Raphael Stevens

Chika Okeke is a med student at University California, Irvine School of Medicine. She is also a Leadership Education to Advance Diversity–African, Black, and Caribbean (LEAD-ABC) Scholar.Source: Serena TallyAs we head into the second year of the coronavirus pandemic, health-care workers have been applauded as heroes for fighting an unpredictable and deadly virus. It’s taken a toll on them physically and mentally, yet applications to medical schools for the 2021 academic year have surged by 18%, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.”Over the last year, we’ve seen the Covid-19 pandemic increasing physician stress, which has led to higher rates of burnout, retirement and made physician shortages worse,” said Robert W. Seligson, CEO of Physicians Foundation.Now, nearly 60% of nurses and 20% of physicians say they’re looking to call it quits due to Covid stress. Some doctors have even decided to retire early, causing the worst staffing shortage in decades.But instead of deterring med students, the pandemic has actually motivated them even more to pursue a career in health care.”[W]e are witnessing health-care workers go through the hardest parts of their jobs,” said Miriam Cepeda, a pre-med student at Columbia University. “But at the same time, I think this pandemic has shown me and my fellow pre-med peers just how impactful our work will be.”More from CNBC’s College Voices series:These college students are working as contact tracers to stop the spread of Covid on campusThese college students worry they may not graduate on time due to the coronavirus pandemicHere’s what college students need to know about making a budget — and sticking to itAt Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, applications for admission to the class of 2025 are up more than 35% compared to the same time last year. At Boston University School of Medicine, they’ve risen by 26%. And at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, admissions officers have seen applications increase by 27%.Dr. Rafael Rivera Jr., associate dean for admissions for NYU Grossman School of Medicine, said another factor for the rise in applications is the job market during the pandemic.”Whenever there is a period of uncertainty, especially economic uncertainty with individuals worrying about the likelihood of getting a job, medical school applications tend to increase. People recognize that regardless of what’s going on around us, we always need physicians, nurses, and other health-care professionals to look out for our well-being- and that contributes to a sense of job security many find desirable,” said Dr. Rivera Jr.And the application process for medical schools has become more affordable due to the pandemic. Medical schools have shifted to virtual interviews, which decreased travel costs for medical school applicants. Some schools have also waived MCAT requirements and extended application deadlines for the admission process.To accommodate for the increase in applications, NYU Grossman School of Medicine is developing an artificial intelligence algorithm that replicates faculty decisions to screen applications.”It returns those decisions in the blink of an eye, scales to accommodate any increase in applications, and reduces the impact of individual human bias,” said Dr. Rivera Jr. “It also provides applicants with timelier decisions and ensures we can thoroughly screen everyone completing an application to our school.””It is no surprise that the pandemic hit minority communities the hardest, given their underrepresentation in health-care access and political support,” said Violeta Osegueda, a fourth-year medical student at the University of California, Irvine.  “On the service I was on, nearly 30 patients [had] Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome secondary to Covid-19 pneumonia; most of those were Latinos.”Violeta Osegueda is a med student at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. She co-founded a website called medicalspanish.org to help address Covid in the Latino community, particularly vaccine hesitancy.Source: Violeta Osegueda”The pandemic has made me want to pursue the medical field because there continues to be a massive gap in access to medical care,” added Azan Virji, a second-year medical student at Harvard University.  “Marginalized groups still find themselves with less access to correct medical information, testing, and vaccines — something I hope to work on as a physician.””The pandemic has highlighted the health disparities that communities of color face and has taught me that becoming a physician is not only about saving lives. It is also about trying to improve the quality of life for our patients by addressing the factors and barriers that influence their health,” said Chika Okeke, a first-year medical student at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine.Medical schools are also seeing a more diverse pool of applicants than ever before. The AAMC reported in October 2020 that they were seeing Black and Latinx individuals applying to U.S. medical schools in higher numbers compared to the same time last year, in some cases with a double-digit year-over-year increase.At the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the number of applications from underrepresented