Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Face Masks Continue To Agitate Some
USA Today: Walmart Mask Incident In Minnesota: Pair With Swastikas Banned A Year
A Minnesota man and woman who wore face masks with swastikas on them in an incident captured on video have been banned from Walmart stores nationwide for at least a year. The video, posted to Facebook on Saturday by Raphaela Mueller, shows a man and woman in a Walmart in Marshall, Minnesota, wearing red face coverings with swastikas. The woman flips off the camera while the man checks out groceries. (Culver, 7/26)
The Wall Street Journal: Major Truck-Stop Chains Will Require Drivers To Use Face Masks
The biggest U.S. truck-stop operators will require customers to wear masks starting next week, joining major retailers, restaurants and airlines in rolling out policies aimed at reducing the spread of coronavirus. Pilot Co., which operates 780 travel centers under the Pilot Flying J and other brands, said its mandate will take effect July 28. Similar policies kick in July 29 at Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores Inc. and TravelCenters of America Inc. sites. (Smith, 7/24)
Kaiser Health News: Employers Require COVID Liability Waivers As Conflict Mounts Over Workplace Safety
After spending a May day preparing her classroom to reopen for preschoolers, Ana Aguilar was informed that the tots would not have to wear face masks when they came back. What’s more, she had to sign a form agreeing not to sue the school if she caught COVID-19 or suffered any injury from it while working there. Other teachers signed the form distributed by the Montessori Schools of Irvine, but Aguilar said she felt uncomfortable, although it stipulated that staff members would be masked. At 23, she has a compromised immune system and was also worried that she could pass the coronavirus on to her fiancé and other family members. (Meyer, 7/27)
Los Angeles Times: COVID-19 Rages In County That Dismissed Farmworker Risk
As coronavirus cases began to grow in San Joaquin County in June, Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs proposed requiring citizens to wear a mask in his city in the center of the fertile valley, where agriculture is king and poverty pervasive. The response he received from the county emergency services director, a key figure in coordinating the pandemic response, was disquieting, he said. “Stay in your lane,” wrote Shellie Lima in a June 9 email to Tubbs obtained by The Times, days before the county allowed card rooms, hotels and day camps to open. “I am against the proposed mask ordinance for Stockton ... Why would our elected officials feel that they have the medical understanding to do so?” (Chabria, 7/25)
The New York Times: FEMA Sends Faulty Protective Gear To Nursing Homes Battling Virus
Expired surgical masks. Isolation gowns that resemble oversize trash bags. Extra-small gloves that are all but useless for the typical health worker’s hands. Nursing home employees across the country have been dismayed by what they’ve found when they’ve opened boxes of protective medical gear sent by the federal government, part of a $134 million effort to provide facilities a 14-day supply of equipment considered critical for shielding their vulnerable residents from the coronavirus. (Jacobs, 7/24)
In more mask news from the Trump administration and local governments —
The Hill: Azar: If We Wear Masks, We Can Avoid Further Shutdowns
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Sunday that widespread social distancing and mask usage would eliminate the need for resuming shutdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic. “If we wear our masks we can avoid further shutdowns but if we don’t that will be the consequence,” Azar said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” (Budryk, 7/26)
CNN: US Coronavirus: Some Local Leaders Say They Won't Enforce Mask Mandates As Country Tops 4 Million Cases
The US has a fourth of global coronavirus cases and as officials work to slow its rampant spread, face coverings remain a point of contention with some local authorities declining to enforce mandates. Police in Miami, Florida — what experts call the country's coronavirus epicenter — issued more than 300 citations in 10 days to individuals and businesses that aren't abiding by the local mask order. (Maxouris, 7/27)
Atlanta Journal Constitution: Georgia Police Departments Report Zero Citations For Face Mask Violations
The legal requirement to wear face coverings is a key part of Kemp’s lawsuit against Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms that contends the mask mandate and other coronavirus restrictions are unenforceable and too restrictive, and the case could determine whether other cities are allowed to keep the requirements on their books. But the AJC analysis shows that the requirements to wear a mask, which top public health experts agree is a leading way to stem the disease outbreak, is largely symbolic. The AJC contacted 15 police departments and law enforcement agencies in the cities, suburbs and small towns that enacted the restrictions. Not a single citation was reported. (Stevens and Bluestein, 7/27)
