A GOP Senate candidate bragged that he's not vaccinated but financial disclosures show he's making money from companies that make COVID-19 vaccines

Anti-vaccination protesters pray and rally near City Hall in Los Angeles, California, on August 14, 2021.

David McNew/AFP via Getty Images

• GOP Senate candidate for Ohio Mark Pukita said last week he hasn't been vaccinated against COVID-19.
• Pukita's Senate financial disclosure indicates he owns stock in Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer.
• He has also criticized big tech but the disclosure shows he also has holdings in Apple and Facebook.

Republican US Senate candidate Mark Pukita of Ohio, who bragged last week that he has not received the COVID-19 vaccine, is making money from companies that produce the vaccine, a new disclosure with the US Senate indicates.

Pukita, an IT executive, holds up to $50,000 in Johnson & Johnson stock, making up to $1,000 in dividends in the past year, according to a financial disclosure viewed by Insider.

The disclosure also indicates he owns up to $15,000 in Pfizer stock, making up to $1,000 in dividends in the past year.

Pukita also has personal stock investments of up to $15,000 each in Thermo Fisher Scientific and Abbott Laboratories. Both companies manufacture COVID-19 tests.

During a candidates' forum last week in Columbus, Ohio, Pukita stated he was the only candidate in the crowded GOP field who had not received the vaccine.

"It's one thing to talk, it's another thing to act," Pukita said, claiming he was out protesting against vaccine mandates and masks. "I'm also the only one up here... who's not vaxxed."

He also challenged fellow US Senate candidate Josh Mandel to share whether or not he's vaccinated. Mandel, who is considered the frontrunner in the race, declined to do so.

Pukita previously made headlines for a campaign ad he issued about Mandel that was criticized as antisemitic. Pukita denied the ad was anti-Jewish.

His campaign website says he is "not anti-vax but absolutely anti-force" and that Pukita is the "only Ohio US Senate candidate to state he has not vaxxed."

The website also calls for an "all-out attack on the SWAMP, deep state and big tech" and an end to the "unholy alliance of the Deep State and Big-Tech" but Pukita's Senate financial disclosure indicates he owns stock in several tech giants, including up to $50,000 each in Apple, Amazon, Comcast, Facebook (now Meta), and Alphabet (Google), as well as up to $100,000 in Microsoft.

Pukita did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

The GOP Senate primary in Ohio also includes candidate JD Vance, who missed the deadline to file federally mandated financial disclosure forms and still has yet to do so.

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Covid Cases Today: India Records 10,488 New Covid-19 Cases, Active Caseload Lowest Since March 2020

<p>India recorded 10,488 new infections in the last 24 hours. The cumulative covid numbers have now reached 3,45,10,413 as reported by PTI. During the same period, the number of active cases declined to 1,22,714 as updated by the Union Health Ministry today.&nbsp;</p> <p>The number of people recovered was recorded at 3,39,09,708. While 267 people succumbed to the infection, recording the death toll 4,65,662. The case fatality rate was at 1.35 percent.&nbsp;</p> <p>As per the report, the number of active cases has decreased by 1,254 in the last 24 hours. The national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.29 percent. This rate of recovery is the highest since March last year, said the report.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID</a>-19 | India reports 10,488 new cases, 12,329 recoveries &amp; 313 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per Union Health Ministry.<br /><br />Total cases 3,45,10,413<br />Total recoveries 3,39,22,037 <br />Death toll 4,65,662 <br />Active cases 1,22,714<br /><br />Total Vaccination: 1,16,50,55,210 <a href="https://t.co/CImIcmfqTf">pic.twitter.com/CImIcmfqTf</a></p> &mdash; ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1462270724630929410?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 21, 2021</a></blockquote> <p> <script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" async="" charset="utf-8"></script> </p> <p>The daily number of coronavirus cases has been recorded below 20,000 for consecutive 44 days and less than 50,000 147 days in a row.&nbsp;The Health Ministry said around 70 percent of total deaths was due to comorbidities.&nbsp;</p> <p>At the vaccination front, over 115.79 Covid-19 vaccines have been administered do far</p> <p>"Active caseload stands at 1,22,714 - lowest in 532 days; account for less than 1% of total cases, currently at 0.36% - lowest since March 2020. Daily positivity rate (0.98%) less than 2% for last 48 days. Weekly Positivity Rate (0.94%) less than 2% for last 58 days," reported ANI.</p> <p>Kerala&nbsp;</p> <p>As reported by the official website of the Government of Kerala on November 20, the active caseload stood at 60,385. Number of recovered cases was recorded at 6061 while 248 deaths were reported.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

