Raphael Stevens

In this articleHWINPaulsboro coach Paul Morina cheers on George Worthy as he takes on Bergen Catholic s Wade Unger in the 152-pound bout during a wrestling match at The Palestra in Philadelphia,Joe Warner | USATodayThe shareholders of the mystery $100 million New Jersey deli company Hometown International fired CEO Paul Morina — a high school principal and renowned wrestling coach — after weeks of questions about the firm and his role there, a financial filing revealed late Friday.Hometown International’s majority shareholders also voted to remove the company’s only other executive, vice president and secretary Christine Lindenmuth, who works with Morina as an administrator at nearby Paulsboro High School. The deli, located just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, is Hometown’s only operating business asset.Their ousters came a week after a previously unreported resignation of the president of a shell company, E-Waste, which has multiple connections to Hometown International.Securities and Exchange Commission filings show that the shareholders that voted to remove Morina and Lindenmuth almost certainly included all or some members of two different groups of investment entities, one based in Hong Kong, the other based in Macao, a special administrative region in China.The moves at Hometown International and E-Waste appear — like other recent ones by each of the money-losing companies — to be an attempt to eliminate controversial issues that could harm their joint goal of merging with other firms in a transaction that would exploit their status as publicly traded companies on U.S. markets. Such a transaction would financially benefit existing shareholders.A person familiar with the situation confirmed to CNBC later Saturday that the moves to replace the executives are part of ongoing housecleaning effort at both companies. This person declined to be named.Morina, 62, held a slew of other titles at Hometown International before he was removed. According to financial filings, he owns 1.5 million common shares of the deli owner, making him, on paper at least, worth more than $18 million.More about the $100 million NJ deliYour Hometown Deli in Paulsboro, N.J., is no mere neighborhood delicatessen. Despite racking up less than $40,000 in sales over the past two years, the deli’s parent company has a $100 million valuation on the over-the-counter stock market.CNBC has done some digging into the deli and the mysterious firms and investors linked to it. Here are some recent stories:The $100M NJ deli company has fired its wrestling coach CEOThe Macao investors in that $100 million New Jersey deli sure are hard to findShell company E-Waste rejects $106M market cap days after NJ deli firm does the sameRutgers, Duke and Vanderbilt all have ties to the $100 million N.J. deli company$100 million NJ deli company was delisted from one market for ‘irregularities’Morina was replaced as chief executive officer by Peter Coker Jr., who is Hometown International’s chairman.Coker Jr., who is based in Hong Kong, is aligned with the investment entities there that have major stakes in the deli owner.Coker Jr.’s father, North Carolina businessman Peter Coker Sr., himself is a major investor in the company.The related shell company E-Waste replaced its own president, John Rollo, 66, after similar questions were raised by CNBC about him, that company and its similarly preposterous sky-high market capitalization despite a total lack of ongoing business.Rollo, a Grammy-winning recording engineer, until recently was working as patient transporter at a New Jersey hospital.Rollo, also a New Jersey resident, was replaced as E-Waste’s president by 31-year-old Elliot Mermel, a California resident who is getting paid $8,000 per month in that role.Mermel’s colorful business background includes founding a company that raised crickets as human food, and a partnership in a cannabis-related business with Paul Pierce, the former Boston Celtics superstar basketball player.Pierce, who won an NBA title with the Celtics, last month was fired as an analyst by ESPN for a racy Instagram Live poss that showed him in a room with exotic dancers.On Saturday, the Boston Globe reported that Pierce will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as part of its 2021 class.Mermel also founded a biotech company and an artificial intelligence company, and was a business development consultant to a fertilizer company, according to a financial filing.Mermel, a Colby University graduate, has another company, Benzions LLC, that had been collecting $4,000 each month since December under a consulting agreement with E-Waste.That agreement was terminated as part of his taking over management of E-Waste, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Thursday.Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce waves to the crowd after reaching No. 2 on the all-time Celtics scoring list, surpassing Larry Bird, during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Bobcats in Boston on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)Elise AmendolaSEC filings show that Benzions in March signed another consulting agreement with a second shell company, Med Spa Vacations, connected to Peter Coker Sr., which likewise pays Mermel’s firm $4,000 per month.The current president of Med Spa Vacations is former E-Waste president Rollo, who took that job in February, according to filings.The changes in executive leadership at both Hometown International and E-Waste were disclosed in 8-K filings with the SEC.The deli owner’s filing gave no reason why shareholders who control 6 million shares of common stock — which represents about 77% of the company’s voting power — voted out Morina and the 46-year-old Lindenmuth. At least 5.5 million of Hometown International’s common shares are controlled by the Hong Kong and Macao investors.Both Morina and Lindenmuth remain principals in the deli itself, according to the SEC filing.Morina also is involved in an entity that leases the deli space to Hometown International.E-Waste’s filing said that Rollo resigned as president on May 7, a day after CNBC reported on the opaque nature of the Macao group of investors.CNBC did not immediately receive replies to requests for comment from Morina, Lindenmuth, Rollo, Mermel and Hometown International’s lawyer.A spokesman for Maso Capital and its founder Manoj Jain — who controls the investments for the Hong Kong entities invested in Hometown International — declined to comment.Your Hometown Deli in Paulsboro, N.J.Google EarthHometown International first drew widespread attention last month when hedge fund manager David Einhorn, in a letter to clients, pointed out the company’s market capitalization, which had topped $100 million despite owning only a single small Italian deli.That eatery had sales of less than $37,000 in sales for the past two years combined and was closed for nearly half of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.Einhorn noted the incongruity of Morina being Hometown International’s CEO while working his day jobs as high school principal and wrestling coach.Hometown Deli in Paulsboro, N.J.CNBCMorina’s team at Paulsboro high school is a perennial contender for state titles, and he is among the most successful coaches in New Jersey wrestling history.But he has no apparent history of operating either a publicly traded company or food service business before the Hometown Deli opened in his own hometown.However, Morina, whose brother is a New Jersey county sheriff, wrestled in the 1970s at Paulsboro High School with a man named James Patten, who works at Coker Sr.’s firm Tryon Capital.Patten was barred by FINRA, the broker-dealer regulator, from acting as a stockbroker or associating with broker-dealers, according to the regulator’s database.Before that sanction, Patten was the subject of repeated disciplinary actions by FINRA, which included not complying with an arbitration award of more than $753,000 for violating securities laws, unauthorized trading and churning a client’s account.Since Einhorn’s letter, CNBC has reported other eyebrow-raising details about Hometown International and revealed its connections to E-Waste.The stocks of both companies, which trade on the low-tier Pink over-the-counter market, in the past year have risen to stunning levels as ties have been formed between them.Those stock price increases have raised the the question was why some investors would pay so much to buy what is relatively speaking handfuls of shares in either thinly traded company, given their lack of meaningful revenue in the deli owner’s case, or, in E-Waste’s case, a lack of any revenue at all.Even if both companies achieve their goal of engaging in reverse mergers or similar transactions with private firms looking to become publicly traded, current investors will not receive payments that reflect — in any way — the trading price of the stocks.On Friday, just 205 shares of Hometown International were traded, closing at $12.40 per share. Given the company’s nearly 8 million shares of common stock outstanding, that gives it a market capitalization of $96.68 million.E-Waste closed Friday at $9 per share, after no shares traded hands. With 12.5 million shares outstanding, E-Waste has a market cap of $112.5 million.In recent weeks, both the deli owner and E-Waste disavowed their stock prices, saying in extraordinary SEC filings that there was no financial justification for their market capitalizations.The moves followed the demotion of Hometown International from a more prestigious OTCQB over-the-counter market platform for what OTC Markets Group called “irregularities” in their public disclosures, and OTC Markets telling CNBC that it would be eyeing E-Waste as well.A trio of Hong Kong investment entities led by Maso Capital, which last year became some of the largest investors in Hometown International’s biggest investors, are understood to be involved in likewise positioning E-Waste as a reverse merger candidate.The Hong Kong investors include entities that are investment arms of Duke and Vanderbilt universities.E-Waste’s biggest single investor, Macao-based Global Equity Limited, is also the largest investor in the deli owner, and in Med Spa Vacations, another shell company linked to Coker Sr..The office building on Avenida