Raphael Stevens

Denise King, a staff member at Crown Heights Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, a nursing home facility, receives the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine from Walgreens Pharmacist Annette Marshall, in Brooklyn, New York, December 22, 2020.
Yuki Iwamura | Reuters

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that an average of 60% of nursing home personnel in the U.S. are vaccinated against Covid, a rate officials say leaves the care facilities at higher risk for outbreaks among residents and staff.
Vaccinating more employees is one of the most important steps nursing homes can take to keep residents safe, CDC epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Slayton said at a meeting of the agency’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Wednesday. Though administering booster doses to residents can help limit cases, Slayton said nursing homes remain vulnerable to outbreaks when staff members choose not to vaccinate.

“Even with highly effective boosters, the community transmission is high in our model,” Slayton said. “That suggests that there will still be Covid-19 cases in nursing homes, highlighting the need for continued infection prevention and control strategies.”
Slayton said Covid case projections forecast a decline in infections when staff immunization rates rose and residents received a supplemental third dose. Even though Covid infections continued to appear in Slayton’s model as more staff got vaccinated, she recorded a reduction in symptomatic cases among residents connected to higher staff immunization rates.

CNBC Health & Science

Slayton’s report came as the CDC and Food and Drug Administration weigh whether to approve Pfizer’s Covid booster doses, a decision that could be made by Thursday.
Nursing homes were hit particularly hard by the delta variant, officials said at the ACIP meeting. From March 1 through May 9, the National Healthcare Safety Network reported 17,407 weekly Covid cases in 3,862 nursing homes. But as the delta variant surged from June 20 through Aug. 1, NHSN recorded 85,593 weekly Covid cases in 14,917 nursing homes.
To curb the delta variant, President Joe Biden issued a vaccine mandate on Aug. 18 for staff in approximately 15,000 nursing homes serving residents using Medicare or Medicaid. The Biden administration will block Medicare and Medicaid funding for any nursing home that fails to comply.
Some nursing home operators even announced vaccine requirements before Biden’s guidance. Brookdale Senior Living CEO Cindy Baier told CNBC about her staff vaccine mandate on Aug. 6 in order to protect residents most susceptible to Covid complications.

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The cash option — which most winners choose — is about $315 million for this Mega Millions jackpot.
Before the money reaches the winner, 24% would be withheld for federal taxes — and more would likely be due at tax time.
This winning ticket was purchased in New York City, which means that on top of a 10.9% state tax withholding, another 3.876% would be shaved off the top for local coffers.

Frederic J. Brown | AFP | Getty Images

Whoever is holding the winning ticket for the $432 million Mega Millions jackpot is about to discover what a huge tax bill really looks like.
A single Mega Millions ticket sold in New York City matched all six numbers in Tuesday night’s drawing to nab the top prize. While the windfall will be a life-changing bonanza, the advertised amount isn’t what the winner will actually end up with.

Winners get to choose between taking their prize as either a lump sum or an annuity paid over 30 years. For the $432 million Mega Millions jackpot, the cash option — which most people go with — is about $315 million.

However, before it reaches the winner, 24% — $75.6 million — will be withheld for federal taxes. More would likely be due at tax time (April 2022 for 2021 wins), due to the current top marginal income tax rate of 37%. (Be aware that there is an effort in Congress to increase that to 39.6%).
Then there are state and local taxes. In New York state, the win would be subject to a 10.9% rate — which would mean another $34.3 million for those taxes. Additionally, New York City grabs 3.876% — $12.2 million — for its own coffers.
After those taxes, the winner would be left with about $192.9 million, not counting any additional amount due at tax time.

Despite the sizeable share that goes to taxes, the windfall is more than most people see in a lifetime. This makes it important to get professional guidance before heading to lottery headquarters. In New York, you get a year to claim your prize.

Generally speaking, the first call should be to an attorney experienced in assisting lottery winners, experts say. Other professionals also should be brought in to help, including a tax advisor and a financial advisor.
Be aware that although New York does not allow full anonymity when big lottery prizes are won, the winner may be able to set up a trust or limited liability company to claim the windfall, thereby keeping their name out of the public eye.
More from Personal Finance:Before quitting your job, do these four thingsHere are tips for reining in impulse spendingHow to avoid buying a flood-damaged car
The winner also should make a copy of their ticket and store the original in a safe place (i.e., a lockbox or a bank safe deposit box). Additionally, it’s worth sharing the news with as few people as possible, experts say.
Meanwhile, the Powerball jackpot is approaching the half-billion-dollar mark. For Wednesday night’s drawing, the top prize is an estimated $490 million ($355.1 million cash). The Mega Millions jackpot has reset to $20 million ($14.5 million) for the next drawing, set for Friday night.
Your chance of hitting either game’s jackpot with a single ticket is miniscule. For Mega Millions, it’s 1 in 302 million and for Powerball, 1 in 292 million.
(Correction: An earlier version of this story had the wrong withholding rate for New York state.)