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GOP officials in Wisconsin want to eliminate a bipartisan elections agency and charge 5 of its 6 members with felonies and misdemeanors

Claire Woodall-Vogg, executive director of the Milwaukee election commission collects the count from absentee ballots from a voting machine on November 04, 2020 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

• The top Republican candidate for Wisconsin governor says she will eliminate the commission if elected.
• A Wisconsin sheriff recommended felony or misdemeanor charges for 5 of the 6 commission members.
• The commission lifted a requirement for voting deputies to visit nursing homes because of COVID-19.

In an attempt to overhaul the state's election process, Wisconsin Republican officials are seeking to eliminate the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission and charge five of its six officials with felonies or misdemeanors related to the guidance they gave municipal clerks ahead of the 2020 election, The New York Times reported.

With less than a year before midterm elections, Rebecca Kleefisch, the top Republican challenger to Democratic Governor Tony Evers, has incorporated the termination of the state election commission into her platform, according to The Times. She filed a lawsuit earlier in the week against the commission, which was created by Republicans in 2016, asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to declare that its guidance contradicts state law.

Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling echoed Kleefisch's position and recommended felony and misdemeanor charges in early November against five of the commission's six members because they advised clerks not to send trained poll workers to nursing homes during the start of the pandemic, according to Milwaukee-based ABC affiliate WISN-TV.

Schmaling also asked for a statewide investigation to be launched by Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, who called the move a "publicity stunt" and a "transparently political effort and an abuse of authority," WISN-TV reported.

After Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 election, Wisconsin Republicans claimed that fraudulent votes were cast from nursing homes across the state as a result of a March 2020 commission vote, according to The New York Times.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the commission voted to lift a requirement for special voting deputies to visit nursing homes twice before issuing residents absentee ballots because facilities were not allowing visitors, The New York Times reported. No challenges to the guidance were raised at the time of the vote.

Still, Republican State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos called the commission lawless during a November 12 WKOW interview and said its members should "probably" face felony charges. Members of the commission released a statement in October maintaining that they had not broken any laws and that they may have missed the deadline to collect and count votes from individuals in nursing homes if they did not lift the rule.

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The truth behind the Great Resignation: Americans are sick of low-paying, dangerous jobs and they're fighting for better

A Now Hiring sign hangs near the entrance to a Winn-Dixie Supermarket on September 21, 2021 in Hallandale, Florida.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

• Paul Constant is a writer at Civic Ventures and cohost of the "Pitchfork Economics" podcast.
• In this piece, he breaks down several underlying issues influencing the current labor shortage. 
• If employers really wanted to hire people, they'd raise wages and improve working conditions, Constant says. 

The signs, posted at fast food restaurants and shared all over social media, have practically become a cliche by now: "WE ARE SHORT-STAFFED. PLEASE BE PATIENT WITH THE STAFF THAT DID SHOW UP. NO ONE WANTS TO WORK ANYMORE." Variations of the signs include additional complaining about "government handouts" or the government "paying people to stay home," but the gist is this: Employers are unable to find labor to staff their jobs, and as is often the case, they're eager to blame anyone but themselves for the shortage.

Of course, everyone knows that the truth about the so-called labor shortage is that nobody wants to work for the low wages and lousy work conditions those employers are offering. That's why many of the fast-food restaurants that post "no one wants to work anymore" signs also have signs up encouraging teenagers as young as 14 years old to apply for the jobs. (Many states allow sub-minimum wages for teen workers that go as low as $4.25 per hour.) 