minority applicants has more than doubled since 2018, when the medical school announced their tuition-free scholarship program.Some medical students are already working on solutions to address racial disparities in health care before they even graduate.Axana Rodriguez-Torres and Violeta Osegueda, both students at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, partnered to create a website called medicalspanish.org to provide medical resources in Spanish. They focused on addressing Covid in the Latino community, particularly vaccine hesitancy.”There has been a historic lack of health-care access for these communities, which has led to sick communities that are mostly undiagnosed, untreated or undertreated. The pandemic made these circumstances much more grossly evident making it clear that these communities need our immediate attention and support,” said Rodriguez Torres, who is also part of the Program in Medical Education for the Latino Community at UCI.Axana Rodriguez-Torres is med student at University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. She co-founded a website called medicalspanish.org to help address Covid in the Latino community, particularly vaccine hesitancy.Source: Axana Rodriguez-TorresMany medical students share the sentiment that diversity is of utmost importance for the future of the medical field. “As the U.S. patient population becomes more diverse, the medical field must also follow suit so that our patients are served by people who look like them, understand their culture, and can speak to them in their native tongue,” said Virji.And, while the past year has proven how physically and emotionally crushing working in health care can be, many doctors say it’s also incredibly rewarding.”Medical students can look forward to joining what, in my mind, is the noblest of professions,” said Dr. Rivera Jr. “Caring for patients and performing scientific research to identify tomorrow’s cures are among the most personally fulfilling pursuits in life.” CNBC’s “College Voices” is a series written by CNBC interns from universities across the country about coming of age, getting their college education and launching their careers during these extraordinary times. Colette Ngo is a senior at Chapman University double majoring in broadcast journalism and business administration. The series is edited by Cindy Perman.SIGN UP: Money 101 is an 8-week learning course to financial freedom, delivered weekly to your inbox.CHECK OUT: ‘We were able to negotiate $15,000 off’: How students saved thousands on college tuition via Grow with Acorns+CNBC.Disclosure: NBCUniversal and Comcast Ventures are investors in Acorns. More

Consumers across the globe spent $900 billion more at online retailers in 2020 compared with the prior two-year trend, according to a report released Tuesday by the Mastercard Economics Institute. Shoppers are heading back to restaurants and returning to stores to buy clothes and shoes in person. Yet they will continue to stock their fridges and hunt for good deals online — a sticky habit developed during the Covid pandemic, according to the report.Nearly every retailer’s online sales jumped as shoppers were stuck at home. As consumers picked up online purchases in the parking lot and got packages or takeout dropped at their doorsteps, e-commerce made up about $1 out of every $5 spent on retail globally. That’s an increase from about $1 out of every $7 spent in 2019, the report said.In an interview on CNBC’s “Worldwide Exchange” with Frank Holland, Mastercard’s chief economist, Bricklin Dwyer, said about 20% to 30% of the $900 billion in additional digital spending will continue into 2021 and the next few years.However, the long-term e-commerce gains will be uneven and will depend on what a retailer sells, how they adapted their business model and how consumers prefer to shop. For some merchandise, such as clothing, shoppers may prefer to go back to brick-and-mortar stores where they can try on an outfit before buying it. In certain retail categories, such as electronics, online purchases already drove a larger share of overall sales, so there was less room to grow.Grocery and discount stores will see the most dramatic and lasting shift to e-commerce, according to the report. Discount stores include dollar stores, wholesale clubs and other retailers that sell to customers at near-wholesale prices. Grocers will likely retain about 70% to 80% of the digital sales gains they saw during the peak of the pandemic and discount stores will hold onto about 40% to 50% of them, the report said.For both sectors, online sales made up only a single-digit share of overall sales before the pandemic — creating an opportunity for more noticeable growth.Clothing stores, restaurants and sporting/toy stores saw the biggest initial spike during the pandemic, however, but only kept 10% to 20% of that peak in sales, according to the report.Electronics and department stores had the highest penetration of online sales before the pandemic, with e-commerce making up about 55% to 60% and 40% to 50% of their total sales, respectively, according to Mastercard. For the two sectors, their expected permanent shift will be around 20% to 30% of their peak jumps.Dwyer said grocers face unique hurdles — even as more consumers shop online for produce, meats and other ingredients. Only about 10% of overall grocery spending is through e-commerce, he said.”You have to trust someone else to pick your peaches,” he said. “You have to have trust for someone else to deliver your goods and still have them good when they arrive. So that really is some of those barriers that we’re crossing.” More