Da Praia Grande in Macao, China, the address for multiple entities listed as investors in Hometown International, the owner of a single New Jersey deli.Catarina Domingues | CNBCRollo remains the president of Med Spa Vacations, a shell company with no business operations whose office address is that of a business operated by Coker Sr.Hometown International loaned Med Spa Vacations $150,000 in February, records show.That loan came after E-Waste was loaned an identical amount by Hometown International in November, according to an SEC filing.Records show that Coker Sr. loaned E-Waste $255,000 last September, most of which was used to pay the prior owners of E-Waste before they sold their shares to Global Equity Lmiited.CNBC’s articles have detailed how Coker Sr., a former college basketball star who has refused to comment when contacted by a reporter, has been sued for allegedly hiding assets from a creditor to whom he owed nearly $900,000 and for business-related fraud. He denied wrongdoing in those cases.He also has been arrested for soliciting a prostitute, according to a Raleigh, North Carolina, police report, and for exposing himself to and trying to proposition three underage girls, according to a 1992 newspaper article.Peter Lee Coker mugshot from the Raleigh/Wake City-County Bureau of Identification (CCBI).Source: Raleigh/Wake City-County Bureau of IdentificationA firm controlled by Coker Sr., Tryon Capital, had until recently been collecting $15,000 a month from Hometown International under a consulting agreement. E-Waste was paying Tryon Capital $2,500 per month for its own consulting agreement.Those agreements were terminated last month after CNBC articles described those deals and Coker’s tangled legal history.SEC filings show that Med Spa Vacations is paying Tryon Capital $2,500 per month for its own consulting agreement.Coker Sr.’s partner in Tryon Capital, Peter Reichard, in 2011 was convicted in a North Carolina court of his role in a scheme that facilitated the illegal contributions of thousands of dollars to the successful 2008 campaign for governor by Bev Perdue, a Democrat.The scheme involved the use of bogus consulting contracts with Tryon Capital. Coker Sr. was not charged in that case.Peter Reichard, a top Perdue aide, takes the oath before his apearance in Wake County Court, Wednesday, December 14, 2011 in Raleigh, N.C.John Rottet | The News & Observer | APReichard is also a managing member, with Coker Sr., of an entity called Europa Capital Investments, which owns 90,400 common shares of Hometown International, and has warrants for another 1.9 million shares.Reichard is the son of Ram Dass, the late spiritual and LSD guru who gained renown in the 1960s and 1970s.CNBC earlier this week detailed how Coker Sr. and Reichard in 2010 created eight shell companies that were later sold off to other owners.Most of those shell companies, after they were sold, ended up having their registrations revoked by the SEC for failing to keep current in their disclosure filings, records show.One of the companies ended up being owned by a real estate tax lawyer in New York named Allan Schwartz, who did work for former President Donald Trump decades ago in connection with Trump’s real estate holdings. Schwartz told CNBC he knew nothing about Reichard and Coker Sr., or the deli owner.Hometown Deli, Paulsboro, N.J.Mike Calia | CNBCRecords show that a securities lawyer named Gregg Jaclin was involved in the creation of those shell companies. Jaclin also was involved three years later in the creation of Hometown International.Jaclin was disbarred as an attorney last year after pleading guilty to federal criminal charges related to his creation of shell companies to sell to individuals “who used those shell companies as publicly traded vehicles for market manipulation schemes,” court records show.None of the shells in that scheme were one of the ones created by Coker Sr. and Reichard, or to Hometown International. More

Thomas Fields, founder of GRIND basketball.Source: GRINDThe term has become popular in pro basketball, but Thomas Fields really did “trust the process” as he lured money from investors, including Mark Cuban, to expand his company.Fields is the founder of GRIND, a sports equipment company, and convinced the Dallas Mavericks owner to buy into the business. The 26-year-old Houston native received $250,000 from his appearance on “Shark Tank” for his portable shooting machine.In an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, days after his May 7 appearance on “Shark Tank,” Fields recalled the process of launching GRIND in Mach 2020, days before sports shut down due to Covid-19.”It was literally two weeks before the pandemic hit,” Fields said. “After that, we were operating in a Covid world, so we don’t even know what that non-Covid world looks like.”Pitching the sharksOn the business front, Fields said GRIND has done well while operating during the pandemic. The basketball machine is set up for a single user and automatically returns the ball to the player, allowing for 1,000 shots an hour.Fields said the company generated roughly $217,000 in sales during the first five months, as lockdowns