At the same time, union workers around the country are going on strike to demand better wages, more humane schedules, and some say in the direction of their workplaces. Because there are so many open positions in the job market right now, wages are climbing higher than at any point in the last two decades. And white-collar workers are leaving their good-paying office jobs in huge numbers, too, in what is now referred to as the Great Resignation.

Read more: Fewer adults see their job as a source of life's meaning, and it shows how the pandemic has changed America's relationship with work

This is the first time in the 21st century that American workers have held the upper hand over employers. But why are so many positions open? Those fast-food workers can't all be migrating to better-paying jobs, can they? Several converging issues are at play.

• Because women are still expected to be the primary childcare provider in many American homes, and because the pandemic wiped out whole swaths of the child care sector, women left the workforce at up to four times the rate of male workers during the pandemic to care for their kids.
• Economic commentator Noah Smith points out that immigration to the United States has basically dropped by half since Donald Trump won the White House on a racist, anti-immigration platform in 2016. That amounted to two million fewer immigrants than were originally projected to arrive in America in 2020 — and many of those immigrants worked the low-wage jobs that "nobody wants to work anymore."   
• And we can't ignore the horrific truth that more than three-quarters of a million Americans have died from COVID-19 since March of 2020, a significant share of the population of working-age Americans. Additionally, many Americans (including those in high-risk health categories) likely don't feel safe enough to rejoin the workforce with the pandemic still surging out of control in regions around the country.

If employers really wanted to end the Great Resignation tomorrow, they could raise wages and make their businesses a more humane place to work. That would have the additional effect of giving workers more money and time to invest in their local economies, further increasing job growth. 

But they should also support candidates who champion policies that would get more Americans back to work — policies like affordable childcare, better and more welcoming immigration standards, and sensible public health policies that would allow more people to safely participate in the economy without frequent eruptions of deadly COVID outbreaks. 

Read more: Childcare centers say they're turning down desperate parents because they don't have enough staff to look after more kids

However, the news isn't all great for American workers, either. Though paychecks are rising, so are prices. As Civic Ventures President Zach Silk notes in "The Pitch," the sister newsletter of the Pitchfork Economics podcast, when you take the international spike in inflation into account, the average American paycheck has actually decreased by 1.2% since last October. 

"If I were an economic advisor to the Biden Administration," Silk wrote, "I would emphasize the importance of raising wages in conjunction with all the other policies that might help with supply-chain issues and global inflation."

Silk concluded, "Rising prices don't have as big an impact on your life if your paycheck is growing faster." The Great Resignation needs to continue in order for American workers to thrive, and our leaders must make it easier for them to get the raise that they so desperately need.

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Amazon employees in 20 countries will strike on Black Friday for better working conditions as part of global 'Make Amazon Pay' campaign

Amazon employees around the world are preparing to strike on Black Friday.

Emanuele Cremaschi/Getty Images

• Amazon employees in 20 countries are preparing to strike on Black Friday as part of the "Make Amazon Pay" campaign. 
• The campaign includes a coalition of 70 organizations, including Greenpeace, Oxfam, and Amazon Workers International.
• The protests come amid mounting dissent from Amazon employees over working condition and union busting. 

Amazon employees around the world are preparing to strike on Black Friday in an effort to improve working conditions and demand accountability from top executives.

Workers and activists in more than 20 countries are expected to protest as part of a campaign led by "Make Amazon Pay," a coalition of 70 trade unions and organizations including Greenpeace, Oxfam, and Amazon Workers International.

Individuals everywhere "from oil refineries, to factories, to warehouses, to data centers, to corporate offices" are expected to participate in the November 26 event, according to the campaign.  

"The pandemic has exposed how Amazon places profits ahead of workers, society, and our planet," Make Amazon Pay wrote in a list of demands shared on its website. "Amazon takes too much and gives back too little. It is time to Make Amazon Pay." 

