Zuckerberg fears reopenings could ‘almost guarantee’ second coronavirus outbreak

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg warned Wednesday about moving too quickly to reopen parts of the country, saying that it could “almost guarantee future outbreaks” of the novel coronavirus, which has infected more than 1 million people in the U.S. and caused roughly 60,000 deaths.

“While there are massive societal costs from the current shelter in place restrictions, I worry that reopening certain places too quickly, before infection rates have been reduced to very minimal levels, will almost guarantee future outbreaks and even worse economic outcomes,” Zuckerberg said during a call in which Facebook reported an 18 percent increase in first-quarter revenue, according to The Washington Post.

“I am very concerned that this health emergency and therefore the economic fallout will last longer than people are currently anticipating,” added Zuckerberg, who with his wife Priscilla Chan runs the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a philanthropic effort focused on combating disease.

His comments came the same day that President Trump announced that the administration’s social-distancing guidelines would begin “fading out” and as some states start to lift certain restrictions on nonessential businesses. They also contrasted with Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s view of stay-at-home orders. 

During a call with investors on Wednesday, Musk reportedly said that the quarantine measures were akin to “forcibly imprisoning people in their homes against all their constitutional rights.” Earlier this month, Musk’s Silicon Valley-based electric car company announced it would slash pay for salaried employees and furlough all hourly workers.

While the coronavirus outbreak has caused significant economic damage for many industries, Facebook experienced a boost in revenue during the first part of 2020. The company reported $17.7 billion in first-quarter revenue, compared to  $15.1 billion during the same quarter in 2019. The company’s profit sits at $4.9 billion, the Post noted.

Though Facebook reportedly expects profit to decline this year, the company said it would not make predictions for second-quarter earnings due to uncertainty triggered by the pandemic. The company is also expecting declines in ad revenue.

Zuckerberg said that the company, which was one of the first to push employees to work from home, still plans to move forward with new investments. Despite the outbreak, Facebook is planning to hire 10,000 workers this year. It has also already launched a new videoconference app known as Messenger Rooms, which is seen as a competitor to Zoom. 

“During a period like this, there are a lot of new things that need to get built,” he said. “I think it’s important that, rather than slamming on the brakes now, as a lot of companies may, it is important to keep building for the new needs people have and … make up for the stuff that other companies will pull back.”

As countries around the world impose quarantine measures, social media apps have experienced a rapid increase in activity. Video streaming service Netflix said on Tuesday that it more than doubled subscribers and reported $709 million in first-quarter revenue, a 106 percent increase from the first quarter of 2019.

Stock for Alphabet, Google’s parent company, was up roughly 10 percent following its earnings report. The company’s first-quarter revenue increased 13 percent from the same time last year. But for Alphabet, the growth represents its lowest since 2015, according to The Guardian.