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Workforce Wire: Coronavirus

Former FDA Commissioner and Pfizer board member Dr. Scott Gottlieb says between the annual flu season which already cost billions and the likelihood of an annual peak Covid season, the economy and workers will pay a steep price.
Plans to manage Covid as an every year employment health issue by companies will be key well beyond any near-term return to office strategy.
Otherwise, the combined cost of the seasonal flu and perennial Covid issues “will just be too much to bear,” Gottlieb said.

This year’s flu season is going to be “a whopper,” according to former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner and Pfizer board member Dr. Scott Gottlieb. But it’s not 2021, or any single year health crisis, which is going to cause the biggest issues for the economy in a post-pandemic future. According to Gottlieb, it is the twin specter of an annual peak flu season and the beginning of a perennial peak Covid season which together will cost the economy and workers more than can be imagined.
Gottlieb told CNBC he believes the end of the pandemic phase of Covid-19 is in sight, but matching the outlook of many epidemiologists, he says the endemic phase is coming. Or in other words, Covid is never going away for good.

Much like the flu season, an annual Covid season should be expected, and businesses need to prepare for that, Gottlieb said during a recent video interview with CNBC’s Meg Tirrell. Covid will be a “persistent risk, persistent virus that circulates every year,” he said.
Already, the flu season costs businesses billions of dollars a year. According to employment firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the 2019-2020 flu season alone cost employers $13 billion, but the cost in lost output has ben as high as $21 billion in recent years.
“The total hit on public health and also productivity is going to be too great for us to sustain and just be ‘business as usual,'” Gottlieb said. Taking into account the tens of billions of dollars in direct and indirect costs that the flu costs the economy annually, he said that adding Covid on top of this, “will just be too much to bear, in my view.” 

Business colleagues with protective face masks using infrared thermometer for measuring temperature before entrance in office.
filadendron | E+ | Getty Images

Right now, the U.S. is transitioning from the pandemic phase to the endemic phase of the virus. It is not yet clear the precise timing of that change. “It is going to be messy and it is going to be unclear,” he said. “We will know when we look back a few year from now.”
Because most workers aren’t back in the office yet, and most employers are not contemplating bringing everyone back into the office soon, they haven’t had to contemplate what happens when we go back in full time. “That’s more likely 2022,” he said. But Gottlieb added that he does believe we are now seeing the last major surge of infection during the pandemic phase, caused by Delta, and businesses do need to be thinking about the long-term.

“I don’t think that businesses have really undergone a very comprehensive approach to how they improve the work environment, the work flow,” he said. “We need to start thinking about this. It isn’t just improving the air system. It’s changing the work day. So that question becomes how do businesses deal with the fact that this is going to circulate at least on par with the flu.”
As this year’s flu season begins, here are a few of the ideas the former FDA commissioner highlighted that businesses need to start thinking about to create a permanent work environment that is safer for employees and better for the economy. 

De-densification of offices should be permanent, but can be seasonal

Many changes will need to be made to the physical office environment. Upgrading an office to hospital- grade air filtration, for example, is an engineering expense that will create a safer environment for workers, according to Gottlieb, as will increasing access to outdoor space and monitoring air quality. But there are other in-office solutions as well.
One is moving away from the tightly packed offices that had become common in the open floor plan era. That is expected to be a feature of office redesigns as a result of Covid, and Gottlieb said it needs to be a permanent feature. To de-densify offices “especially in the peak Covid flu season” he said, would help reduce the risk.
Many employees want a hybrid work option and allowing workers the flexibility of working from home could help de-densify space in the office. For months, employers have had to combat the “great resignation” in the labor force. Businesses have been forced to offer hybrid options and more flexible work schedules to attract workers. Now, that offering may be in the best interest of public health as well. 

Zoom into meetings, from inside the office

Businesses have conducted remote meetings for 18 months now, but even as workers return to the office the Zoom camera may not be going away. Gottlieb said one way employers could keep workers safe is by encouraging Zooming into meetings “even within the office so you are not crowding people into conference rooms.”
Giving workers to option to Zoom into meetings, even those working in the office, will control crowding in dense areas and could help keep employees socially distanced. 
One of the reasons cited by CEOs for bringing workers back to offices is the inability to recreate the creative spark and serendipity of in-person collaboration through Zooms, but Gottlieb says more of this new office collaboration needs to occur.
“Those are the kinds of things we need to think about doing if we are serious about trying to avoid unnecessary interactions that can be conducive to spread,” Gottlieb said.