The protests come amid growing dissent from Amazon employees over working conditions, including long hours, low pay, and complex performance review systems. Make Amazon Pay's demands include increased salaries, better job security, and "suspending the harsh productivity and surveillance regime Amazon has used to squeeze workers."

The coalition also calls for a "pay back to society" that includes enhanced sustainability efforts, increased transparency over data and privacy, and ending partnerships with police forces and immigration authorities that are "institutionally racist."

"Amazon is not alone in these bad practices but it sits at the heart of a failed system that drives the inequality, climate breakdown, and democratic decay that scar our age," Make Amazon Pay wrote in its demands. 

In a statement, Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel told Insider that the company is "inventing and investing significantly" in several of the categories the campaign addresses, including climate efforts, like a commitment to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040 and pushes to improve competitive wages and benefits. 

"These groups represent a variety of interests, and while we are not perfect in any area, if you objectively look at what Amazon is doing in each one of these areas you'll see that we do take our role and our impact very seriously," Nantel said. 

The rise of Make Amazon Pay also follows a fraught push for unionization across the company, including most recently at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island which filed for a union vote last month. The e-commerce giant became embroiled in controversy earlier this year after reports surfaced that it allegedly participated in union-busting tactics that may have thwarted a vote at a warehouse in Alabama.

As part of the Make Amazon Pay effort, the campaign also accused Amazon of dodging taxes. According to a ProPublica report published in June, its founder Jeff Bezos didn't pay any income taxes between 2006 and 2018. He is currently the richest person in the world with a net worth of $210.7 billion.

"During the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon became a trillion dollar corporation, with Bezos becoming the first person in history to amass $200 billion in personal wealth," Make Amazon Pay wrote on its website. "Meanwhile, Amazon warehouse workers risked their lives as essential workers, and only briefly received an increase in pay."

Make Amazon Pay was first formed in 2020 and has since helped drive a series of strikes and protests against company policies, particularly as unrest mounted during the pandemic. 

"Amazon's wealth has increased so much during the pandemic that its owners could pay all 1.3 million of its employees a $690,000 COVID bonus and still be as rich as they were in 2020," a video states on the Make Amazon Pay website. 

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Photos show thousands of protestors take to Vienna streets to protest Austria's COVID-19 lockdown and vaccine mandate

A man takes part in a demonstration against the country's coronavirus restrictions in Vienna, Austria, Saturday, November, 20, 2021.

AP Photo/Lisa Leutner

• Thousands of people in Austria took to the streets in Vienna on Saturday to protest a nationwide lockdown.
• The lockdown will begin Monday, the nation's chancellor announced Friday. 
• A COVID-19 vaccine mandate in the country will begin February 1, also spurring the protests.

Thousands of people in Austria took to the streets in Vienna on Saturday in protest of a nationwide lockdown slated to begin Monday in the government's latest effort to curb the ongoing spread of COVID-19.

According to a report from The Associated Press, the far-right Freedom Party in the country had called for protests in the country in response to the new restrictions.

Herbert Kickl, the leader of the party, said recently he contracted COVID-19 and couldn't attend the protest, though he appeared in a video where he told protestors to stand up against government efforts he called "totalitarian," according to the report. 

People take part in a demonstration against the country's coronavirus restrictions in Vienna, Austria, Saturday, November, 20, 2021.

AP Photo/Lisa Leutner

As CNN reported, Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg announced the lockdown on Friday and said it will begin Monday and last at least 10 days. At the end of 10 days, the lockdown could be extended for another 10 days, Schallenberg said at a press conference in Vienna.

Beginning Monday people will be allowed to leave their homes to exercise, to go to medical appointments, and to buy groceries, according to the AP.

People take part in a demonstration against the country's coronavirus restrictions in Vienna, Austria, Saturday, Nov.20, 2021.

