Raphael Stevens

New York is pulling back its strict indoor mask mandate, marking a turning point in how the former epicenter responds to the coronavirus pandemic.
State officials have required businesses to ask patrons for proof of full vaccination or require mask wearing indoors at all times.
The measure was set to expire Thursday and would have required renewal from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

A person wearing a face mask leaves a store on January 26, 2022 in New York City.
Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images

New York is dropping its strict indoor mask mandate as Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to fall across the state, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday.
Hochul doesn’t plan to renew the health measure, which expires Thursday. It has required businesses to ensure customers were fully vaccinated or wear masks indoors at all times. It marks a turning point in the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic as the prolonged safety protocols have left the public weary and provoked legal challenges and protests.

“Positivity rates down and hospitalizations are down, cases per 100,000 (people) are down and new admissions are down,” Hochul said at a news conference. “So New Yorkers, this is what we’ve been waiting for — tremendous progress after two long years.”We’re not done. But this is trending in a very, very good direction, and that is why we are now approaching a new phase in this pandemic,” she said.
The move likely won’t affect places that have federal mask requirements, such as public transportation and airplanes, or public schools, she said. Localities may also continue to require masks in certain settings.
Hochul said state officials also haven’t yet decided whether to lift the mask mandate in K-12 schools. Health officials will continue to monitor the outbreak across the state and make a decision the first week of March, after kids return from winter break. The state is working on a blueprint of Covid safety protocols to handle outbreaks in the future, she said.
“We’re not surrendering. This is not disarmament. We’re going to continue to be adaptable and responsive to the changing circumstances,” Hochul said. “But again, the trends are very, very, very positive.”
The decision comes as the winter surge due to the Covid-19 omicron variant finally starts to ease from its winter peak.

The state is reporting a seven-day average of about 7,000 new cases per day, down from a pandemic high of 85,000 on Jan. 9, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Roughly 6,100 New Yorkers are currently in the hospital with Covid, down 25% over the past week and about half of the most recent peak level in mid-January, according to a seven-day average of data from the Department of Health and Human Services.
That same trend is visible in New York City, once the epicenter of the pandemic and the most recent omicron wave in the U.S. Average daily cases peaked there at nearly 41,000 per day in early January, but have since fallen to about 2,400 per day as of Monday, state data shows. Hospitalizations in the city recently topped 6,500 on Jan. 11, but are now at roughly a third of that level.
New York’s daily Covid death toll is elevated but also easing. While state case counts during the omicron wave soared to nearly five times that of last winter’s peak level, average daily deaths surpassed the record from that period by about 15%, reaching 229 per day on Jan. 23 and now at a daily average of 136, Johns Hopkins data shows.
“We’ve always said these decisions will have to be made at the local level,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters at a separate news briefing Wednesday. “They have to be done at the local level, but I’m really encouraged cases are continuing to drop dramatically.”

CNBC Health & Science

Wednesday’s announcement makes New York the latest Democrat-led state to pull back some of its mandates.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy earlier this week announced that students and school employees would no longer need to wear face coverings. That set off a wave of other state officials saying they would end some pandemic measures.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he would let some of the state’s mask measures expire. Officials in Connecticut, Delaware and Oregon also said they would withdraw some mask measures.Correction: Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, spoke Wednesday. An earlier version misstated the day.

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The Rockies and the Blue Ridge Mountains came in at No. 6 and No. 8, respectively, in a recent ranking of best ranges for mountain vacations.
The two North American ranges are the priciest on the list, however. The Andes in South America offer the lowest hotel rates.
Outdoors vacations to national parks and other wide open spaces have soared in popularity since the Covid-19 pandemic started.

Moraine Lake in Banff, Alberta, in the Canadian Rockies.
Matteo Colombo | DigitalVision | Getty Images

Pandemic-era mask and social distancing mandates may be ending all across the nation but many Americans may not yet be ready to get up close and personal with strangers while on vacation.
If that sounds like you, you might consider a vacation in the Rockies or the Blue Ridge Mountains, two of the top 10 ranges worldwide for mountain holidays recently ranked by U.K. outdoor clothing and gear outfitter Blacks. Visits to open-air outdoors destinations like national and state parks soared amid Covid and those still looking for safe getaways in the great outdoors can head for the literal hills.

