Coronavirus live updates: Fauci warns virus won't disappear, California surpasses 500,000 cases

California's confirmed coronavirus cases have crossed the 500,000 mark, according to an NBC News count, with 9,182 related deaths.

As of Friday, the state of approximately 40 million people had reported 504,593 cases of the Covid-19 infection. 

The U.S. has recorded by far the highest number of coronavirus cases worldwide, with more than 4.5 million cases to date. — Sam Meredith 

California health officials reported the state's first death of a child from coronavirus on Friday, the Associated Press reported.

The death happened in Central Valley. The child was a teenager and had other health conditions, according to the AP.

The CDC reported 228 children have died of the virus in the U.S, which comprises less than 0.2% of coronavirus deaths in the country.

In California, the AP said only around 9% of confirmed virus cases are children, and most never suffer serious conditions or require hospitalization. Of California's more than 9,000 deaths from coronavirus, three-quarters were age 65 or older. –Suzanne Blake

The political arm of the Koch network is going back into the field, despite the coronavirus pandemic.

Americans for Prosperity Action, a super PAC linked to the larger network, is reactivating its in-person door knocking with just under 100 days until the general election after shifting to a virtual campaign earlier in the year.

AFP Action is backing a wide array of contenders, including five Republican Sens. David Perdue, R-Ga., Steve Daines, R-Mont., Cory Gardner, R-Colo, Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and John Cornyn, R-Texas. 

Their five states combined have had over 768,000 reported cases of the Covid-19, with most coming from the state of Texas. There are over 4 million confirmed cases nationwide and at least 152,000 deaths.

AFP Action plans to unleash a seven figure digital ad buy in August that will include supportive spots for all five Senate candidates, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. Another Koch linked outside group, Concerned Veterans for America Action, will launch separate digital ads next week backing Daines and Tillis. —Brian Schwartz

A report claiming the Trump administration scrapped plans for a national coronavirus testing strategy to make Democratic governors in some of the hardest hit states look bad is "preposterous," Adm. Brett Giroir, an assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services, said in an interview on Fox News. 

A team led by the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner created a national testing plan early in the nation's response to the pandemic that called the federal government to coordinate the distribution of test kits to heavily impacted areas, among other recommendations, according to an article in Vanity Fair, which said it had obtained a copy of the plan. However, Kushner's plan was reportedly scrapped by the Trump administration because the coronavirus was hitting Democrat-led states the hardest, and a national strategy "would not make sense politically," Vanity Fair reported, citing a public-health expert who spoke with a member on Kushner's team familiar with the matter. 

"I have never heard something so preposterous as 'we're not going to do a national plan because it's affecting Democratic states," Giroir told Fox News. "I would like to put that to rest because it's really ridiculous and it foments mistrust in the public health system." — Noah Higgins-Dunn

Discount carrier Frontier Airlines says it could furlough up to 559 pilots and 925 flight attendants, 35% of each work group, as early as Oct. 1, the latest airline to warn staff about potential cuts.

Furloughs are prohibited until Oct. 1 under the terms of $25 billion in federal payroll support set aside for U.S. passenger airlines. But carriers have begun warning employees that their jobs are at risk, a federal requirement.

"Our current forecast for October calls for us to operate significantly fewer flights than we had planned and we anticipate similar capacity reductions until demand recovers; that recovery is not likely until the widespread availability of a vaccine or therapeutics in 2021," Frontier's CEO Barry Biffle said in a staff memo. "Flying at those levels leaves us with too many team members on our payroll and we need to make some difficult, but necessary, decisions to significantly reduce our payroll expense." 

 The airline says it's in talks with labor unions about voluntary programs to try to prevent involuntary job cuts.

More than 200 lawmakers and airline labor unions are urging Congress to extend $32 billion in aid for the sector that would protect sector jobs through the end of next March.

"While we cannot predict the outcome of those negotiations, we are hopeful that our representatives in Washington will understand the potential impact of not supporting an extension to this program," said Frontier's Biffle.

Millions of renters are at risk of eviction now that the proceedings have resumed in more than 30 states and the federal eviction moratorium in the CARES Act has expired. 

Still, there might be rules in place to help keep you in your home.

Some courts will allow you to postpone your hearing until you can go into the courthouse. In states where the statewide moratorium on evictions has lapsed, some towns, cities and counties have established their own protections for renters.

At Justshelter.org, you can search for community resources for people at risk of eviction. And you can find low-cost or free legal help with an eviction in your state at Lawhelp.org.