AP Photo/Lisa Leutner

About 1,300 police officers responded to the protest and used loudspeakers to tell protestors to wear masks, though most of the protesters were not wearing them, the AP reported. Protestors chanted "resistance!" and blew whistles at a march that began at Vienna's Heldenplatz, per the report.

The COVID-19 vaccine will be mandatory on February 1, according to the report. About 66% of the Austrian population is vaccinated for the disease, CNN reported.

There were about 65,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported the week of November 15, according to data from the World Health Organization. Just about 11,000 cases were diagnosed the week of October 11, according to the data, showing a sharp uptick over the last month.

Police officers stand on front of protestors during a demonstration against measures to battle the coronavirus pandemic in Vienna, Austria, Saturday, November, 20, 2021.

AP Photo/Florian Schroetter

Protests have erupted across Europe amid new efforts to end the spread of COVID-19. In the Dutch city of Rotterdam, protests turned to riots where demonstrators burned cars and threw rocks at police. Police used water cannons and fired warning shots that resulted in at least two injuries, Reuters reported.

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The vice mayor of a California city is working three jobs, including one at a local restaurant, to tackle staffing shortages

The labor shortage continues to cause disruption for business owners and customers.

Chris Ware/Newsday RM/Getty Images

• The vice mayor of Folsom is working at a restaurant to help curb staffing shortages, per CBS News.
• Sarah Aquino had already taken on a second job selling health and life insurance. 
• She said she wanted to lead by example and inspire others to take up vacant roles. 

The vice mayor of Folsom, California, has taken up a third job at a local restaurant in an attempt to tackle the city's labor shortage.

Sarah Aquino said she recently began her new employment as a hostess and dining room supervisor at Back Bistro, CBS News reported.

Alongside that and her vice mayor duties, she also sells health and life insurance, the outlet said.

"I saw a Facebook post that said they were desperate for hosts and buspeople," Aquino told CBS MoneyWatch. "I told them I had no restaurant experience, but I am a hard worker and fast learner, and if you're willing to hire and train me, I will commit to work for up to 20 hours a week for six months."

"I decided to lead by example," she said. If people can "get out there and help these businesses fill these positions, it helps the businesses while also helping the city of Folsom," she added. 

Aquino recently announced a campaign to encourage local retirees, stay-at-home parents, and students to go to work and help ease the labor crunch, as Insider's Mary Hanbury reported. 

Many restaurant owners in California are struggling to hire or retain staff. In September, a sushi restaurant chain in the state was forced to close all nine locations once a week, due to a lack of qualified workers.

"We have a good business, our customers, but now we have no help," the owner told KCRA at the time. 

It's not just California, either. Restaurateurs from Massachusetts to Arkansas have also been severely impacted. This is because many workers have quit their jobs in search of better wages, benefits, and working conditions.

The wider retail industry is also facing disruption linked to worker shortages in the run-up to Christmas.

Recently, a lack of Santa impersonators was reported, although this was blamed on the fact that older men fear they might contract COVID-19 while doing the job. 

According to CBS Sacramento, Back Bistro are about 10 employees short of where they would like their staffing to be.

For Aquino, she hopes the new campaign will "inspire a few people when they see the help wanted sign." 

 

 

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There's virtually no difference between fast-food restaurants like McDonald's and fast-casual restaurants like Chipotle anymore

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

• Fast-casual chains are adding drive-thrus and cutting down on wait times.
• Fast food is getting more expensive with slower service.
• Distinctions between the two types of restaurants are disappearing.

Quick-service chains got a boost across the industry over the last year and a half, and it's changed how they work. Fast food keeps getting slower, while fast-casual chains have embraced drive-thrus and sped up service. 

Fast food is fairly clearly defined, and recognizable to the average customer. Chains like McDonald's, Wendy's, and Burger King sell food that can be quickly prepared and sold, often burgers and fries. The definition of fast-casual is fuzzier, closer to a marketing term. The difference comes down to higher costs at fast-casual restaurants, along with upscale decor and being aimed towards adults rather than children, according to Darren Tristano, executive vice president of Technomic research firm. 