were in place and large gatherings banned. The product currently sells for $1,595, according to its website. On Amazon, similar shooting machines are listed for over $5,000.And Fields notes GRIND folds into a duffle bag within 90 seconds, weighs roughly 100 pounds, and called the product “affordable and accessible to any athlete that would want it.”Asked about current sales, Fields declined to reveal figures, citing privacy concerns for his new partners. “Shark Tank” invited Fields to the show after six rounds of interviews, with the final pitch coming last September in Las Vegas.Mark Cuban on ABC’s “Shark Tank”Jessica BrooksHis fiancée applied to the show before the company launched. Fields said he watched previously recorded episodes, which airs on CNBC, and took notes. And while quarantined in Las Vegas before meeting the sharks, he furthered studied the process of his once-in-a-lifetime pitch.”All I could do was practice,” Fields said, adding he was in “execution mode” when he arrived. He pitched a cast including Cuban, new Minnesota Timberwolves owner Alex Rodriguez, CNBC contributor Kevin O’Leary and businesswoman Barbara Corcoran. After the pitch, he got two investors — Cuban and Corcoran — who took 25% of the company.”I love the product,” Cuban told CNBC in an email. “I ordered one while the show was being filmed.”Added Fields: “It was great going through it, and after knowing those two believed in me as an entrepreneur and loved the product, that was more than enough validation to say the company is going to be something special.”Batteries not included Shortly after recapping the show, Fields recalled more of GRIND’s process. He pointed to 2017 while recovering from four ACL surgeries, one of the more extreme injuries in sports, especially basketball. It was then that Fields knew making it to the National Basketball Association wasn’t attainable.Fields said he learned how to weld thanks to a friend and started working on the concept of the GRIND machine. He pitched early investors, but no one provided money. So he started working for Raising Cane’s, a popular fast-food chain and a local car wash, saving nearly $25,000.Fields said he became a “self-taught, mechanical engineer,” paid himself $300 per month, and worked on prototypes and proof of concept in his garage.”Just perfecting the machine and making it great,” Fields remembered.Even Rodriguez saluted Fields’ persistence on social media. “I got a lot of love, but he ended up being out,” Fields said of Rodriguez.Today, the shooting machines are manufactured in Idaho, and Fields has eight employees, including four engineers. GRIND also landed an NBA team deal with the San Antonio Spurs, who use the machine for their youth camps.”We targeted the Spurs because they have the best and largest youth organization in the NBA,” Fields said. “It was strategic, and we didn’t partner with them because they were close by.”GRIND is working on a battery that can be added to the machine. It was one of the concerns Cuban had before investing. The machine uses an extension cord for power, which Fields noted Cuban told him made the product non-portable as it still needs a power outlet.”At the end of the day, we don’t want customers walking around with 100-foot extension cords,” Fields said. “We want them ready to go and worried about getting better.”Ambitions of Nike and PelotonFields is entering a competitive sports equipment market. According to firm Grand View Research, the sector is expected to reach $89.2 billion in 2025. And GRIND is also competing with the tech sector, as companies like Apple are selling sports and fitness training subscriptions.”The way I see it, there is only so much that software can bring to an individual,” Fields said. “There is also so much that hardware can bring to a consumer. I’ve always been of the mindset of bringing the best of both worlds.”I believe our hardware solves a real problem that no software will ever be able to figure out – getting your made and missed shots and automatically passing the ball out and allowing you to shoot over one thousand shots an hour. No software can do that.”Fields says he wants to build GRIND as a combination of Nike and Peloton.”It’s a perfect time for us to come in and change the world of basketball through interactive sports equipment,” Fields said. “I think the future is bright for us. We’re much more than a shooting machine company.”And now the process continues. More