You'll definitely want to try to get a lawyer. One study in New Orleans found that more than 65% of tenants with no legal representation were evicted, compared with fewer than 15% of those who did have a lawyer. —Annie Nova

Top Democrats and Republicans appeared as far apart as ever from reaching a deal on the next coronavirus relief package, with enhanced federal unemployment benefits set to expire in hours. 

Democrats in the House, who passed on their own proposal in May, oppose the GOP plan because it slashes enhanced unemployment; gives liability protections to businesses, doctors and schools; and lacks direct aid for state and local governments as well as mortgage, rent and food assistance.  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said liability protections are not negotiable. 

The $600 enhanced weekly unemployment benefit expires later today, though states actually stopped paying it out last week. —Spencer Kimball

 

Almost 300,000 new coronavirus cases were reported to the World Health Organization over the last 24 hours, marking the largest single-day increase ever, the agency said.

More than half of the 292,527 new cases reported on Thursday came from the Americas with 171,946 cases , according to data from the WHO. Southeast Asia reported the second most number of cases with 60,113 reported infections, followed by Europe with 25 241, according to the WHO.

Last week, WHO officials warned there is no going back to the "old normal" as the coronavirus pandemic accelerates in the United States and poorer, developing countries. Even though cases are high in the U.S. and other parts of the world, there's still a chance to bring the virus under control, they said.  —Berkeley Lovelace Jr.

In a report released on Friday, the U.S. House Oversight Committee accused the Trump administration of "incompetent negotiating" for ventilators at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. The report found that failed negotiations on behalf of Trump administration officials led by U.S. trade advisor Peter Navarro "squandered" more than $500 million in taxpayer funds for the essential equipment. 

The committee based its findings on documents and information collected from Philips Respironics, a leading manufacturer of ventilators that reportedly negotiated contracts with the Trump administration. Lawmakers said the administration mismanaged an existing contract with Philips Respironics, agreeing to pay $15,000 apiece for Trilogy EV300 ventilators this year after Philips repeatedly failed to deliver 10,000 Trilogy Evo Universal ventilators ordered in 2014 for $3,280 apiece, the report says.

"The Trump Administration's efforts constitute over half-a-billion dollars of waste, fraud, or abuse. Philips should return the excess so that it may aid the nation's response to the coronavirus pandemic," the report says. — Noah Higgins-Dunn

United Airlines is dipping a toe into international flying again, adding more than 25 routes abroad in September. The carrier, however, remains cautious as the pandemic and travel restrictions keep a lid on demand growth.

International flying has been curtailed even more than domestic routes because of the virus due to strict measures barring many travelers.

With the additions, the Chicago-based airline's September capacity will be 37% of year-ago levels and up 4 percentage points from its August 2020 schedule. United has been among the most cautious of the U.S. airlines when adding back capacity into the market.

Some of the planned additions include flights from Chicago to Tel Aviv, Chicago to Hong Kong and Houston to Amsterdam. It is also going after sun seekers with service to Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and to San Jose and Liberia, Costa Rica.

Domestically, United will add 40 flights a day, and is planning to increase flying to Hawaii as well as adding service to Santa Barbara, California and Colorado Springs.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, said the coronavirus is so contagious it won't likely ever completely go away.

"I do not believe it would disappear because it's such a highly transmissible virus," Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told a House Select Subcommittee hearing on containing the coronavirus outbreak. While the virus will not disappear, Fauci has previously said it's possible world leaders and public health officials could work to bring the pandemic down to "low levels." 

Fauci's comments are at odds with President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly claimed that the virus would "disappear." The president's remarks come amid warnings from health experts, including at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that Covid-19 cases and deaths could rise this fall. —Berkeley Lovelace Jr.

Forty of 45 participants in the Moderna phase one vaccine trial were White. Now the late-stage trials underway are geared toward those most at risk of severe disease: the elderly, front-line workers, and Black, Latino and Native American communities.

"The number one reason Black people and brown people don't participate in clinical trials is because nobody asks them," said Linda Goler Blount, CEO of the Black Women's Health Imperative. 

"Historically, people of color have been left out of clinical trials," she said. "And we've seen plenty of examples of where drugs have been developed or therapeutics developed and it turns out they don't work as well in communities of color."— Meg Tirrell, Berkeley Lovelace Jr.

The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Robert Redfield, warned Congress of "significant public health consequences" if schools don't reopen in the fall.

Millions of children get nutritional and mental health services at schools, CDC Director Redfield told a House Select Subcommittee hearing on containing the coronavirus outbreak. He said school reopenings need to be done "smartly."