These distinctions are become less clear by the year, and they might not matter anymore. When COVID-19 closed dining rooms in spring 2020, delivery and takeout became the main ways people were buying food out, and chains scrambled to make that faster and viable. The major fast-food chains were already well-equipped to survive a drop in indoor dining, with established drive-thrus and systems for efficient food pickups. 

Chains that were traditionally considered fast-casual took a cue from fast food and started adding drive-thrus and other ways for customers to get in and out quickly. Chipotle, which had built its business model on customized burritos and burrito bowls made behind an assembly line right in front of customers, ramped up expansion of Chipotlanes, the brand's drive-thrus. In 2019 before COVID-19 shifted the quick-service landscape, Chipotle had just 10 Chipotlanes. As of September 30, there were 284 in the US, with 36 of 41 Chipotles opened in 2021 including drive-thrus.

Chipotle executives said that Chipotlanes have higher margins because they typically have higher sales and operate more efficiently than the traditional format, and so other fast-casual chains are following Chipotle's lead. Sweetgreen, Qdoba, and Panera have all released their own plans for smaller restaurants focused on takeout with drive-thrus.

While fast-casual is getting faster and adding drive-thrus, fast food is getting slower and more expensive. Average wait time in fast-food drive-thrus increased nearly 30 seconds since 2020 to just over six minutes this year, while Chipotle pushed average drive-thru time down to 10 minutes. Waits have steadily increased over the last few years, from 234 seconds in 2018, to 327 seconds in 2019 and 356.8 in 2020, resulting in this year's relatively long waits.

Picking up a quick meal from McDonald's, Burger King, or another fast-food chain isn't as inexpensive as it once was, either. Prices at fast-food restaurants rose 7.1% compared this October compared to last year, according to new data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In July, Insider reported on some chains raising prices by as much as 10%. The greatest price increases were 10% at Taco Bell, 8% at McDonald's, and 8% at Dunkin', followed by Chipotle and The Cheesecake Factory, according to analysis from Gordon Haskett.

Customer experiences at different kinds of chains are increasingly the same. Digital sales made up nearly half of orders at Chipotle in the last quarter, and over 20% of sales at McDonald's. For the average person ordering through an app and picking up food from a counter inside, it doesn't matter whether a restaurant refers to itself as fast casual, fast food, or something else completely.

Do you have a story to share about a retail or restaurant chain? Email this reporter at mmeisenzahl@businessinsider.com.

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A more than $300-million wellness center with a water park, saunas, and communal baths could open in NYC after 2025 — see what it could look like

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

• Therme is opening an eponymous "wellness center" in New York City that'll start at $40 per person.
• The center will have saunas, a water park, meditation spaces, a botanical garden, communal baths, and more.
• Therme New York estimates it will cost about $300 million to $350 million to build.

Wellness and fitness tourism has been on the rise since before the anxiety-inducing, stress-snacking COVID-19 pandemic blistered the travel industry and our mental and physical health.

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

Source: BBC

 

But in a few years, New Yorkers won't have to travel out of the city for a blissful retreat from the hoards of people and screaming sirens.

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

New York City isn't known as a destination for peace and tranquil getaways …

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

… but Therme Group, an international wellbeing resort company, is looking to change this mentality by opening what Travel and Leisure has called a "wellness theme park" right in the city.

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

Source: Travel and Leisure  

"One simple way to describe the value of a Therme is it's the antidote to the meta universe that Mark Zuckerberg just announced," John Alschuler, the incoming Therme North America executive chairman, told Insider in an interview. "This is about an actual experience that can't be and shouldn't be digitized."

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

Opening a quiet refuge in one of the world's most bustling cities isn't an easy endeavor.

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

To do so, Therme has tapped Robert Hammond, the co-founder of another NYC haven, the High Line park, to join the team …

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

… with the hopes that Hammond can bring the High Line's design and emphasis of nature and community to Therme New York.

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

"All those things together, to me, is what makes the High Line and what will make Therme," Hammond told Insider in an interview.

