The U.S. is nearing one million COVID-19 deaths just over two years since the pandemic began.

Many are concerned as an uptick in cases and hospitalizations continue around the world. Two new sub-variants have emerged in South Africa and are spreading to other countries including the U-S. Are we bracing for another wave? 

Then, during the first two years of the pandemic, the ultra-rich in the U.S. increased their wealth by one point seven trillion dollars while many Americans lost jobs and struggled to make ends meet. This one point seven trillion dollars would be enough to wipe out most of the student loan debt or cover the cost of U.S. President Biden’s “Build Back Better” social spending and infrastructure bill.

Joining the discussion:

• Dr. Joshua LaBaer is the Executive Director of the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University.
• Dr. Kate Tulenko is the Founder and CEO of Corvus Health.
• Anthony Chan is Former Chief Economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
• Atiba Madyun is the Founder and President of Party Politics US, a data collection firm and the author of the political thriller, “Saving Grace.”
• Josh Enomoto is a Contributor for InvestorPlace and Barchart.com.

During the early days of the pandemic, scientists offered one piece of reassuring news about the novel coronavirus: It mutated slowly. A vaccine, if and when it was invented, might not need regular updating over time.

This proved overly optimistic. https://t.co/BZTr9PD4EJ

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 1, 2022

Vaccines are effective against new omicron subvariants driving a surge in Covid-19 cases in South Africa, WHO chief says https://t.co/2XrRgz0RI4

— Bloomberg (@business) May 4, 2022