The World’s Top 10 Mountain Holiday Destinations

U.K.-based active gear and clothing outfitter Blacks ranked the top 10 mountain ranges worldwide for vacations. The firm factored in average hotel price*, number of Instagram posts, annual online search volume, annual rainfall and average temperatures, and number of peaks to determine a score of 1 to 10:
1. Pyrenees (Spain & France)— Score: 8.5; Avg. Hotel Rate: $67.752. Atlas Mts. (North Africa)— Score: 8.3; Avg. Hotel Rate: $63.673. Andes (South America)— Score: 8.0; Avg. Hotel Rate: $48.774. Alps (Central Europe)— Score: 7.7; Avg. Hotel Rate: $54.195. Himalayas (East Asia)— Score: 7.3; Avg. Hotel Rate: $65.036. Rockies (U.S. & Canada)— Score: 7.2; Avg. Hotel Rate: $143.607. Carpathians (Central/East Europe)— Score: 6.9; Avg. Hotel Rate: $98.908. Blue Ridge Mts. (Eastern U.S.)— Score: 6.6; Avg. Hotel Rate: $132.768. Caucasus (West Asia)— Score: 6.6; Avg. Hotel Rate: $102.9610. Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Colombia)— Score: 6.3; Avg. Hotel Rate: $63.67
*Converted to USD from GBP as of Feb. 9, 2022Source: Blacks

The Rocky Mountains, running from northernmost western Canada south to New Mexico, ranked at No. 6 worldwide, landing a score of 7.2 out of a possible 10. The Blue Ridge Mountains, meanwhile, which span southern Pennsylvania to northern Georgia, came in at No. 8 worldwide with a score of 6.6, tying with the Caucasus Mountains on the Europe-Asia border.
Blacks ranked each mountain range based on factors like number of peaks, average temperatures and precipitation, annual search volume and Instagram posts, and average nightly hotel rates. Both North American ranges were the priciest in the rankings, with a hotel night in the Rockies costing around an average $143.60 and one in the Blue Ridges priced at about $132.76.
The average rate in the Pyrenees, in France and Spain, by comparison, is just around $67.75.
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Feeling like something more exotic or far-flung than the Rockies? The Pyrenees, in fact, topped the list overall, with the Atlas Mountains in North Africa and South America’s Andes rounding out the top three ranges. The latter, in fact, is the cheapest range to visit, with an average hotel cost of just under $49 a night in the Andean metropolis of Bogota, Colombia, according to Blacks.

No. 1 contender the Pyrenees is packed with ski resorts, national parks and hiking trails, and scored big when it came to popularity on the web, with more than 1.5 million Google searches a year and 2 million Instagram posts. The Atlas Mountains, meanwhile, are the warmest and least wet.

Whichever range you’re headed to, preparation is key, according to a statement from Kiera Baxter, marketing executive at Blacks.
“A great mountain holiday is all in the planning,” she said. “It’s vital to take your time planning everything from your routes to your accommodation to ensure you’ve considered all eventualities and don’t get caught out.
“Back up your routes with safer alternatives and have a plan in mind for the unexpected,” Baxter added.

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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to drop the state’s strict indoor mask mandate as the surge in Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to fall in all regions.

The health measure, which requires businesses to ensure customers were fully vaccinated or wear masks indoors at all times, is set to expire Thursday.
It marks a turning point in the state’s response to the pandemic as the prolonged safety protocols have left the public weary and provoked legal challenges and protests.
The move likely won’t affect areas that have federal mask requirements, such as public transportation and airplanes. Localities with their own strict guidance may also continue to require masks.
Read CNBC’s live updates to see the latest news on the Covid-19 outbreak.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger and Salma Hayek Pinault star as Greek gods in a 60-second Super Bowl ad for BMW’s new iX electric vehicle.
The ad features Schwarzenegger as king of the Greek gods, Zeus, and Hayek as Hera, goddess of women, marriage, family and childbirth.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Salma Hayek Pinault star as the Greek gods Zeus and Hera for BMW’s new Super Bowl ad for the iX electric SUV.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Salma Hayek Pinault star as Greek gods in a 60-second Super Bowl ad for BMW’s new iX electric vehicle.
The ad features the former California governor and actor as Zeus, god of the sky and king of the ancient Greek gods. Hayek is Hera, goddess of women, marriage, family and childbirth.