In this articleWMTCOSTExterior view of a Walmart store on August 23, 2020 in North Bergen, New Jersey. Walmart saw its profits jump in latest quarter as e-commerce sales surged during the coronavirus pandemic.VIEW press | Corbis News | Getty ImagesWalmart and Costco said Friday that customers who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will not need to wear a mask in its stores, unless one is required by state or local laws.In a memo sent to employees, the country’s largest retailer and employer said the change in its mask policy takes effect immediately at Walmart stores and its membership warehouse, Sam’s Club. Starting Tuesday, it said employees who are fully vaccinated do not need to wear a mask while working at its stores, offices or other facilities.The memo was from John Furner, Walmart U.S. CEO; Kath McLay, Sam’s Club CEO; and Dr. Cheryl Pegus, Walmart’s executive vice president of health and wellness.Costco started to allow fully vaccinated members and guests to enter without a face mask or face shield on Friday in jurisdictions that don’t have mask mandates, according to its website. Face coverings are still required in healthcare settings, such as Costco’s pharmacy, optical and hearing aid areas. New guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, issued Thursday, said that fully vaccinated people do not need to wear a mask or stay 6 feet apart from others in most cases, whether indoors or outdoors. People are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after they receive the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines or the single dose of Johnson & Johnson.Walmart said it is offering a cash incentive and the freedom to work mask-free as part of a push to get more of its workforce vaccinated.”We’re encouraging all associates to get vaccinated and help end this pandemic,” they said in the memo. “Do it for your health, your family, your friends, your community and your country – let’s help reach our national vaccination goals by the Fourth of July.”Earlier this month, President Joe Biden set a goal of getting 70% of U.S. adults to receive at least one dose of a Covid vaccine by the national holiday. As of Thursday, roughly 47% of the U.S. population — more than 154 million Americans — have received at least one vaccine dose, according to the CDC. About 118 million Americans are fully vaccinated, according to the agency.Walmart executives said in the memo that the retailer “will continue to request that non-vaccinated customers and members wear face coverings in our stores and clubs.” They said stores will have updated signs that reflect that new policy. They did not say if, or how, Walmart will verify if customers are vaccinated or not.For employees who want to work without wearing a mask at a store, distribution center or other facility, Walmart said it will verify their status by asking them if they have or have not gotten vaccinated. It will rely on the person’s “yes” or “no” answer during a daily health assessment.”Integrity is one of our core values, and we trust that associates will respect that principle when answering,” they said in the memo.However, to get a vaccine-related bonus, Walmart said employees will have to show their original, completed vaccine cards to a store leader or human resources manager. Starting next Tuesday, each person is eligible to receive $75 “as a thank you for getting vaccinated.” All U.S. employees below the level of store manager are eligible.CNBC Health & Science Read CNBC’s latest coverage of the Covid pandemic:CDC cheered and criticized for new mask guidance; retail workers don’t want to be vaccine ‘police’Brazil braces for renewed Covid surge as Bolsonaro faces parliamentary inquiry over pandemic response Plane, train and bus travelers still need to wear masks, even if they’re vaccinatedCDC says fully vaccinated people don’t need to wear face masks indoors or outdoors in most settingsThe company said it is “reviewing whether masks may still be required for certain job codes for health and sanitation purposes and will share additional guidance soon.” It said employees are welcome to continue wearing masks, if they choose.Walmart’s policy change is a departure from other major retailers, including Target, Gap and Ulta Beauty, that said they will keep pandemic protocols. Trader Joe’s, though, said customers could shop without wearing a mask, if they are fully vaccinated. More

Phil Murphy, New Jersey’s governor, second left, greets police sergeant during a tour of the Morris County Covid-19 vaccination site at the Townsquare Mall in Rockaway, New Jersey, U.S., on Friday, Jan. 8, 2021.Sarah Blesener | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesNew Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday the state is keeping its indoor mask mandate in place, despite newly relaxed guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The CDC updated its policy Thursday, saying it is safe for fully vaccinated Americans to ditch their masks in most settings, whether they are outside or indoors.While fully vaccinated New Jersey residents can take their masks off outdoors, Murphy said those who aren’t vaccinated should continue to wear masks outdoors when in “close proximity” to others.The outbreak in New Jersey, which peaked in January at a seven-day average of more than 6,000 new cases a day, has since subsided to a daily average of around 500 cases over the past week.CNBC Health & Science Read CNBC’s latest coverage of the Covid pandemic:CDC cheered and criticized for new mask guidance; retail workers don’t want to be vaccine ‘police’Brazil braces for renewed Covid surge as Bolsonaro faces parliamentary inquiry over pandemic response Plane, train and bus travelers still need to wear masks, even if they’re vaccinatedCDC says fully vaccinated people don’t need to wear face masks indoors or outdoors in most settingsThe