As many as 1 in 150 people in the U.S. are infected, Dr. Gottlieb estimates
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration
Getty Images
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former Food and Drug Administration commissioner, said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that he believes as many as 1 in 150 people in the U.S. are infected with the coronavirus.
“We must have well over 700,000 infections a day, even though we’re only diagnosing about 60,000,” said Gottlieb, who added that when the U.S. had about 20,000 new diagnosed infections per day, about 1 in 200 people were actually believed to be infected. “Now, it must be higher than that.”
Gottlieb said he wishes the U.S. had a more coordinated response to the rising infection levels, suggesting strategies in places like Texas and Florida present risk to states like Northeast and Michigan that “sought to crush the virus like the Asian nations, like Western Europe.”
“This is going to be a difficult task for the states that want to try to persevere the gains they made, paying a pretty big sacrifice to crush the virus, to have it not be re-imported back into those states in meaningful numbers and see epidemics heading into the fall,” said Gottlieb. —Kevin Stankiewicz
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.
Stocks open flat as promising coronavirus treatment news offsets spike in cases
U.S. stocks opened along the flatline as traders weighed positive news about a potential coronavirus treatment and another record spike in virus cases, reports CNBC’s Fred Imbert. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded just 10 points higher, or less than 0.1%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were also flat. —Melodie Warner
U.S. producer prices unexpectedly fall in June
U.S. producer prices unexpectedly fell in June as depressed demand amid the Covid-19 pandemic battled the economy.
The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand dropped 0.2% last month after rebounding 0.4% in May, Reuters reported. In the 12 months through June, the PPI declined 0.8% after decreasing 0.8% in May.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the PPI climbing 0.4% in June and falling 0.2% on a year-on-year basis. —Melodie Warner
Coronavirus ‘most likely’ transmitted through particles in the air, ECDC says
The coronavirus is “most likely” transmitted through particles in the air, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
Josep Jansa, group leader of response at the ECDC, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Friday that it was “most likely there is potential for aerosol transmission” of Covid-19. He added that the ECDC had never discarded this as a possibility, and said there was evidence the coronavirus had spread more easily in closed environments or when people participated in activities like choir singing.
The World Health Organization said this week that it was reviewing new evidence on whether Covid-19 can spread through particles in the air.
The ECDC, which expects coronavirus cases to begin rising again in Europe over the coming months, recommends wearing face coverings, combined with other prevention measures, to mitigate the spread of the disease.
“It has to be a combination because using masks and putting that as the main and central measure can bring this false sense of safety,” Jansa told CNBC. “(People think) ‘while I’m using a mask I don’t need to do anything else,’ and that’s not the case. So, clear ventilation of spaces, respiratory etiquette, together with the other measures, that’s the way forward.” —Chloe Taylor
Italy PM says state of emergency likely to extend beyond July 31
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has warned the country will likely need to extend its state of emergency beyond the current deadline of July 31.
The prospect of an extension to the state of emergency means Italy will be able to remain “in a position to continue taking the necessary measures,” Conte said, according to Reuters.
The euro zone’s third-largest economy had declared a six-month state of emergency at the end of January, paving the way for the government to act quickly to respond to the coronavirus outbreak.
To date, Italy has recorded over 240,000 cases of the coronavirus, with 34,926 related deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. —Sam Meredith
Nevada to reimplement restrictions on bars
A Nevada Highway Patrol officer directs vehicles as they wait in line on streets around Boulder Station Hotel & Casino to get into a drive-thru Three Square Food Bank emergency food distribution site in response to an increase in demand amid the coronavirus pandemic on April 29, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
David Becker | AFP via Getty Images
Nevada plans to roll back some of its reopening, shutting down bars in certain counties with growing outbreaks, Gov. Steve Sisolak announced late Thursday.
The order, which has not yet been issued, will take effect at 11:59 p.m. Friday, Sisolak said. He added that the order will reimplement restrictions similar to those seen under phase one of the state’s reopening plan in which they were allowed to remain open for curbside pickup.
“We know COVID-19 can easily spread when people are congregating for long periods of time,” Sisolak said in a tweet. “Recently, Dr. Fauci, the US’s top infectious-disease expert, advised congregating in bars is one of the most dangerous things people could do. We must heed his advice.” —Will Feuer
Read CNBC’s previous coronavirus live coverage here: India sees record daily rise in cases, Hong Kong to close all schools