The two decide to retire from their positions and move from Mount Olympus – home of the gods in Greek mythology – to Palm Springs, Calif.
Hera appears to be adjusting to life in the human world just fine, but Zeus has trouble dealing with mortals and his new mundane life. He begrudgingly uses his powers to help others charge electrical devices while having problems controlling a microwave and the power in his home.
That’s where the BMW iX, which arrives in U.S. dealerships next month, comes into play. Hera gifts the electric SUV to Zeus as he’s about to take their small unicorn for a walk. The vehicle recharges Zeus’ energy and the two drive away in the vehicle singing the 1980s hit “Electric Avenue” by Eddy Grant.
The ad marks the first time since 2015 that BMW will advertise during the Super Bowl. Back then, BMW also advertised a new EV and featured the Eddy Grant song but featured “Today” hosts Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel.
The new promo was developed by San Francisco-based agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners.

It will air during the third commercial break of the first quarter of the game Sunday, but BMW released it online Tuesday. Here it is:

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The launch of QuickHire was spurred by the pandemic, but it’s really been years in the making.
Angela Muhwezi-Hall, 32, first thought of the idea in 2017 when she was working as a college and career counselor for high school students in Los Angeles. She had plenty of resources to offer to those bound for college, but few for students headed to service or skilled trade jobs. Roughly 108 million people, or 71% of the labor force, work in the service sector. Surely, there had to be a better way to set young adults up for success other than helping them fill out paper job applications.

When the pandemic hit in March 2020, she saw tens of millions of Americans like her students losing their essential jobs during the pandemic — disproportionately Black, Hispanic, Asian, Indigenous, female, non-degree-holding and low-wage workers.
Muhwezi-Hall tapped her sister Deborah Gladney, 34, and got to work on a solution: a hiring platform that would connect historically overworked and overlooked people with solid jobs in the service and skilled-trade economy as it recovered from pandemic lockdowns. Muhwezi-Hall moved into Gladney’s basement in Wichita, Kansas — an underserved market in the tech scene — so they could build it together. (Muhwezi-Hall has since relocated to Chicago with her husband.)
After two trying years, the QuickHire founders and their users are coming out ahead.

Underserved workers get their due

Gladney and Muhwezi-Hall spent the summer of 2020 taking their idea from pitch to product. The beta version of their app launched in the fall — “it’s like someone hearing their song on the radio for the first time,” Muhwezi-Hall says of its release — and officially to the masses by April 2021.
The positive response was swift: People were securing their first jobs since losing work during Covid, landing positions within a day and getting their families back on their feet.

“We were helping people find the right fit, where they could stay with and grow with that company. That was just such a proud moment to hear,” Muhwezi-Hall says.
Over time, especially through the Great Resignation of 2021, they saw that once abundant job-seekers were becoming scarce. Applicants could be more choosy. They were looking for better pay, yes, but also health insurance during a global pandemic, and more predictable hours to be able to plan their lives outside of work.
“Gone are the days of thinking you’re just going to have endless amounts of people applying to your positions,” Muhwezi-Hall says. “People think differently about their careers now. They have more power than ever. This is how it should have always been — people should always have felt like they have power over their career and what they really want to do.”

‘Employers are needing to step up their game’

Today, QuickHire matches more than 11,000 job seekers with jobs at 60 mid- to large-size service industry companies including Fuzzy’s Taco Shop and Homewood Suites by Hilton. They’re concentrated in the Wichita and Kansas City metro areas and plan to expand in the Midwest this year.
Record-high turnover in the service industry has been a long time coming, Muhwezi-Hall says, “so now employers are needing to step up their game as to what they’re providing their employees.”
QuickHire has the data to help businesses do better by their workers, Gladney says. “We can see what the average pay is in an area for a certain role. This type of information can help employers know, if they try to insert a low-ball hourly rate, our system can detect it. We can say: This is actually $4 below the average in your area, so you’re probably not going to get good candidates.”