announcement comes as other states decide whether to incorporate new CDC guidelines into state policy.Hawaii Gov. David Ige said his state’s mask mandate will remain in effect for everyone, vaccinated or unvaccinated, despite the CDC’s new recommendations. Hawaii recorded its highest seven day average of about 250 cases a day in late August; it’s currently seeing less than 90 new cases a day, on average.Texas lifted its mask mandate in March, preceding the CDC’s announcement by two months. Texas recorded a peak seven-day average of more than 23,000 cases in January, just two months before it lifted its mask mandate. It’s recorded an average of just over 2,200 new cases a day over the last week.Texas’ Department of State Health Services told CNBC that the agency agrees with the new CDC guidelines and is in the process of updating its recommendations.New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state is reviewing its mask guidance with experts from neighboring states after the new CDC recommendations. The state of New York reported a peak seven day average of almost 17,000 cases in January; it’s now recording just over 2,000 cases a day.In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio praised the move as a “monumental day in the fight against Covid-19” and said the city is reviewing its own guidelines. More

Dr. Peter Hotez argued that the real reason a number of Americans are not getting vaccinated is their political ideology.”They’re tying their political allegiance to the political right, unfortunately. And we’re seeing this play out in the bottom ten states in terms of vaccination coverage,” which is half of the coverage seen in the top ten states, said Hotez, co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children’s Hospital.The top ten states with the highest rates of residents receiving at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose also chose President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. Polls show that more than 40% of Republicans are not planning to get vaccinated. Hotez told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” that regional flare-ups over the summer in the states with lower vaccination rates could lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ask Americans to wear masks again. The CDC relaxed mask guidelines for the U.S. on Thursday and said fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear a face mask or stay 6 feet away from others in most settings, whether outdoors or indoors. The updated guidelines have drawn widespread criticism, but Hotez said that’s because the new guidance arrived earlier than expected.”I was expecting this sometime in June, so it’s a couple of weeks early,” Hoetz explained. “I think it will be okay. But I think the stores, the businesses, the universities need a little time to catch up and have some internal discussions.” More

Graduates of New York University and The New School are seen under the Washington Square Arch in Washington Square Park in New York City, May 13, 2021.Brendan McDermid | ReutersDisney was quick to announce that it plans to further raise capacity limits at its U.S. theme parks a few hours after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced relaxed mask guidelines for the U.S. on Thursday.”[It’s] big news for us, particularly if anybody’s been in Florida in the middle of summer with a mask on,” CEO Bob Chapek joked with analysts on an earnings call about two hours after the new recommendations were released.”Given the guidance that just came today from the CDC, and earlier guidance that we got from the governor of Florida, we’ve already started to increase our capacities,” he said.The CDC now says fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear a face mask or stay 6 feet away from others in most settings, whether outdoors or indoors, according to the updated guidance. It’s the first time the federal government has encouraged people to stop wearing masks since the agency first called for face coverings more than a year ago. It marks a major turning point in the Covid-19 pandemic in the U.S. and brings the country one step closer to normalcy. Public health experts also said the change is likely to encourage more Americans, especially those still hesitant about receiving the shots, to get vaccinated.The agency, however, came under sharp criticism for its quick turnabout. Just six weeks ago, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky was warning of “impending doom” as daily Covid-19 cases in the U.S. began to rise again. And many health and business leaders say the new recommendations were too ambiguous. It requires essential workers to police vaccination records and will be difficult to enforce.Vaccine police”Under current plans, it will be impossible to enforce in most settings,” Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease physician at the University of California San Francisco, told CNBC. “Businesses, schools and event organizers may still have purview in requiring evidence of vaccination prior to inclusion in specific communities or events, but for other everyday events there will be no enforcement in the way