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

In April 2022, Hammond will leave his post as the executive director at the High Line to serve as Therme North America's president and chief strategy officer.

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

The company — which can best be summarized by its "wellbeing for all" motto — currently has several locations around the world, specifically In Romania and Germany.

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

Its Bucharest, Romania location was the country's "most popular attraction from 2016 to 2018, welcoming over one million guests in the first year of operation," according to the company's website.

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

Source: Therme

 

Besides the upcoming New York outpost, Therme has already announced plans for centers in Canada and the UK.

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

The latter will open in 2023, while the New York location will likely open within the next four to five years.

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

Source: Therme

 

This stateside Therme is still being designed, but it could take after the other centers, which combine live plants and large glass walls to create a bright, relaxing, nature-centered space.

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

Therme's self-proclaimed "well-being center" in New York will be a combination of a family-friendly water park, meditation space, botanical garden, gym, spa, communal thermal bathhouse, and art gallery.

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

Together, all of these amenities will create a "wellbeing facility" that could be embraced by New Yorkers, Alschuler says.

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

"There's a very strong demand from whole segments of America for this kind of experience, just fragmented, " Alschuler said. "So when you put it together, the demand becomes exponentially stronger."

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

The tradition of communal bathing has existed for centuries, from ancient Roman baths to Japanese onsens.

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

Communal bathing centers currently aren't that popular across the US. But Americans love water parks, which is close enough: "I don't think it's a dramatic discontinuity with what Americans currently do," Alschuler noted.

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

Therme's goal is to "bring back the essence of these global bathing traditions," according to its website.

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

Source: Therme Group

"There's no experience in the Therme that Americans haven't already adopted," Alschuler said. "What's different is we've combined it all together with abundant nature and a focus on wellbeing."

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

Therme centers around the world all have similar amenities and services …

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

… which include several types of saunas, lounges, pools, restaurants, and a water park, all of which attract a wide age range.

The planned Therme in Manchester, United Kingdom.

Therme Group

Source: Therme

"There's a theme park component of this … and Americans love theme parks," Alschuler said. "Americans flock in large numbers to Miami and the southwest to be outdoors in water, and that's what we will have in New Yorkers' backyards."

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

The New York location specifically will reflect the "emotion, taste, and sensibility of the city," Alschuler said, noting that the High Line — a public park that melds nature with the city — is an example of this sentiment.

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

And unlike other spas that primarily target adults with deeper pocketbooks, Therme wants to make its New York center widely accessible.

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

Entry into Therme New York will start at about $40. This price then increases when specialized services like a massage are added on.

The Therme center in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

"This is not an elite experience," Alschuler said. "This is not for the Lululemon culture. It's an inclusive experience that people of different ages, incomes, cultural, and racial experiences can all come and enjoy."

The planned Therme in Manchester, United Kingdom.

Therme Group

Unsurprisingly, all of the facility's amenities will take up a decent chunk of square footage, something New York City doesn't have much of anymore.

The Therme in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

The team is still looking for an ideal location in the city, but "there is no five-acre site waiting to be developed in the middle of Manhattan," Hammond said.

The Therme in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

Hammond believes the facility will likely end up in an old repurposed industrial building, while Alschuler says he could see Therme in a Manhattan skyscraper or on an abandoned pier.

The Therme in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

The team is still figuring out the logistics and layout of the New York location, but one thing's for sure: the New York location will likely have to be more vertical than Therme's other centers.

The Therme in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

"We're going to be a New York institution, so we will adopt … New York's building typology, which is vertical," Alschuler said.

The Therme in Bucharest, Romania.

Therme Group

As of now, Alschuler estimates the project will cost about $300 million to $350 million to construct.

The planned Therme in Ontario, Canada.

Therme Group

“What’s special about the Therme is that it takes combinations that are very familiar [to Americans] and combines them in a way that’s magical and new,” he said.

The planned Therme in Ontario, Canada.

Therme Group

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