Alternative transportation ideas

For employees commuting by public transit, flexible work hours could be beneficial. Asking workers to commute to the office during off-peak hours, instead of peak hours, will reduce crowding on subways, buses and trains during those high-traffic hours.
Instead of public transit, Gottlieb said alternative transportation could also be an option for employers to consider offering employees. “Trying to find alternative transportation so everyone isn’t crowding on public transportation” is another way businesses can keep workers safe, he said.
“There are things businesses can do, at least over the period of time when this virus will be circulating, sort of peak Covid season, to try to reduce risk and improve respiratory health, and we need to think about what that construct will look like,” Gottlieb said.
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Google’s $2.1 billion deal to buy a Manhattan office building adds to the rapid growth of Silicon Alley.
Its latest deal brings its total square footage in Manhattan to over 3.1 million square feet.
The leasing activity from Big Tech has helped spark early signs of a recovery in the Manhattan office market, which has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic and urban flight.

Google’s $2.1 billion deal to buy a Manhattan office building adds to the rapid growth of Silicon Alley, despite the increase in remote work and a decline in the New York office market.
Google is buying the former St. John’s Terminal on Manhattan’s West Side, expanding its footprint downtown. The company had been leasing the 1.3-million-square-foot building but exercised an option to buy the space. The price is the highest paid for a U.S. office building since 2018, according to commercial realtors.

It also signals the continued march of the Big Three tech firms into Manhattan, as the companies swallow up massive new buildings and entire neighborhoods to house a growing workforce. Google, Amazon and Facebook now have more than 8 million square feet of space in Manhattan, according to real estate experts. And that number is expected to continue to rise as the companies scout for more space.
“It’s certainly a positive sign,” said Danny Mangru, Savills’ research director for New York and the Tri-State region.
Google’s latest deal brings its total square footage in Manhattan to over 3.1 million square feet, brokers said. Along with the new building, it’s also purchased 111 8th Ave. — where it occupies over 800,000 square feet of space — as well as the nearby Chelsea Market building.

An exterior view of the St. Johns Terminal building is seen in New York on September 22, 2021. Google announced on September 21, 2021 plans to buy a New York City office building for $2.1 billion, confirming its push into America’s largest city despite the pandemic teleworking trend.
Kena Betancur | AFP | Getty Images

Facebook has been snapping up space in Hudson Yards and is leasing all 730,000 square feet of office space in the soon-to-be-renovated James A. Farley Building in midtown. Facebook now has more than 3.2 million square feet of space in Manhattan and is currently scouting for more, brokers said.
Amazon is also expanding rapidly in Manhattan, even though it canceled plans for a massive “HQ2” in Long Island City after political backlash. With its $978 million purchase of the former Lord & Taylor department store building, Amazon now has nearly 2 million square feet of space.

The leasing activity from Big Tech has helped spark early signs of a recovery in the Manhattan office market, which has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic and urban flight. Leasing volume in August more than doubled from July, with 1.46 million square feet of office space leased in midtown, according to Colliers International.
Yet while tech is leading the city’s new leasing activity, the broader market still has a long recovery ahead.
Only about 23% of Manhattan workers have returned to the office as of late August, according to a survey by the Partnership for New York City. The survey found that 76% of workers plan to be back in the office in early 2022 and that 70% of employers are adopting a rotating or “hybrid” office schedule, where employees can work remotely for part of the week.
Manhattan has about 86 million square feet of available office space — an availability rate of over 18% and at or near a 30-year record, according to Savills.

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Vietnam has “completely collapsed” due to strict Covid mitigation policies, according to Zilingo CEO Ankiti Bose.
The fashion supplier co-founder said it’s “bad timing for Vietnam” because holiday season shipments “need to happen right away.”
“Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia are all good options” as manufacturing alternatives to Vietnam, she said.

A woman walks inside the Ben Thanh market in Ho Chi Minh City on June 27, 2020.
Manan Vatsyayana | AFP via Getty Images

Vietnam has “completely collapsed” due to strict Covid mitigation policies, according to Ankiti Bose, co-founder and CEO of Zilingo, a fashion supplier to big brands that sell their products on Amazon and Shopify.
A rising number of Covid infections and low vaccination rates have prompted the Vietnamese government to shut down a number of factories that manufacture apparel and shoes.