of vaccine passports or QR codes as done in other countries.”There are some instances where fully vaccinated people still need to wear masks: traveling by plane, bus or train as well as in certain places such as hospitals, nursing homes, prisons or at establishments that require them, the agency said. The CDC’s guidance also isn’t mandatory. States, municipalities and businesses can decide whether or not they want to follow it, increasing confusion for many business owners and employees.Some health and law experts told CNBC it would further complicate public health efforts to end the pandemic, adding it is “nearly impossible” to police the use of face masks because there is no way to know who is vaccinated and who isn’t. More than half of the population still haven’t gotten the shots, they said, risking more outbreaks from unmasked, unvaccinated individuals.People ride a tour bus with no masks in Times Square during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, May 14, 2021.Carlo Allegri | Reuters”While we all share the desire to return to a mask-free normal, today’s CDC guidance is confusing and fails to consider how it will impact essential workers who face frequent exposure to individuals who are not vaccinated and refuse to wear masks,” Marc Perrone, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, said in a statement. “Essential workers are still forced to play mask police for shoppers who are unvaccinated and refuse to follow local COVID safety measures. Are they now supposed to become the vaccination police?”Creates ambiguityLisa LaBruno, senior executive vice president of retail operations and innovation for the Retail Industry Leaders Association, told CNBC the new guidance “creates ambiguity for retailers because it fails to fully align with state and local orders.””These conflicting positions put retailers and their employees in incredibly difficult situations. We urge state and local governments to coordinate with the CDC as additional guidance is issued on the road to normalcy,” she said in a statement.Beauty store chain Ulta Beauty said it doesn’t plan to change its mask and social distancing requirements in its stores, although it is actively assessing “the implications of this updated guidance for our guests and associates.” It said the health and safety of its employees and customers was its top priority.CNBC Health & Science Read CNBC’s latest coverage of the Covid pandemic:CDC cheered and criticized for new mask guidance; retail workers don’t want to be vaccine ‘police’Brazil braces for renewed Covid surge as Bolsonaro faces parliamentary inquiry over pandemic response Plane, train and bus travelers still need to wear masks, even if they’re vaccinatedCDC says fully vaccinated people don’t need to wear face masks indoors or outdoors in most settings”I hate to say ‘It’s complicated,’ but it’s complicated,” said David French, a lobbyist for the National Retail Federation. On one hand, the CDC guidance could bring more clarity, but it also makes things more complex since businesses won’t know who is or is not vaccinated — and neither will customers.Even with the milestone announcement, shoppers shouldn’t expect to see immediate changes at their grocery store or local mall, said Joel Bines, global co-leader of the retail practice at consulting firm AlixPartners. He said the guidance will make little difference for retailers who do not know people’s vaccination status — and above all, want to make sure their workers and customers don’t get sick.”This is an extremely difficult management problem for any business that interacts with consumers on a physical level,” he said. “There is no operating manual for this.”Law professor Lawrence Gostin, director of the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law, said the new guidance could have “serious unforeseen consequences.””The public will not feel comfortable shopping, dining, or going to church or a gym if they have no idea whether the unmasked person standing next to them is vaccinated or not,” Gostin said.46% of U.S. population vaccinatedAs of Thursday, more than 154 million Americans, 46.6% of the U.S. population, have received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine, according to the CDC. Roughly 118 million Americans are fully vaccinated, according to the agency. The U.S. government is working to persuade more Americans to get a vaccine after the pace of shots slowed in recent weeks.Unlike some other countries, the U.S. doesn’t have a system where people can prove they’ve been vaccinated. Even if there was one, vaccinated people are unlikely to always have their cards with them, and not everyone will have digital proof, said Dorit Reiss, a professor of law at UC Hastings College of Law. Areas with high vaccination rates can probably lift mask restrictions entirely, she added.”This is an exciting and powerful moment,” Walensky, the CDC director, told reporters at a White House Covid-19 briefing Thursday after announcing the new guidance. “It could only happen because of the work of so many who made sure we have the rapid administration of three safe and effective vaccines.”Rochelle Walensky, Director