Mask-Wearing Debates Re-Energized As Delta Covid Surges
News outlets cover conflicting discussions, warnings, recommendations in different states as worries rise over the surge in delta variant covid. The Guardian, meanwhile, covers former President Donald Trump’s contempt for his administration’s covid task force.
The New York Times:
Delta Variant’s Spread Prompts Reconsideration Of Mask Guidance
Throughout the pandemic, masks have ranked among the most contentious public health measures in the United States, symbolizing a bitter partisan divide over the role of government and individual liberties. Now, with a new variant of the coronavirus rapidly spreading across the globe, masks are again the focus of conflicting views, and fears, about the course of pandemic and the restrictions required to manage it. (Rabin, Mandavilli and Hubler, 6/29)
Fox News:
Illinois Gov Encourages Residents To Carry Masks Amid Delta Variant Spread
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said he is encouraging all residents regardless of vaccination status to leave home with a mask citing concern over the rapid spread of the Delta variant. Pritzker, who was on hand to mark the opening of a business center, wore his mask indoors until it was his turn to speak at the podium. Pritzker said that he was wearing his mask out of an abundance of caution but that “we’re all making judgment calls.” (Hein, 6/29)
CNN:
What If The Government Got It Wrong On Masks Again?
There are more and more mixed messages on masks, even for those vaccinated against Covid-19.The World Health Organization is encouraging even the vaccinated to keep the masks on, particularly indoors, as the Delta variant of Covid-19 ricochets around the world. Compare that with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which a month ago told vaccinated Americans they could largely take the masks off, indoors and out. These are different organizations with different missions. The WHO is targeting an international audience, which includes many countries with low vaccination rates. The CDC is targeting the US, which has a relatively high vaccination rate, particularly in certain states. It framed the new guidance that the science shows masks aren’t necessary for the vaccinated as a nudge for people to get vaccinated. (Wolf, 6/29)
San Francisco Chronicle:
No Need For Now To Mask Up Indoors Again, California Says
California health officials are not ready to ask people to wear masks indoors again, despite the fast-spreading threat of the delta variant that now accounts for nearly a quarter of new coronavirus infections in the state. The delta variant has many across the world concerned, and on Monday, Los Angeles County health officials strongly recommended that all residents again wear a mask in indoor public spaces, regardless of vaccination status. However, they did not reimpose the indoor-mask mandate for vaccinated people that was dropped statewide on June 15. (Vaziri and Hwang, 6/29)
WJCT 89.9 FM Jacksonville:
UF Health Jax Official Does Not Recommend Masks For Vaccinated People In Florida
A UF Health Jacksonville official does not recommend fully vaccinated people in Florida wear masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Chad Nielsen, director of Accreditation and Infection Prevention for UF Health Jacksonville, said local residents should follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, which do not recommend vaccinated people mask up. That contradicts the World Health Organization’s Friday recommendation that people continue to wear masks even if they are vaccinated for COVID-19. (Wood, 6/30)
In related news about the covid task force —
The Guardian:
Trump Contempt For White House Covid Taskforce Revealed In New Book
Amid chaos at the White House as the coronavirus pandemic worsened, Donald Trump took to referring derisively to the Covid taskforce chaired by his vice-president as “that [expletive] council that Mike has.” The revelation about the president’s contempt for his key advisory body is one among many in a new book, Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration’s Response to the Pandemic That Changed History, which is published in the US on Tuesday. The Guardian obtained a copy. (Pengelly, 6/29)
No Masks + Few Vaccinations = More Than 80 Covid Cases At Illinois Camp
All summer campers and staff at the Crossing Camp were old enough to be eligible for vaccination, although the Illinois Department of Public Health said it knew of “only a handful of campers and staff” who got the covid shot.