“It’s really bad timing for Vietnam. The holiday season shipments need to happen right away,” Bose told CNBC.
She said clients are seeking to increase their manufacturing footprint in countries beyond Vietnam.
“Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia are all good options,” she said. They “are functional at the moment in terms of factory capacity … so Vietnam could stand to lose a lot in the very short term.”
Joyce Chang, global head of research at JPMorgan, said, “Despite a draconian quarantine policy, Vietnam’s new cases of Covid-19 remain elevated, and the macroeconomic stress is spreading to the manufacturing sector.”
BTIG analyst Camilo Lyon said the factory shutdowns have been more significant in the southern part of the country in cities such as Ho Chi Minh City, where a number of footwear and apparel companies manufacture their products.

Citing serious production issues for Nike since it last reported earnings, BTIG last week downgraded shares of the U.S. sneaker and athletic apparel giant. Supply chain challenges are expected to be a major focus when Nike reports its latest quarterly results after the stock market closes Thursday.
Multiple data points illustrate a worsening economic picture in Vietnam.
Customs exports, industrial production and manufacturing purchasing all fell sharply in August, prompting JPMorgan to cut its third-quarter GDP forecast for Vietnam to 3% from 4.1%.
For its part, Singapore-based Zilingo is scrambling to help clients move production to other manufacturing hubs. “Bangladesh and India went through major lockdowns,” Bose said, “but almost everything returned to normalcy in terms of production within a few weeks,” which minimized the effect on brands that manufacture in those countries.
Less than 10% of Zilingo’s suppliers are in Vietnam. However, the country specializes in a type of material that’s hard to find elsewhere, making it an important base. “Vietnam specializes in synthetic fiber, and China is the quick alternative for a lot of brands,” Bose said. “We are facilitating that for most buyers very quickly through our digital channels.”
Backed by Sequoia and Temasek, Zilingo has been growing its portfolio of fashion brands as companies look to diversify their manufacturing capabilities across Asia. Zilingo also provides technology used by companies on the factory floors to increase transparency and help businesses better track finished goods.

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Despite performers of color comprising nearly half of all acting nominations, white actors swept all 12 lead and supporting races across the comedy, drama and limited series categories during Sunday’s Primetime Emmy Awards.
People of color were honored during the Creative Arts Emmys, a separate, less publicized event.
The Emmy Awards are an important part of the entertainment industry, as they bring prestige to both the winner and the studio, which can lead to bigger paychecks and better funding for future productions.

The Emmy Award statue at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences campus in Los Angeles during a Sneak Peek behind-the scenes reveal of televisions biggest night at the Television Academy in Los Angeles.
Al Seib | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

Sunday’s Primetime Emmy Awards may have had a record number of diverse nominees, but the lack of diversity in its acting winners has caused many say #EmmysSoWhite.
Despite performers of color comprising nearly half of all acting nominations, white actors swept all 12 lead and supporting races across the comedy, drama and limited series categories.

“It was disappointing,” said Darnell Hunt, dean of social sciences and professor of sociology and African American studies at UCLA. “It becomes a numbers game after a while. When you have 44% of the nominees that are people of color and you have 0% that win, there’s something structural going on.”
There are few that would say that icons like Kate Winslet, Olivia Coleman and Gillian Anderson or breakout performers like Brett Goldstein and Hannah Waddingham were not deserving of their Emmy wins. However, Sunday’s snub of non-white performers is not new and has called into question Hollywood’s ability to celebrate excellence equitably.
This is especially important when ceremonies like the Emmy Awards offer more to winners than just a gold trophy. An Emmy win brings prestige to both the winner and the studio they work for, which can lead to bigger paychecks and better funding for future productions, Hunt said.
Over the last decade, streaming service Netflix has gained invaluable prestige from Emmy wins for shows like “Orange is the New Black” and “The Crown,” which has enabled it to entice top talent like Ryan Murphy, Shonda Rhimes and Guillermo del Toro.

#EmmysSoWhite

Part of the issue with this year’s Emmys is optics. While the Primetime ceremony, which aired on CBS Sunday, did not see any acting awards go to people of color, the Creative Arts Emmys, which took place the week before, did.

