face masks
Southeast Ohio town grapples with unusual conflict over masks, COVID-19
Cheryl Gordon keeps a “Stand with Smitty” sign hanging in her front window. It supports Logan-Hocking School resource officer Chris “Smitty” Smith, who made national news last month after he told a woman attending a football game that she had put on a mask because of the pandemic rules — or leave. When the woman […]
Trump and Biden quarrel over mask mandates and state shutdowns in first presidential debate
The two men vying to become the next president offered a stark contrast to voters on face mask requirements and on how soon state economies should reopen amid the pandemic, just two of many areas where they squabbled during Tuesday’s contentious and often chaotic first debate. The exchange between President Donald Trump and former Vice […]
Join me in singing the ‘Boring (and Infuriating) Pandemic Blues’
I’m bored. Nearly seven months into my one and only pandemic, I’m totally over it. This vile, deadly germ. It’s thrown a blanket over life in this country and world, and killed nearly 200,000 in the U.S. Wholly politicized in this country (no surprise there), it doesn’t appear to be going anyplace soon. Maybe not […]
Ohio economists say mask mandate is well worth doing
Ohio economists say mask mandate is well worth doing
Mask resistance during a pandemic isn’t new – in 1918 many Americans were ‘slackers’
We have all seen the alarming headlines: Coronavirus cases are surging in 40 states, with new cases and hospitalization rates climbing at an alarming rate. Health officials have warned that the U.S. must act quickly to halt the spread – or we risk losing control over the pandemic. There’s a clear consensus that Americans should […]
DeWine should help save lives and the economy by mandating face masks in public
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine knows what needs to be done. It’s as obvious as the mask-covered nose on his face. COVID-19 cases are spiking in Ohio, and spreading out of control in the South and West. The governor of Kansas this week ordered residents to wear face masks in public. Kansas is the 19th state […]
Coronavirus highlights how humans are hardwired to dismiss facts that don’t fit their worldview
Bemoaning uneven individual and state compliance with public health recommendations, top U.S. COVID-19 adviser Anthony Fauci recently blamed the country’s ineffective pandemic response on an American “anti-science bias.” He called this bias “inconceivable,” because “science is truth.” Fauci compared those discounting the importance of masks and social distancing to “anti-vaxxers” in their “amazing” refusal to […]
This simple model shows the importance of wearing masks and social distancing
With the advent of an infectious disease outbreak, epidemiologists and public health officials quickly try to forecast deaths and infections using complex computer models. But with a brand new virus like the one that causes COVID-19, these estimates are complicated by a dearth of credible information on symptoms, contagion and those who are most at […]
Some simple personal habits for practical safety in a world of COVID-19
Ohio is reopening more or less fully over the coming weeks, but the coronavirus pandemic is far from gone, leaving Ohioans to navigate their own personal safety in a state reopened with a far higher incidence of COVID-19 than it had when it shut down in March. What can we all do personally to remain as safe […]
Masks help stop the spread of coronavirus – the science is simple
I’m a data scientist at the University of San Francisco and teach courses online in machine learning for fast.ai. In late March, I decided to use public mask-wearing as a case study to show my students how to combine and analyze diverse types of data and evidence. Much to my surprise, I discovered that the […]
Why wear face masks in public? Here’s what the research shows
With the coronavirus pandemic quickly spreading, U.S. health officials have changed their advice on face masks and now recommend people wear cloth masks in public areas where social distancing can be difficult, such as grocery stores. But can these masks be effective? President Donald Trump, in announcing the change in the Centers for Disease Control […]