of the CDCSource: CDC | YouTubeFrom an epidemiology standpoint, the CDC guidance “means we are at a place where we are at the best place in the pandemic we have ever been as a country with continued declines in infections, hospitalizations and deaths,” said Chin-Hong.”The symbolic meaning is even more palpable,” he added. “Masks have been the symbol of fear and political divisiveness [and] by casting them off, at least for vaccinated folks, it hopefully means that this is returning us to the life that we aspired to pre-pandemic.”The Nevada Gaming Control Board, which sets the rules for casinos, immediately updated its rules, allowing The Wynn Las Vegas to ease its own mask guidelines. The company said Friday fully vaccinated guests and employees won’t have to wear masks at its hotels and casinos.Bowing to pressureGostin and others were critical of the CDC’s abrupt change in policy, saying it’s bowing to pressure from the public and governors to return to normal. “As a result, CDC is making momentous shifts in its guidance, lurching from over-caution to abandoning all caution,” he said, adding that it could undermine public trust in the agency. “It will make the public rely less on CDC guidance if it feels the agency is being pushed around.”On Friday, Walensky defended the timing of the new guidance. Over the last two weeks, daily Covid cases have declined by over a third, she said, and vaccinations are now widely available in most places across the U.S. She added the guidance is “empowering” people to make decisions about their own health, urging unvaccinated people not to take the risk of going out unmasked.If several people are in a room unmasked, the vaccinated people will be protected from getting Covid, she said.Emerging science shows that vaccinated people are protected and have a “very low risk of transmitting” Covid to other people, even with some of the variants that appear to make the vaccines less effective, she said on “CBS This Morning.” — CNBC’s Nadine El-Bawab, Sarah Whitten and Michael Wayland contributed to this article.Correction: This article was updated to reflect that Dr. Peter Chin-Hong is an infectious disease physician at the University of California San Francisco. More

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a televised press conference at 10 Downing Street on February 22, 2021 in London, England.Leon Neal | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesLONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned Friday that the coronavirus variant first discovered in India has the potential to derail the lockdown easing currently underway in the country.The U.K. will now accelerate second doses of vaccines for the over-50s and the clinically vulnerable due to concerns about the variant from India.Speaking at a news conference Friday, Johnson said the variant looked to be more transmissible than other strains, but cautioned that it wasn’t clear by how much. England’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, speaking alongside Johnson, added that there’s “confidence” it’s “more transmissible” than the variants already circulating in the country.Whitty said: “Earlier this week we said that we thought that it was as transmissible as B.1.1.7 and possibly even more so. There is now confidence … that this variant is more transmissible than B.1.1.7.”The B.1.1.7 variant, known as the U.K. or Kent strain, has an unusually high number of mutations and is associated with a more efficient and rapid transmission of the coronavirus. British scientists first detected this mutation in September of last year and by April it had become the dominant strain in the U.S.Johnson added that there was currently no evidence that the variant would evade the vaccines that are being deployed across the country.”But I have to level with you, this new variant could pose a serious disruption to our progress,” Johnson said.”And I must stress that we will do whatever it takes to keep the public safe.”CNBC Health & Science Read CNBC’s latest coverage of the Covid pandemic:CDC cheered and criticized for new mask guidance; retail workers don’t want to be vaccine ‘police’Brazil braces for renewed Covid surge as Bolsonaro faces parliamentary inquiry over pandemic response Plane, train and bus travelers still need to wear masks, even if they’re vaccinatedCDC says fully vaccinated people don’t need to wear face masks indoors or outdoors in most settingsData on the new variant published Thursday by Public Health England showed that the number of cases across the U.K. had risen from 520 last week to 1,313 this week, with most cases concentrated in northwest England and a few clusters in London.The U.K.’s vaccine rollout has been one of the fastest in the world, with almost 70% of the adult population having received at least one shot. Vaccines are available to anyone over age 38, but the government has said they could be made available to younger people living in multigenerational households.The next phase of England’s exit from lockdown is scheduled for Monday, when indoor socializing, hospitality and entertainment will resume.— CNBC’s Elliot Smith contributed to this article. More