Courtney B. Vance was honored his guest role in HBO’s “Lovecraft Country,” Dave Chappelle and Maya Rudolph each won an award for hosting “Saturday Night Live,” Sterling K. Brown garnered a win for outstanding narrator and Keke Palmer and J.B. Smoove won the awards for outstanding actress and actor in a short form comedy or drama, respectively.
The problem is that these awards were given out at a separate, less publicized event.
“In the technical categories at the Creative Arts Emmys there were a lot of wins for people of color,” said Nate Thomas, a professor of cinema and television arts and the head of the film production program at California State University. “So, I guess my point is that just because it wasn’t at the televised or the primetime awards … there is still some worth in that.”
Thomas, who won a regional Emmy Award in 2014 for producing and directing a television public service ad for the Federal Bureau of Investigations, said the Television Academy has “come a long way” in recent years, “compared to eight or nine years ago, when people of color weren’t winning anything.”
Still, these Creative Arts awards don’t have quite the same pull in the industry as those doled out on primetime.

Jockeying for gold

While studios can rack up wins at the Creative Arts, much of the focus is on the “big awards” like lead actor or actress or outstanding comedy or drama. These are the awards that most audiences pay attention to and offer prestige for companies.
That’s why traditional cable networks and streaming platforms spend tens of millions on marketing campaigns just to get nominations and even more once they get them. This marketing, as well as word of mouth from audiences, can help sway voting members.
However, not all shows get the same marketing budget.
“Did HBO do enough to promote a highly popular and creative show like ‘Lovecraft Country’ to Emmy voters?” Brandy Monk-Payton, a professor at Fordham University that specializes in African American media representation, asked in an email to CNBC. “Well, they had already canceled the series and so the likelihood of their energy being directed to such a program in terms of actively campaigning for its actors and the show itself were probably slim.”
Vance, who won for his role as George Freeman in “Lovecraft Country,” also posed this question during a post-Emmys chat with reporters on Monday.
“It boggles the mind sometimes that a show that is as popular and as transformational as ‘Lovecraft Country’ was, that there was nothing,” he said.
“Lovecraft Country,” which featured a predominantly Black cast, was nominated for 18 Emmy Awards across the Primetime and Creative Arts categories. For comparison, “Mare of Easttown,” which was also distributed by HBO and featured a mostly white cast, was nominated for 16.
Representatives for Warner Bros. were not immediately available to comment.

There are many reasons why HBO may have leaned more heavily into promoting a show like “Mare of Easttown” compared to “Lovecraft Country.” As Monk-Payton noted, “Lovecraft Country” was canceled. And a star like Winslet, who headlined “Mare of Easttown,” is a known entity in Hollywood, meaning Emmy voters might be more inclined to vote for her because of her proven track record as a performer.
“There’s so much product to watch on television now that I don’t know any academy member who has watched all those shows,” Thomas said. “So, some of that becomes a marketing and popularity contest.”
After all, there were 133 dramas, 68 comedies, 41 limited series and 41 television movies on the ballot just to determine who would be nominated. And that’s significantly lower than last year because the pandemic halted productions and slimmed the voting pool.

A path forward

“I don’t think the issue is too much content, so much as it is a pernicious inability for Emmy voters to think imaginatively and outside of the box of that which is familiar,” Monk-Payton said.
“This year has revealed the ease with which these organizational bodies revert back to the status quo after upheaval,” she added. “They ‘reckon’ with structural racism briefly by providing surface level solutions to deep-seated problems of exclusion and inequity. However, they do not ensure that systemic change happens and becomes permanent.”
Those critical of Sunday’s results suggest the Television Academy broaden its membership to include more people of color in its ranks.
Prior to the pandemic, the academy had around 25,000 members, but that count has dipped by 5,000, according to a report by Variety. Unlike the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, there’s no clear breakdown of membership.
The Television Academy does seem to be putting in the effort. Sunday’s telecast was filled with diverse presenters, including the cast and creator of Hulu’s “Reservation Dogs,” a film featuring Indigenous actors and crew.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences overhauled its membership by adding more people of color and more women to its community over the last five years. This strategy seems to be paying off as the 2021 slate of nominees and winners contained some notable firsts.
The 93rd annual Oscars marked the first time an all-Black producing team was nominated for best picture, the first time two actors of Asian descent received a nod for best actor and the first year that two women were nominated for best director. When the winners were revealed, it reflected this spirit of inclusion.
Chloe Zhao took home the best directing trophy, becoming the second woman to claim the title. Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson, two-thirds of the hairstyling and makeup team behind “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” were the first Black women to receive a nomination for best makeup and hairstyling and the first to win.
“Soul,” which took home the best animated feature award, is also Pixar’s first film to feature a Black character in the lead. And Yuh-Jung Youn was the first Korean performer to win in one of the four acting categories.
Still there’s no “silver bullet” that will immediately solve a long-standing inclusivity issue, Hunt said.
“You really need to combat it from every front,” he said, noting that more people of color need to be included in every part of the industry.

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