Million-dollar founders

In November 2021, QuickHire raised $1.41 million in an oversubscribed round of funding, making Gladney and Muhwezi-Hall the first Black women in Kansas to raise over $1 million for a startup, according to AfroTech.
But getting there wasn’t easy. For one, they are based in Wichita, not exactly where venture capitalists look for the next big thing.
And second, as Black women, they are building in a world that notoriously shuts out people who aren’t white or male. Black female startup founders received just 0.34% of the total venture capital spent in the first half of 2021 in the U.S., according to Crunchbase. And before 2021, only 93 Black female founders had ever raised $1 million or more in venture capital, up from 34 founders as of 2018, according to ProjectDiane, a report on the state of Black and Latina women founders by the organization DigitalUndivided.
Gladney and Muhwezi-Hall first funded QuickHire through $50,000 of their own savings, and then through an angel investor. But to really scale it, they’d need venture capital. They applied to accelerators but it “felt like we had every card stacked against us,” Gladney says.
“We did get turned away, and it left a bad taste in our mouths,” she adds “The reasons for why we were turned down just weren’t very clear. And it made us wonder, is it because we’re Black women doing this?”
They thought of going back to self-funding until they had one motivating meeting with a managing director with the accelerator TechStars Iowa. They got into the accelerator in July 2021, and their growth took off.
While they’re proud of how far QuickHire has come, Gladney says that “going into it, we felt like we had to come to the table with more revenue, more validation than our counterparts, because we knew we weren’t going to be able to raise if we didn’t make it even more comfortable for them to take a chance on us.”
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Peloton’s new CEO, Barry McCarthy, is telling remaining staff that he’s “here for the comeback story.”
“We have to be willing to confront the world as it is, not as we want it to be if we’re going to be successful,” he wrote in the memo, which was obtained by CNBC.
Analysts say they are optimistic about what McCarthy can do at Peloton, given his experience working with founders and helping lead companies with massive membership-based businesses.

Barry McCarthy, chief financial officer at Spotify, attend annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 11, 2018 in Sun Valley, Idaho.
Drew Angerer | Getty Images

Peloton’s new CEO, Barry McCarthy, is telling remaining staff that he’s “here for the comeback story.”
In an email sent to Peloton employees late Tuesday, following the announcement that the former Netflix and Spotify exec would be succeeding Peloton founder John Foley as chief executive, McCarthy laid the groundwork for his plans to turn around the embattled connected fitness company.

“We have to be willing to confront the world as it is, not as we want it to be if we’re going to be successful,” he wrote in the memo, which was obtained by CNBC.
He goes on to say, “If you thought today’s news meant John [Foley] would be scaling back his involvement with Peloton, then let me assure you … I plan on leveraging every ounce of John’s superpowers as a product, content, and marketing visionary to help make Peloton a success as my partner.”
Foley, a former Barnes & Noble exec who launched Peloton in 2012, has transitioned to executive chairman as part of the management shake-up.
“And now that the reset button has been pushed, the challenge ahead of us is this … do we squander the opportunity in front of us or do we engineer the great comeback story of the post-Covid era?” McCarthy writes.
McCarthy’s comments cast even more doubt on the idea that Peloton would be open to a takeover from a company like Amazon or Nike. In recent days, reports have circulated that certain parties were interested in the business amid the stock’s sell-off. Activist Blackwells Capital is also pushing Peloton to consider a sale.

A Peloton spokesperson didn’t respond to CNBC’s request for additional comment.
Analysts say they are optimistic about what McCarthy can do at Peloton, given his experience working with founders and helping lead companies with massive membership-based businesses.
“He brings a wealth of experience in growing subscription businesses and should be able to execute on the restructuring plan, instill financial discipline and help scale the business,” said Telsey Advisory Group CEO Dana Telsey.
KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Ed Yruma called McCarthy “uniquely positioned” to take the reins.
“We have long believed that the content business is both the competitive moat and most valuable element of the Peloton story,” he wrote in a note to clients.
To be sure, McCarthy has a tough path ahead to get Peloton back to profitability. User growth has slowed in recent quarters, and Peloton is in an increasingly crowded market for connected fitness equipment. He must also compete with gyms, which are winning back customers who are eager to get out of the house.
Peloton shares were down slightly in morning trading Wednesday. The stock closed Tuesday up 25%, at $37.27.
Read the full email below that Peloton CEO Barry McCarthy sent to staff.

