Coronavirus: Trump is leaving the hospital; CDC warns virus can spread through the air

The vice presidential debate Wednesday between the Republican Mike Pence and his Democratic challenger, Sen. Kamala Harris, won't just rely on social distancing to keep them safe — it now will feature a plexiglass barrier.

The Commission on Presidential Debates agreed to have such a barrier in place after Harris' campaign requested the precaution on the heels of President Donald Trump being diagnosed with Covid-19 less than three days after his debate last week with former Vice President Joe Biden. Pence's camp reportedly opposed the idea.

The commission had already extended the planned distance between Pence and Harris from 7 feet to 13 feet in reaction to Trump's positive coronavirus test.

Harris and Pence will square off in Salt Lake City, Utah. —Dan Mangan

Southwest Airlines CEO told workers the company can avoid furloughs and layoffs through 2021 if union employees agree to take pay cuts, Reuters reports. 

Airlines have faced staggering shortfalls in demand and revenue as the coronavirus has kept travel hamstrung. The major carriers have all warned that they would need to cut jobs if more federal aid doesn't come through. 

"We simply don't have time for long, drawn-out, complex negotiations," Kelly said. —Sara Salinas

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell warned the league's 32 teams that violating regular-season Covid-19 protocols would result in penalties including potential forfeits of games, the Associated Press reports. 

"Protocol violations that result in virus spread requiring adjustments to the schedule or otherwise impacting other teams will result in additional financial and competitive discipline, including the adjustment or loss of draft choices or even the forfeit of a game," Goodell wrote in a memo sent to teams and obtained by The Associated Press.

"Simply put, compliance is mandatory. Now is the time to recommit ourselves to our protocols and best practices for the duration of the season." —Sara Salinas

More than 80% of hospitalized Covid-19 patients experienced neurological symptoms, such as muscle pain, headaches, dizziness, an altered mental state and loss of taste and smell, according to a new study published Monday.

Dr. Igor Koralnik, the chief of neuro-infectious disease at Northwestern Medicine and one of the study's authors, said in a statement that the most severe neurologic symptom was Encephalopathy, "which is characterized by altered mental function ranging from mild confusion to coma."

Nearly 32% of patients in the study experienced encephalopathy for at least some time during the course of disease. Patients with symptoms impacting the brain were more likely to be male and have a shorter time from symptom onset to hospitalization, the study says.

The authors of the study, which is published in the Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology, analyzed data from 509 Covid-19 patients hospitalized in the Northwestern Medicine health system between March 5 and April 6. It is the first study to examine the frequency of symptoms impacting the brain in the U.S., Koralnik said.

"We are now looking to characterize the long-term neurologic effects of COVID-19 and the cognitive outcomes in patients with COVID-19-associated encephalopathy," he said in a statement. "We're studying this in patients who are discharged from the hospital, as well as in COVID-19 'long-haulers,' who have never been hospitalized but also suffer from a similar range of neurological problems, including brain fog." —Will Feuer

Former CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden urged Americans to remain mindful of the threat posed by the coronavirus, pushing back on President Donald Trump's assertion to not "be afraid of Covid." 

"You know we've had 210,000 Americans killed by it. A million people killed by it around the world. It is devastating jobs and our economy, and it comes back to hurt us any time we don't take it seriously," Frieden said on "Closing Bell." "I think it's very important to give this virus the respect it deserves because it can be so deadly, even though it causes such a range of symptoms." 

Frieden was commenting on Trump's afternoon tweet, in which the president said he would be leaving Walter Reed National Military Medical Center at 6:30 p.m.  In the tweet, Trump also said of the coronavirus, "Don't let it dominate your life." 

"I think that is good advice," said Frieden, who served under President Barack Obama. "We need to see Covid as one threat and move forward to the greatest extent possible." —Kevin Stankiewicz

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 465 points Monday, rallying on hopes for a stimulus agreement by the election and amid news that President Donald Trump will be discharged from the hospital within hours. 

The jump makes for a 1.7% gain for the Dow, CNBC's Yun Li reports. The S&P 500 rose 1.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.3%. —Sara Salinas

Despite President Donald Trump's announcement that he would be discharged from Walter Reed hospital later Monday, his team of doctors cautioned that the president may "not entirely be out of the woods yet."

"It's been more than 72 hours since his last fever," Dr. Sean Conley, the White House physician, said. "Though he may not entirely be out of the woods yet, the team and I agree that all our evaluations, and most importantly, his clinical status, support the president's safe return home, where he'll be surrounded by world-class medical care, 24/7." 

Conley said that while Trump's condition has improved over the last 24 hours, he's not yet ready to say the president has completely beaten Covid-19. Grilled by reporters outside the hospital, Conley said that the president's medical team is "cautiously optimistic," but added, "we're in a bit of uncharted territory" with regard to trump's treatment regimen.

Trump will receive a fourth dose of Gilead's remdesivir before leaving the hospital, Conley said, and a fifth and final dose of the Covid-19 treatment back at the White House. —Thomas Franck, Sara Salinas

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are pushing to strike a deal on an elusive fifth coronavirus stimulus package. 