CNN:
More Than 80 Teens And Staffers At An Illinois Summer Camp Got Covid-19
More than 80 teens and adult staffers from a Central Illinois summer camp tested positive for Covid-19 in an outbreak that has impacted people across three states, officials said. The Crossing Camp in Schuyler County held in mid-June did not check vaccination status for campers or staffers, and masks were not required indoors at the camp, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) said in a news release. The Crossing Camp has not responded to calls, email or Facebook messages left by CNN on Monday and Tuesday. (Holcombe and Broaddus, 6/30)
The Wall Street Journal:
Masks? Tests? Summer Camp Rules This Year Are Tricky
Families and camps are navigating an unusually complicated summer-camp season. Many camps shut down last year, or laid down strict rules as Covid raged. Now safety guidelines have relaxed, but quick changes in the weeks before camps start set off a scramble to figure out new protocols. Camps’ mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated campers makes setting consistent rules difficult. (Dizik, 6/29)
Maine, Washington and Oregon are ending restrictions —
AP:
Maine, One Of Most Vaccinated States, Ends Emergency Order
A coronavirus pandemic emergency order was slated to end on Wednesday for one of the most vaccinated states in the country. Maine has been under a “state of civil emergency” since the early days of the pandemic. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills has used the order to use state resources to try to slow the spread of the virus. (6/30)
AP:
Most COVID-19 Restrictions Set To Lift In Washington State
Most of the COVID-19 restrictions that have been in place and modified several times since last spring will be lifted in Washington state Wednesday, meaning restaurants and bars and other businesses can resume full indoor occupancy levels and physical distancing requirements will be lifted. Since May, all of the state’s 39 counties have been in the third phase of a four-stage reopening plan, with indoor capacity limited at 50%. Now, businesses across the state can resume normal operations. (La Corte, 6/29)
The Oregonian:
Oregon Emergency COVID-19 Restrictions Will Be Lifted No Later Than June 30, Brown Says
Gov. Kate Brown will lift Oregon’s mask mandate, capacity limits on businesses and social distancing requirements no later than June 30, the governor said Friday, scaling back earlier plans to reopen the state only when 70% of the population is vaccinated against the coronavirus. “It means, effectively, Oregon is 100% open for business,” Brown said. “This is a pivotal moment for Oregon.” (Zarkhin, 6/25)
In other news about the spread of the coronavirus —
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette:
Arkansas Covid Cases Rise By 479; UAMS Chancellor Warns State ‘Going In The Wrong Direction’
Amid an uptick in new coronavirus cases in Arkansas, Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Tuesday urged Arkansans who haven’t been vaccinated to take precautions over the Fourth of July weekend such as wearing a mask and practicing social distancing. “My caution to all Arkansans is yes, you’re going to travel. Yes, you’re going to the lake. Yes, you’re having your backyard cookouts and celebrations. I’ll be joining in that as well, but at the same time, if you are not vaccinated and you’re going to be participating in those activities, then please take the responsibility to care of yourself,” Hutchinson said. (Davis, 6/29)
Mississippi Clarion Ledger:
Delta Variant Driving Rise In COVID-19 Case Counts, Deaths In Mississippi
The Mississippi State Department of Health first recorded Delta variant cases May 27 in Claiborne, Smith and Hinds counties. As of Tuesday, Delta variant cases made up 78 of the over 800 variant cases and are mostly concentrated in the Jackson metro area, according to state health department records. State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs and State Epidemiologist Paul Byers agreed Tuesday that the Delta variant is likely now the dominant strain in Mississippi. “It feels very reminiscent of where we were in an early part of the pandemic,” Byers said. “It feels like we’re in the same situation now with the Delta variant.” (Haselhorst, 6/29)
The Mercury News:
Santa Cruz County Health Officials Alerted Of First ‘Delta’ COVID Variant Case
The “Delta” COVID-19 variant has touched down into Santa Cruz County. Deputy Health Officer Dr. David Ghilarducci told the Sentinel Monday that the county had received word of its first Delta variant case detected through genomic sequence testing done by the state. Previously, only the B.1.1.7 or “Alpha” variant, the P.1 or “Gamma” variant and California variants B1427 and B1429 have been detected. The Delta variant, which originated in India, is proving to be one of the most easily transferrable COVID-19 variants. “It was somebody who was tested on June 10,” Ghilarducci said. “We tried to get a sample to sequence locally at UC Santa Cruz but we weren’t able to. Fortunately, the state had run it.” (Hartman, 6/29)
Des Moines Register:
COVID-19 Infected Residents At 92% Of Iowa Nursing Homes, Review Shows
Since the coronavirus came to Iowa, COVID-19 struck nearly every nursing home in the state and thousands of elderly residents, a review of federal data shows. Fewer than 10% of nursing homes, 33 of Iowa’s 431 such facilities, have reported no confirmed cases of COVID-19 among their residents, and only three reported zero confirmed cases among either residents and staff. Where the disease did strike, it often devastated the fragile population. (Coltrain, 6/29)
Oklahoman:
These Are The Most Common COVID Delta Variant Symptoms, Experts Say
Those infected with the delta variant of COVID-19 may experience different symptoms from the ones we’ve come to expect from the coronavirus. Some of the most commonly reported symptoms with the more-contagious delta variant — which was first identified in India and is now spreading in the U.S. — include headache, sore throat, runny nose and fever, said Dr. Dale Bratzler, the University of Oklahoma’s chief COVID-19 officer. Anyone who notices those symptoms, “I strongly encourage you to be tested, because you could be infected with the delta variant,” Bratzler said at Tuesday’s Healthier Oklahoma Coalition news conference. (Branham, 6/30)
Also —
CNN:
She Lost Her Father To Covid-19 And Didn’t Get To Say Goodbye. Now Her Mother Is Unaccounted For In The Surfside Building Collapse
Magaly “Maggie” Ramsey said she didn’t get to hold her father or say her final goodbyes before he died from Covid-19 in August. Now, she fears she may have also lost the chance to say goodbye to her mother, who is one of the dozens missing in the wake of the deadly South Florida condominium collapse. “We’re all praying, primarily for the same things,” Ramsey told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday. “My faith is that, whether she’s here or she’s not, she’s in God’s grace and so that keeps me going.” (Maxouris, 6/29)
MIT, Harvard Develop Face Mask That Can Detect Covid
The innovation relies on tiny disposable sensors fitted inside masks, and potentially into clothing like lab coats. Meanwhile, a study links higher grade masks with lower covid infection risks, and doctors call for mass use of these “FFP3” high grade versions.