Arrows pointing outwards

Arrows pointing outwards

Arrows pointing outwards

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Tonal, known for its $2,995 at-home gym, is using a Super Bowl ad to make a point to women that they can use strength training equipment, too.
The new campaign features tennis champion Serena Williams, who was also an early Tonal investor, and it looks to debunk the idea that women will get “very muscular” if they lift weights, said Gina Hardy, Tonal’s SVP of brand and product marketing.
The connected fitness category has seen rampant growth during the Covid pandemic, but the space has only gotten more competitive. Some companies, such as Peloton, have seen demand slow.

Source: Tonal

Tonal, known for its $2,995 at-home gym, is using a Super Bowl ad to make a point to women that they can use strength training equipment just like men.
A new campaign starring tennis champion Serena Williams, who was also an early Tonal investor, aims to debunk the idea that women will get “very muscular” if they lift heavy weights, said Gina Hardy, Tonal’s senior vice president of brand and product marketing.

“Strength training skews male … because women are afraid it’s going to make them look a certain way,” said Hardy. “We want to push that down, and make sure that women embrace [their strength].”
The 30-second Super Bowl spot — Tonal’s first to air during the big game — shows Williams working out with Tonal’s equipment while she says in voice-over: “Never be afraid of your strength, because your body is capable of amazing things. … Own your strength, and see how far it takes you.”

According to Hardy, Tonal’s customer base is fairly evenly spread across genders, but it’s the broader market for strength training that tends to reach more men than women.
The Super Bowl commercial is part of Tonal’s “Strength Made Me” campaign, which celebrates women being strong both physically and mentally, the company said. Tonal’s campaign will use digital spots over the coming months, featuring other female professional athletes including soccer player Lindsey Horan and swimmer Simone Manuel.
The campaign was created with help from marketing agency R/GA’s New York office.

Tonal’s Super Bowl ad comes after a period of rampant growth for the connected fitness category. The stay-at-home trends of the Covid pandemic helped to drive sales and awareness of fitness equipment. But the space has only gotten more competitive. Some companies, such as Peloton, are already beginning to see demand wane, as consumers choose to go back to gyms and in-person classes. Tonal doesn’t disclose its revenue, since the business is privately held.
Data from M Science shows at-home fitness product sales rose 120% on a two-year basis in the United States in December. Still, that was the slowest rate of growth, on a two-year basis, observed since February 2020, according to the firm.
At the company level, M Science said Tonal and Hydrow, a rowing-machine maker, reported the strongest year-over-year unit sales in the final month of the year.

Source: Tonal

Businesses from beverage makers to travel agencies often purchase Super Bowl ad space to showcase new products or to raise awareness around a brand. Though National Football League viewership declined last year, advertisers are hard-pressed to find other events with such massive audiences.
NBC has been charging as much as $6.5 million for 30-second ad spots for this year’s NFL championship game, which takes place on Sunday. Predictions are upbeat for this year’s audience. On Tuesday, data analytics firm PredictHQ estimated the big game could reach a record audience.
By snagging a Super Bowl spot, Tonal is also focused on driving potential buyers to one of its brick-and-mortar locations where they can have a chance to try its wall-mounted machine in-person, Hardy said. Tonal has about a dozen showrooms, according to its website, in addition to a number of shop-in-shops at Nordstrom department stores.
“When people do demo our product, we have really high conversion, and so that will remain a focus for us,” she said. “And most importantly, we know that our retention is very high too.”
Tonal has raised about $450 million to date. Last March, Chief Executive Aly Orady told CNBC the business was preparing for an initial public offering, but it’s unclear if and when it will proceed. A spokeswoman declined to comment on Tonal’s IPO timeline.
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.

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