The pair spoke on the phone for about an hour but did not reach an agreement. Pelosi and Mnuchin plan to talk again as they try to resolve differences over issues including unemployment insurance, state and local government aid, tax credits and liability protections for businesses and schools. 

The White House and Democrats have made what looks like one final push to reach a stimulus deal before the Nov. 3 election. While the sides appear to have made progress, it is still unclear what bill could pass both the Democratic-held House and GOP-controlled Senate. 

President Donald Trump, who has not directly joined in talks, put pressure on Congress to pass aid over the weekend as he received treatment for Covid-19 at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. —Jacob Pramuk

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised its coronavirus guidance Monday, acknowledging that it can sometimes spread through airborne particles that can "linger in the air for minutes to hours" and among people who are more than six feet apart.

The CDC cited published reports that demonstrated "limited, uncommon circumstances where people with COVID-19 infected others who were more than 6 feet away or shortly after the COVID-19-positive person left an area."

The federal health agency said such spread most often occurs in "poorly ventilated and enclosed spaces that often involved activities that caused heavier breathing, like singing or exercise." However, the CDC maintains that the dominant route of spread is through respiratory droplets produced, for example, by coughing, sneezing and speaking. —Will Feuer

President Donald Trump said in a tweet that he will be checking out of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Monday evening after a three-night stay for treatment of his Covid-19 infection.

Trump was admitted to the hospital as a "precautionary measure" on Friday after testing positive for the coronavirus late Thursday night. 

The White House initially said Friday that Trump was experiencing "mild symptoms" of Covid-19. But it was later revealed by his doctors that the president had woken up Friday with a high fever and that he received supplemental oxygen before he departed by helicopter from the White House to Walter Reed. 

His condition has improved since then, but there are several serious questions outstanding about his illness and his care that doctors have refused to answer. 

Trump's directives in his tweet that Americans not "be afraid of Covid" or "let it dominate your life," come as more than a dozen of Trump's closest aides in the White House have tested positive for coronavirus in the past week, a number that is expected to rise. —Christina Wilkie

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has ordered some New York City schools closed, effective Tuesday, amid new clusters across the city, the Associated Press reports.  

Nine ZIP codes in Brooklyn and Queens have been of particular concern, with Mayor Bill de Blasio pushing for restrictions to again take effect on in-person learning and nonessential businesses in those hot spot areas, according to the AP. 

De Blasio's plan would see about 300 schools closed. 

"These clusters have to be attacked," Cuomo said. —Sara Salinas

White House physician Dr. Sean Conley will provide an update on President Donald Trump's condition in the 3 p.m. ET hour, according to spokesman Judd Deere.

The president's medical team said Sunday that he could be discharged from Walter Reed hospital as soon as Monday. Trump is reportedly frustrated at being hospitalized and is eager to leave.

Earlier Monday, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Trump and his doctors would decide later in the day whether the president would be discharged.

The potential timeline raised concerns among medical experts, who say that the president's treatments suggest he may have a serious case of Covid-19. –Mike Calia

President Donald Trump's doctors have given him at least three drugs to treat his case of Covid-19, worrying some doctors that the treatment could be overboard. 

Trump's team of doctors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center said over the weekend that the president has taken Gilead's antiviral drug remdesivir, Regeneron's experimental antibody cocktail and the steroid dexamethasone in the past few days to treat his case of Covid-19.

There is little data publicly available on at least one of those drugs in the treatment of Covid-19 patients and doctors don't know much about how they interact with one another or what side effects they might cause.

"Having worked at the ER, I've certainly treated a number of individuals who would be considered VIPs," said Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University. "These patients expect to receive the best treatment, but often that results in them becoming over-treated, and there is a risk to that." —Will Feuer

The U.S. does not need to accept the persistent spread of the coronavirus, Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Monday. The former FDA chief under President Trump pointed to the public health strategies implemented in places such as China, Thailand, Vietnam and South Korea. 

"The entire Pacific Rim has less than 1,000 infections a day. Having a raging epidemic is not inevitable," he said on "Squawk Box." "People want to say China is lying about the two dozen cases that they're reporting a day, which I don't believe they are [lying]. Certainly, the entire Pacific Rim isn't in on the conspiracy." 

Gottlieb emphasized the need to wear face masks and prioritize important developments such as reopening schools for in-person classes. 

"Nothing is going to be zero risk. But if we do it on a large scale, there are ways to allow important activities to continue," Gottlieb said. "But if we're going to say, 'Look we don't want to wear masks, we don't want to close the bars, and we don't want to have this thing spread,' that's not going to add up. We're going to have to make some sacrifices." —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. He also serves as co-chair of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings′ and Royal Caribbean's "Healthy Sail Panel." 

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany announced that she has tested positive for Covid-19, the latest in a series of positive tests to hit the Trump administration, the president's reelection campaign and Republican members of Congress since last week.