 "It's important to realize that it's in the public health's best interest for K-12 students to get back into face-to-face learning," Redfield testified. "There's really very significant public health consequences of the school closure." 

The matter of whether and how to reopen schools in the U.S. this fall has become a hotbed issue in recent weeks. Researchers say the role kids play in spreading the disease is still unclear. —Berkeley Lovelace Jr.

Wearing goggles or eye shields, as well as a face mask or cloth face covering, can provide additional protection from Covid-19, White House advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said during an Instagram Live interview Wednesday.

Covid-19 can enter the body through any mucosal surface, which includes the nose, mouth and eyes, Fauci told ABC News Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton. Eye transmission is less common than through the nose and mouth, but it is possible, Dr. Thomas Steinemann, clinical spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology told CNBC Make It. 

If you own goggles or an eye shield, you should wear them, Fauci said. (Standard eyeglasses or sunglasses don't provide adequate protection due to the openings on the top, bottom and sides, Steinemann says.) 

Though eye protection is currently not mandated for the general public, "if you really want to be complete, you should probably use it," Fauci said. Studies on health-care workers show that eye protection is associated with reduced infection. —Cory Stieg

Analysts believe the coronavirus pandemic is likely to continue boosting Apple's iPad and Mac sales, after seeing the trend take place in its fiscal third quarter. 

Morgan Stanley said it is bullish on the "increased importance of consumer computing devices to support work, play and learn from home benefiting iPad/Mac sales." It also raised its price target on the stock to $430 per share from $419 a share. 

Analysts at Piper Sandler also noted that Apple is withstanding the coronavirus pandemic, saying in a company note Thursday that its Mac and iPad units are "actually benefiting nicely" due to remote work and learning trends. 

Retailers have been hard hit by the pandemic that's shut down stores across the globe and impacted suppliers. But Apple pointed toward both work-from-home trends and strong online sales as delivering a boost to overall operations.

The company's iPad sales grew 31%, and its "other products" category, which includes AirPods and the Apple Watch, grew 17% from the third quarter of 2019. Mac revenue also rose almost 18% from this time last year. —Jessica Bursztynsky

Pinterest shares popped more than 38% in premarket trading after the company reported second-quarter earnings.

Shares were up about 24% mid-morning Friday.

Pinterest said its global monthly active users surged 39% year-over-year to 416 million. The company saw total revenue of $272 million, an increase of 4% year-over-year, though it said advertiser demand continued to be affected by the pandemic.

"People needed Pinterest in Q2," the company said in the letter. "They needed a service that helped them adjust to radically changed circumstances — one that inspired them to cook at home, build vegetable gardens, plan activities for their kids and set up remote offices and home gyms, to name just a few typical Covid-19-related use cases we saw during the quarter." —Megan Graham

Merck has scheduled "very large pivotal" studies for its oral coronavirus treatment in collaboration with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics as early as September, Dr. Roger Perlmutter, president of Merck Research Laboratories, said on the company's second-quarter earnings call. The experimental oral therapeutic, known as MK-4482, that would fight against Covid-19 is currently in phase two trials.

He said the goal of future studies will be to prove the drug can reduce the duration of Covid-19 symptoms and, more importantly, keep people from developing serious illness that could send them to the hospital or intensive-care unit. The drug, if approved, would join Gilead's remdesivir in helping critically ill coronavirus patients.

"The good news about MK-4482 is that because it's an oral drug given in capsules, it can be easily administered from the time that people have symptoms," Perlmutter said. —Noah Higgins-Dunn

For some students with disabilities and special needs in U.S. public and private schools, the shift to remote learning has created additional financial pressures for their families, reports CNBC's Sharon Epperson.

"Parents have to decide, 'Okay, how am I going to address this gap?' And quite often they have to pay out of pocket for those services," said Jessica Tuman, vice president of Voya Cares Center of Excellence at Voya Financial, which focuses on planning for individuals with special needs and their families.

Tuman and other financial and legal experts suggest that families of children with disabilities explore workplace benefits, special savings accounts and other resources. 

Employee benefits can help families to pay for therapies and other costs. A family can save up $7,100 pretax in a health savings account, or HSA, and up to $2,750 in a flexible spending account, or FSA.

An ABLE account is another savings option. You can put away up to $15,000 a year and the first $100,000 saved will not jeopardize key government benefits, such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments. Tuman said some health insurance plans may also cover special therapies, like applied behavioral analysis for childr