CIDRAP:
Face Mask Prototype Used To Diagnose COVID-19
Tiny, disposable sensors to diagnose SARS-CoV-2 infection can be fitted into face masks and integrated into clothing like lab coats, according to a study yesterday in Nature Biotechnology. Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University built off previous research that created paper-based diagnostics for viruses like Ebola and Zika based on freeze-dried cellular machinery. Upon activation with water, the first freeze-dried biological reaction cuts open the virus membrane to expose RNA, the second amplifies the spike-coding gene, and the third detects, cuts, and reports any spike gene fragments via technology based on clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR), according to a Harvard news release. (6/29)
Boston Herald:
Face Masks That Can Detect Coronavirus: Harvard, MIT Researchers Create Wearable Tech
The face mask that you wear in the future could alert you of a coronavirus diagnosis, thanks to researchers at Harvard University and MIT. Researchers have created wearable biosensors that can detect the presence of the virus in a person’s breath. These button-activated masks give COVID results within 90 minutes in a simple-to-read format similar to an at-home pregnancy test. The mask can diagnose COVID at accuracy levels comparable to standard diagnostic tests, according to the researchers from the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and MIT. (Sobey, 6/29)
And more in the medical field are pushing for FFP3 masks —
BBC News:
Covid: Masks Upgrade Cuts Infection Risk, Research Finds
The quality of face masks healthcare workers wear makes a huge difference to their risk of coronavirus infection, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust research has found. Wearing a high grade mask known as an FFP3 can provide up to 100% protection. By contrast, there is a far greater chance of staff wearing standard issue surgical masks catching the virus. (Shukman, 6/29)
The National News.com:
Doctors Urge Mass Production Of ‘FFP3’ Face Mask That Cuts Covid-19 Delta Variant Risk
Doctors in the UAE have called for mass production of a three-layer face mask that gives more protection against the highly infectious Delta variant of Covid-19. It is known as the FFP3 (filtering facepiece) and provides four times the protection of the commonly used two-layer N95 mask, medics say. (Nasir, 6/29)
The Scotsman:
FFP3 Mask: What Are FFP3 Masks? Are They The Best Face Masks To Wear For Covid?
Filtering Face Piece 3 (FFP3) masks are respirator masks which commonly feature a filter or valve to help wearers breathe through the slightly thicker, tighter fabric and protect them from exposure to airborne particles. (McMahon, 6/30)
In other covid research news —
WJCT 89.9 FM Jacksonville:
COVID Researchers At UNF Receive Grant From Gates Foundation
University of North Florida COVID-19 researchers have been awarded a $39,160 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant is part of the Foundation’s push to help researchers use the COVID-19 Research Database, a de-identified medical database with 85 billion records from 250 million people. UNF’s team is one of 15 groups to receive a grant. (Wood, 6/29)
The Guardian:
‘I Felt Betrayed’: How Covid Research Could Help Patients Living With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
In the fall of 2016, Ashanti Daniel, a nurse in Beverly Hills, California, went to an infectious disease physician looking for answers about a weird illness she couldn’t shake. After falling sick with a virus four months earlier, she still felt too tired to stand up in the shower. The appointment lasted five minutes, she said. The doctor didn’t do a physical exam or check her vitals. His assessment: her illness was psychogenic, resulting from something psychological. (Frangou, 6/30)