In this articleSBUXA barista washes at a sink inside a Starbucks Coffee Korea Co. store in Gimpo, South Korea.SeongJoon Cho | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesStarbucks has pledged to discontinue disposable cups in South Korea by 2025 as it aims to cut its global landfill waste in half by the end of the decade.The coffee giant has long promised to cut down the roughly 7 billion disposable cups it runs through every year, the majority of which end up in landfills. For decades, with a brief interruption during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, the company has offered a 10 cent discount to customers who bring in cups, but few choose that option.After Starbucks announced last year that it plans to eventually become “resource positive,” the company has been setting more goals to cut down on water use, carbon emissions and waste. On Tuesday, the company said it will run a two-month pilot for a borrow-and-return program across five cafes in Seattle, where it is headquartered. The company announced Monday a series of new targets for its South Korean market, including reducing its carbon footprint by 30% by 2025.As it seeks to phase out single-use cups for its coffee, Starbucks plans to introduce a circular cup program in South Korea to slowly encourage customers to reuse mugs and cups. This summer, the chain plans to roll out a program across select cafes in Jeju that allows consumers to pay a small deposit for a reusable cup, which they can return at a contactless return kiosk.Shares of Starbucks rose 1.9% in morning trading. The company’s stock has risen 64% over the last year, giving it a market value of $131 billion. More

Joe Cobarrubio, 34, is given a vaccination against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Artesia, California, U.S., April 5, 2021.Lucy Nicholson | ReutersPresident Joe Biden is expected to announce Tuesday that states should open Covid-19 vaccine appointments to all U.S. adults by April 19, moving up his original deadline by nearly two weeks, a White House official confirmed to NBC News.Biden is expected to announce the new deadline later Tuesday following his visit at a vaccination site in Alexandria, Virginia. The deadline, though voluntary, applies public pressure to states that haven’t already expanded their eligibility guidelines.A few weeks ago, Biden called on states, tribes and territories to make all U.S. adults eligible for vaccination no later than May 1. However, most states have already announced plans to open eligibility to all adults by April 19. Only Hawaii and Oregon haven’t already announced plans to have open eligibility by that date, according to NBC News.Biden announced last week that 90% of adults in the U.S. would be eligible for Covid-19 shots by April 19 and will be able to get them within five miles of their home under an expanded vaccination plan. Roughly 40,000 pharmacies will distribute the vaccine, up from 17,000, Biden said, and the U.S. is setting up a dozen more mass vaccination sites by April 19.”For the vast, vast majority of adults, you won’t have to wait until May 1. You’ll be eligible for your shot on April 19,” Biden said March 29 during a press conference on the government’s Covid-19 response and vaccination efforts around the country.Biden is also set to announce Tuesday that the U.S. has reached 150 million shots administered within his first 75 days in office, according to NBC News.The president is pushing to have 200 million Covid shots administered within his first 100 days in office. As of last week, the pace of U.S. vaccinations has been averaging about 3.1 million doses per day, Andy Slavitt, the White House’s senior pandemic advisor, said Monday.Over 40% of adults have had at least one shot, Slavitt said. He added that 75% of seniors have now received at least one shot, and more than half are fully vaccinated.Even as the pace of vaccinations picks up, highly contagious variants are rapidly spreading, potentially stalling the nation’s recovery from the pandemic.Last week, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said B.1.1.7, the variant first identified in the U.K.,  is starting to become the predominant strain in many regions of the U.S., accounting for  26% of Covid-19 cases circulating across the nation.Walensky said Wednesday she expects to see more infections in the U.S. due to the transmissibility of the B.1.1.7 variant. She urged the public to continue pandemic safety measures, such as washing hands, wearing masks and practicing social distancing.”This is a critical moment in our fight against the pandemic,” Walensky said Wednesday. “We can’t afford to let our guard down.” More

