate during the COVID-19 stay-at-home order. Half of the parking spaces are roped off, providing 10-12 feet of social distance between each vehicle, and food orders are delivered to cars by servers wearing protective masks and gloves.

Paul Hennessy | Barcroft Media | Getty Images

Once a dying piece of Americana, drive-ins have become a haven for moviegoers during the coronavirus pandemic. While traditional movie theaters have been closed due to social distancing restrictions, drive-ins have been able to show films. Although, it’s estimated that only 30 are open out of the 330 locations still operating.

Jim Kopp, owner of the Family Drive-in Theater in Stephens City, Virginia, said his theater keeps cars 10 feet apart and all of his ticketing and concession sales are now done online or through an app.

“It has changed the way we are doing business in that everything is online,” he said. “It is a contactless type of process.”

The drive-ins restrooms are also sanitized after each use, which has led to longer-than-average lines. —Sarah Whitten

7:30 am: Slovenia becomes first European country to call an end to the coronavirus pandemic

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