President Donald Trump remains hospitalized with the virus, though Trump and his doctors are deciding Monday whether to discharge him from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told NBC. —Chris Eudaily

Dr. Michael Ryan, head of emergencies at the World Health Organization, said the body's "best estimates" suggest roughly 1 in 10 people worldwide may have been infected by Covid-19, according to the Associated Press. That's more than 20 times the number of confirmed cases.

Ryan also warned of a difficult road ahead, AP reported.

The estimate — amounting to more than 760 million people — far surpasses the number of confirmed cases as compiled by both WHO and Johns Hopkins University, now at more than 35 million worldwide, the wire service reported. —Terri Cullen

President Donald Trump and the team of doctors treating him for the coronavirus will decide Monday whether to discharge him from Walter Reed Medical Center, NBC News reported.

"The discharge decision will be made later today between the President and his medical team," White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told NBC.

The move is bound to breed skepticism among those who have criticized administration officials for a lack of transparency on the president's condition.

The president has been mostly sequestered in Walter Reed's presidential wing since departing the White House, but has spoken out in tweets and in a handful of videos posted to his social media. On Sunday, Trump also made a surprise drive-by appearance outside the hospital, where he waved from the backseat window of an SUV to his supporters who had gathered there.

Health experts and other critics, who have pointed to the president's current condition as a sobering example of the unserious approach he has taken to fighting the pandemic overall, promptly condemned the move.  —Kevin Breuninger

President Donald Trump's use of Regeneron's experimental coronavirus treatment creates "a very tough situation" for the drugmaker because the drug hasn't been cleared for broader use, CEO Leonard Schleifer told CNBC.

The president's doctors announced Friday that Trump was given an 8-gram dose of Regeneron's monoclonal antibody treatment. The company said it provided the drug to the president for "compassionate use," which allows for expanded access to experimental drugs for "immediately life-threatening" illnesses, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

That means that while the president's doctors were confident enough of the drug's benefit to administer it to Trump, the treatment remains unavailable to most Americans.

"We have tried to take a principled approach until there is a broader authorization," Schleifer told Meg Tirrell on "Squawk Box." "Asking somebody like the president to go into a clinical trial just wasn't practical." —Will Feuer

Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC the White House did not have adequate protocols in place to protect President Donald Trump from the coronavirus. 

Gottlieb, who led the regulatory agency under Trump from May 2017 to April 2019, said he hopes the administration takes a more holistic public health approach that emphasizes higher-quality testing and other strategies such as wearing face masks. 

 "They both need to model better precautions for the nation so that people see a better example being set by our leaders," Gottlieb said on "Squawk Box." 

"It was told to people in the White House that there was problems with the way they were using testing as a tool to try and prevent virus from getting in the White House compound, and in and around the president, and they didn't really step that up," he added. —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. He also serves as co-chair of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings′ and Royal Caribbean's "Healthy Sail Panel." 

U.S. stocks opened higher as investors welcomed apparent improvements in President Donald Trump's health and optimism of a deal for further coronavirus stimulus, reports CNBC's Yun Li. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 280 points, or 1%. The S&P 500 rose 0.9%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1%. —Melodie Warner 

United Airlines is planning to resume nonstop flights between the U.S. and China later this month after a more than eight-month hiatus, a turning point for the U.S. airline that had the most service to the country pre-pandemic.

Flights from United's San Francisco hub to Shanghai service will start Oct. 21 and operate four times a week. United and other airlines suspended service to mainland China in February as the coronavirus spread and demand for China service plunged.

United resumed Shanghai service in July but with a stop in Seoul. United said the change is due to testing and accommodation procedures that will be in place, both airline and local government requirements, will allow them to operate without a crew stop. The airline tells CNBC that demand trends will determine whether it adds additional China service. —Leslie Josephs

In the face of a funding shortfall, New York's free college program could run out of cash just when students need it the most.

The Excelsior Scholarship applies to all schools at the City University of New York and State University of New York. New York said more than 940,000 middle-class families and individuals making up to $125,000 per year could qualify when the program completed its three-year phase-in this year.

It was the first in the nation to cover four years of tuition without being tethered to academic performance.

However, the coronavirus pandemic has dramatically reduced state revenues and the processing of new applications has been delayed, according to New York State Higher Education Services Corporation, which runs the program.

New York State is still giving financial awards to eligible students for the fall 2020 term, said Angela Liotta, a spokeswoman for New York State Higher Education Services Corporation.

But "future awards, including the Excelsior Scholarship award, which helps middle-class students with the last mile of college funding and is estimated to have served more than 28,000 students in the 2019-20 academic year, may have to be reduced and/or prioritized for current recipients," she said. —Jessica Dickler

Cineworld, the world's second-largest theater chain, will close all U.S. and U.K. movie theaters this week, cutting as many as 45,000 jobs in the process, Reuters reports. 

On Oct. 8, all 536 Regal theaters in the U.S. and 127 Cineworld and Picturehouse theaters in the U.K. will close, the wire service reports. The company's CEO said in an interview with Sky News that operations might resume in "two months, or a bit longer." 

The global film industry has been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with theaters shuttered and production timelines and movie releases delayed or suspended indefinitely. —Sara Salinas 

Trump criticized for drive to greet supporters; EU chief self-isolating