In this articleTPT-GBSPCXMUDSTopps trading cards are arranged for a photograph in Richmond, Virginia.Jay Paul | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesTopps, which is best known for its baseball cards and Bazooka candy line, has agreed to go public through a merger with Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corporation II, a special purpose acquisition company, that values Topps at $1.3 billion.Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner will stay on as Topps’ chairman. Mudrick Capital and funds and accounts managed by Gamco Investors and Wells Capital Management are expected to invest an additional $250 million in the SPAC.The deal is expected to close in the late second or early third quarter. The combined company will be called Topps and will trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker TOPP. The New York Times’ Dealbook was the first to report the deal.Topps’ net sales rose 23% in 2020 to $567 million, a record high for the company. While Topps is best known for its sports trading cards, it has branched out into interactive mobile apps to connect collectors and recently expanded into nonfungible tokens. Ownership of an NFT is recorded on a blockchain, similar to the networks that underpin cryptocurrencies. Each NFT is unique and can’t be duplicated, just like owning an original painting or a rare baseball card.Other companies, including Taco Bell and Atari, have also jumped on the NFT bandwagon. Funko, which makes collectible vinyl figurines, recently bought an NFT start-up to help it navigate the new trend. But executives told Dealbook that the Topps deal wasn’t because of its recent expansion in NFTs, although sports-related NFTs have been surging. In late February, Dapper Labs said consumers had already spent more than $230 million buying and trading highlights from the National Basketball Association.Topps also has a gift cards business under the name Topps Digital Services, where it works with companies like Netflix, Airbnb and Nike. Its candy segment includes iconic brands like Bazooka, Ring Pop and Baby Bottle Pop.Tune into CNBC at 8:15 a.m. ET for an interview with Michael Eisner, former Disney CEO and current Topps chairman, and Jason Mudrick, founder and chief investment officer of Mudrick Capital Management. More

As the U.S. continues to increase the pace of its vaccination campaign, now averaging more than 3 million shots per day, those in the most vulnerable age group are leading the way. About 75% of Americans 65 and older have received at least one shot, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Data, and more than half are fully vaccinated.In a call with reporters Monday, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said that emergency department visits and hospitalizations associated with that 65 and older demographic are declining.Those trends are “good news with regard to the power of vaccination,” Walensky said.U.S. Covid casesFollowing a dip in daily case numbers due to Easter Sunday, when many states did not report coronavirus data, a Johns Hopkins University tracker shows the U.S. recorded about 79,000 new Covid-19 cases on Monday. The seven-day average of daily new cases is currently at 64,600, up from the nation’s low point of about 53,000 cases per day in late March but showing some signs of plateauing.Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwardsThe demographics of who is becoming infected with the virus are changing, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told members of the media Monday at a White House press briefing.”As the trends in data have been indicating, cases are increasing nationally, and we are seeing this occur predominantly in young adults,” Walensky said.She added that many of the outbreaks in young people are related to youth sports and extracurricular activities. Risks of outbreak clusters can be prevented with cadenced testing strategies, Walensky said.The shifting demographics is a sign that vaccinations are having an impact, according to Walensky, who cited a decline in emergency department visits and hospitalizations associated with those 65 and older. The majority of that age group has received at least one vaccine shot.U.S. Covid deathsThe seven-day average of daily new coronavirus deaths is nearly 800, according to Hopkins data, well below the nation’s winter peak.Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwardsWalensky said that not enough is yet known about whether new virus variants are more deadly.”With these variants, we are still seeing increased transmissibility. We don’t yet know of its increased morbidity and mortality,” she said. “We still have to remain very vigilant with regard to these variants.”U.S. vaccine shots administeredThe U.S. is administering a seven-day average of just over 3 million Covid-19 vaccine shots per day, according to the CDC.Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwardsFollowing four straight days of more than 3 million vaccine doses administered, Monday’s report showed 2.1 million shots given. White House Covid-19 Data Director Cyrus Shahphar wrote in a tweet that while Monday numbers largely reflect weekend vaccinations and therefore typically show lower numbers, Easter Sunday was also a reason for the lower-than-usual data reporting.U.S. share of the population vaccinatedNearly a third of the U.S. population has received at least one shot of a Covid-19 vaccine, according to CDC data, with 18.8% of Americans fully vaccinated.Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwards More