vox--2020-08-05--America is struggling to enforce its new mask mandates

Though 33 states now have face mask mandates , Gov .
Pete Ricketts says his state of Nebraska will not be joining them .
On Monday , Ricketts doubled down on his conviction that a statewide mask mandate would be too “ heavy-handed.
” “ I don ’ t want to make it a crime , ” he said at a press conference .
Ricketts ’ s resistance comes as his office is challenging mask ordinances in Lincoln and Lancaster County that have already gone into effect .
Teachers ’ unions , meanwhile , have called his failure to pass @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of duty.
” “ I would die for my students .
Please don ’ t make me , ” read a teacher ’ s sign at a recent protest across from Ricketts ’ s office .
Though the science on the effectiveness of masks for reducing the spread of the coronavirus is more established now than it was early in the pandemic , mandatory masking is still a new and contentious idea .
Public health experts and unions are calling for a national mandate to protect the most vulnerable , but President Donald @ @ @ @ @ @ @ telling CNN , “ No , I want people to have a certain freedom , and I don ’ t believe in that , no.
” Popular support for mask-wearing is growing : A Hill-HarrisX poll conducted from July 26-27 found that 82 percent of Americans would support a national mask mandate .
Yet mask-wearing has also been correlated with partisan identity , and many Americans still refuse to wear them in indoor public settings such as grocery stores , even in states and cities where mandates are in place .
Some are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to get out of wearing a mask where it is now required .
As consensus grows on the urgency of widespread mask use to slow a raging national health crisis , policymakers are finding that mandates may be helpful but not entirely sufficient .
Perhaps unsurprisingly , enforcement — whether by local officials , police , or employees of airlines or retailers — is proving challenging .
Meanwhile , lessons from other health campaigns , including seatbelts , condoms , and texting while driving , suggest that public education is just as important @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their behavior .
The science behind masks and mask mandates keeps getting stronger People can spread SARS-CoV-2 before they know they are sick , and masks help contain the large respiratory droplets that transmit the virus .
This primarily helps prevent an infected person — even if they don ’ t have symptoms — from spreading the virus to others .
Increasing evidence shows that masks may help protect wearers from breathing in aerosols , too .
In July , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) affirmed its guidance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ critical tool in the fight against COVID-19 that could reduce the spread of the disease.
” The agency advises that anyone over the age of 2 should wear a face covering that goes over their nose and mouth in public , as well as around people who do not live in their household .
A study published in June in the journal Health Affairs , which looked at 15 states and the District of Columbia before and after their mask mandates , found that masks reduced new Covid-19 cases , particularly over time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ masks were required , new cases slowed by almost 1 percentage point ; at three weeks , it was 2 percentage points .
That may not sound like much , but it adds up .
Another study looking at coronavirus deaths in 198 countries found that countries “ with cultural norms or government policies supporting public mask-wearing ” had far fewer deaths .
Goldman Sachs has modeled the impact of a national mask mandate , and its analysis suggested that such an order could not only reduce the number of coronavirus cases but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ GDP when used in place of lockdowns .
Many other countries — including the UK , where mask use was initially controversial — have issued national mask mandates .
Germany , for example , has required masks since April .
States are trying to make mask mandates stick with fines and jail time Many cities and states have decided to issue mask mandates , giving them the legal authority to prosecute people who don ’ t comply .
New Jersey was the first state to mandate mask-wearing indoors .
It did so back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , along with New York , was grappling with a massive wave of cases .
The order required customers and staff to wear face coverings at essential businesses and on public transit , and said businesses could deny entry to customers who refused to wear them .
In July , the order was extended to wearing masks outside when social distancing isn ’ t possible , although the governor has not said how it will be enforced .
The focus was initially on education , with volunteers in Newark passing out fliers , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s police department announced it would begin handing summonses to anyone who did not comply .
In Colorado , both Denver and Boulder County adopted mask policies in May , which was notable both for the early timing and for the steep penalties right off the bat for breaking them .
In Boulder County , if you refuse to wear a mask in indoor and outdoor public spaces when you can ’ t stay 6 feet from others , you face up to a $ 5,000 fine and one year in jail @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up to $ 999 or 300 days in jail .
( Other countries , like Germany , are levying even heavier fines : Failing to comply with mask use there can lead to a fine of 10,000 euros , which is around $ 11,755 USD . )
Two months after those county-level mandates , Colorado ’ s governor issued a statewide mask order , which specified that counties and cities in the state are allowed to enforce even stricter rules .
Denver , for example , requires children over the age of 3 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only children over 11 to do so .
As Colorado ’ s cases increased through late July , Danica Lee , director of public health investigations at the Denver Department of Public Health & Environment , says that getting people to wear masks became a little easier , with people recognizing the higher risk of becoming infected .
Lee has been one of the top health officials in charge of Denver ’ s Covid-19 response , including finding the balance between educating the public on the importance of wearing masks and punishing those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ far , we ’ ve been saving enforcement for truly egregious situations , ” she says .
But the department is switching up its tactics : It now has its own enforcement teams , which are currently focusing on night and weekend compliance .
“ At first , we focused on trying to encourage people to not be out socializing in public .
Over the past few weeks , we ’ ve had an increased focus on compliance with businesses , as well as individuals , ” Lee says .
As of July @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mask-related warnings .
In the last week of July , the department went from a total of seven mask citations to 27 , the majority of which were issued at bars and restaurants , and predominantly to management rather than to patrons .
These people have been given a court summons , and a judge will determine the fine amount or duration of jail time .
The first weekend of August , teams in Denver issued 20 tickets for violations of public health orders , including not wearing face coverings or exceeding crowd @ @ @ @ @ @ @ businesses that were previously warned or had particularly egregious violations .
Lee recognizes that it can be hard for businesses to enforce Denver ’ s guidelines .
The department has been advising business owners to clearly post signs about wearing masks and ensure that their own employees do .
“ Basically , we ’ re advising taking all the measures you can , short of intervening with individuals , because there were quite a few safety concerns over interactions becoming politicized , ” Lee says .
“ Any time there is a conflict @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could pose safety hazards , our guidance would be to contact law enforcement.
” Laws can also be difficult to enforce universally and equitably , says Julia Marcus , an infectious disease epidemiologist and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School .
In one example , during a weekend in May , the New York Police Department handed out masks to white people in affluent neighborhoods while officers punched a Black man and issued tickets to other people of color for not wearing masks .
At the beginning of mask orders , some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for people of color to cover their faces , like in a viral video of two Black men in surgical masks being tailed around a store by a policeman .
Now we are seeing that the opposite problem — being unfairly singled out for not wearing a mask — may also be an issue .
In the absence of state mandates , corporate mask rules fall on employees to enforce Many retailers , worried about their high-risk indoor environments , haven ’ t waited for government orders to require clients to wear masks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Target , Walmart , McDonald ’ s , Kroger grocery stores , and Costco , have announced nationwide mask policies , even in places without a statewide order , like Arizona and Florida .
Home Depot , which rolled out a country-wide mask order on July 17 , says it has put up signs warning customers and plays announcements over the PA systems .
“ We also have social distancing captains who will remind customers that they must wear a mask , ” a company spokesperson wrote in an email .
Home Depot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ without one .
But these mandates also come with limitations .
“ It ’ s too dangerous to forcibly or physically deny entry , ” the Home Depot spokesperson wrote .
These aren ’ t idle fears : In San Antonio , a passenger was shot after a man was told he couldn ’ t ride a public bus without a mask .
A Dollar Store employee in Michigan was killed after telling a customer to wear a mask .
And employees at a Trader Joe ’ s in Manhattan were taken to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who refused to wear masks .
A spokesperson for a major retailer , who asked not to be named because he didn ’ t have permission from his employer to speak with the media , said businesses just haven ’ t gotten the support they need from government and law enforcement to enforce mask policies .
“ There are [ customers ] who are just being stubborn now , and we ’ re trying to keep our employees safe , ” he told Vox .
He says when the company has called law @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gotten the cold shoulder .
“ They ’ re like , ‘ Don ’ t call us for a mask policy , it ’ s a waste of our time .
We ’ re not coming.
’ Which is fine , I get it .
But if city officials are telling us we have to do it , and there ’ s no enforcement mechanism … the last thing we want to do is to have our employees physically engage anyone — over any activity.
” Airlines , on the other hand , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mask requirements .
A Delta flight was recently forced to return to its gate after two passengers refused to comply with its mask policy .
The airline warned that violations of its mask requirement might result in the loss of future travel privileges .
Alaska Airlines requires during check-in that people agree to wear a mask , and it provides masks on request for people who don ’ t have one .
If passengers refuse to wear one , flight attendants have been given the authority to give passengers a “ yellow card @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and then ban repeat offenders from future travel .
American Airlines recently removed from the plane a woman who refused to wear a mask — and the other passengers clapped .
Other sectors of the travel industry are taking note : The American Hotel & Lodging Association , whose members include Hilton , Hyatt , Marriott , Radisson , and Wyndham , recently started requiring staff and guests to wear face masks regardless of state policy .
The specific rules will vary by company , and how this will be enforced hasn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , president and CEO of the association , said in an emailed statement that many companies have already been instituting mask rules , which helps staff and guests “ to make it safer and easier for Americans to travel , while also supporting hotel and tourism employees.
” And as schools reopen , they may become ground zero for mask enforcement fights .
In Indiana , for example , Gov .
Eric Holcomb recently made a state-wide mandatory mask order for everyone , including all students in third grade and above .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ throughout the day , ” Holcomb said in a press conference .
“ When they leave school grounds , they need to see that everyone is doing what they ’ re doing — that best practices are best for all.
” To help make this mandate stick , Indiana has purchased 3.1 million masks to distribute to students .
Holcomb reportedly wanted to have breaking the mandate punishable as a class B misdemeanor , but after significant pressure , the order says that schools will be responsible for developing and implementing an enforcement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mandates may soon see differing mask rules in schools , depending on their location .
That makes it harder for public health officials like Lee in Colorado , who says that in her experience , “ it ’ s really important to have consistent messages between health agencies ” at the local and state levels .
Shifting norms around masks to reduce the anger and the shame Many public health experts say that consistent public health education and effective messaging is the most important tool in getting people to change their behavior .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ banned from a business or issuing fines or jail time are not actually the best ways to get more people to wear masks in public .
“ As much as we can shift social norms around wearing masks so that there will be fewer angry people who refuse to wear them — that would be best , ” Marcus says .
According to Marcus , the AIDS epidemic is an excellent example of the perils of criminalization .
There are laws in 26 states around the country that make it illegal to not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ having sex , but they have only increased stigma and abuse .
“ The way I see it , it ’ s all on a spectrum — shaming and fines and arrests , it ’ s all the same punitive model , ” she says .
“ Ideally , we would have a model that promotes collective action through rewards and positive reinforcement , ” Marcus says .
The Surgeon General recently modeled an example of what that would look like , telling the president at an event : “ You look badass @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the mixed mask messaging from government leaders — and even evolving recommendations from health agencies — hasn ’ t helped unify people around this effective public health action .
It can understandably be hard for residents to embrace this sort of new behavior when even their local officials can ’ t agree on it .
For example , in Georgia , where Atlanta ’ s mayor , Keisha Lance Bottom — who herself has tested positive for Covid-19 — tried to create a mask mandate .
The governor sued to try to block @ @ @ @ @ @ @ behalf of the Atlanta business owners and their hardworking employees who are struggling to survive ” ) .
“ The main problem with masks now is the lack of a coherent message from the leaders , ” says Alex Horenstein , an assistant professor of economics at Miami Herbert Business School at the University of Miami , who studies behavioral economics .
He says that this leads to inaccurately assessing the risk of not wearing a mask “ since the signal is too noisy , ” adding that if more people do not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ making those who do less safe too — and possibly leading people to the false conclusion that masks don ’ t work .
Marcus has found that in conversations with people who are ideologically opposed to masks that they are surprisingly willing “ to listen to a scientist when that scientist doesn ’ t shame them or yell at them for their risky behavior.
” Instead , she tries to acknowledge their concerns — like that masks aren ’ t effective or that masks infringe on their liberties .
From there , they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , talking about how masks are more important in certain settings or about other people ’ s freedom when distancing isn ’ t an option .
“ This is what public health does , ” Marcus says .
“ We try to understand what ’ s making it hard and then adopt strategies to increase adherence.
” It ’ s also entirely normal for there to be resistance to a public health intervention , says Horenstein .
“ People want to have a choice over how much risk they want to face , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ make a regulation that constrains people ’ s choices too much , what happens is they change their behavior so they can still approach their optimal risk.
” Like Marcus , Horenstein says the best answer is public education , tailored to specific audiences ’ risks and values .
Yet , he adds , risks , at the end of the day , are collective .
“ So the question we ’ re facing with masks is : What risk should we let people take when their decisions affect others ?
” Lois @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Follow her Covid-19 reporting on Twitter @ loisparshley .
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Though 33 states now have face mask mandates, Gov. Pete Ricketts says his state of Nebraska will not be joining them. On Monday, Ricketts doubled down on his conviction that a statewide mask mandate would be too “heavy-handed.”
“I don’t want to make it a crime,” he said at a press conference.
Ricketts’s resistance comes as his office is challenging mask ordinances in Lincoln and Lancaster County that have already gone into effect. Teachers’ unions, meanwhile, have called his failure to pass a statewide mask order a “dereliction of duty.”
“I would die for my students. Please don’t make me,” read a teacher’s sign at a recent protest across from Ricketts’s office.
Teachers from across the metro are standing along Dodge Street this afternoon to tell Gov. Pete Ricketts that Nebraska needs a mask mandate.
“What do we want?”
“A mask mandate.”
“When do we want it?”
“Now.” pic.twitter.com/QI3kBslc6a — Emily Nitcher (@emily_nitcher) July 24, 2020
Though the science on the effectiveness of masks for reducing the spread of the coronavirus is more established now than it was early in the pandemic, mandatory masking is still a new and contentious idea. Public health experts and unions are calling for a national mandate to protect the most vulnerable, but President Donald Trump has said he opposes it, telling CNN, “No, I want people to have a certain freedom, and I don’t believe in that, no.”
Popular support for mask-wearing is growing: A Hill-HarrisX poll conducted from July 26-27 found that 82 percent of Americans would support a national mask mandate. Yet mask-wearing has also been correlated with partisan identity, and many Americans still refuse to wear them in indoor public settings such as grocery stores, even in states and cities where mandates are in place. Some are even using fake exemption cards to try to get out of wearing a mask where it is now required.
As consensus grows on the urgency of widespread mask use to slow a raging national health crisis, policymakers are finding that mandates may be helpful but not entirely sufficient. Perhaps unsurprisingly, enforcement — whether by local officials, police, or employees of airlines or retailers — is proving challenging. Meanwhile, lessons from other health campaigns, including seatbelts, condoms, and texting while driving, suggest that public education is just as important if you actually want people to change their behavior.
The science behind masks and mask mandates keeps getting stronger
People can spread SARS-CoV-2 before they know they are sick, and masks help contain the large respiratory droplets that transmit the virus. This primarily helps prevent an infected person — even if they don’t have symptoms — from spreading the virus to others. Increasing evidence shows that masks may help protect wearers from breathing in aerosols, too.
In July, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) affirmed its guidance that “cloth face coverings are a critical tool in the fight against COVID-19 that could reduce the spread of the disease.” The agency advises that anyone over the age of 2 should wear a face covering that goes over their nose and mouth in public, as well as around people who do not live in their household.
A study published in June in the journal Health Affairs, which looked at 15 states and the District of Columbia before and after their mask mandates, found that masks reduced new Covid-19 cases, particularly over time. In the first five days after masks were required, new cases slowed by almost 1 percentage point; at three weeks, it was 2 percentage points. That may not sound like much, but it adds up. Another study looking at coronavirus deaths in 198 countries found that countries “with cultural norms or government policies supporting public mask-wearing” had far fewer deaths.
Goldman Sachs has modeled the impact of a national mask mandate, and its analysis suggested that such an order could not only reduce the number of coronavirus cases but also prevent a 5 percent loss in GDP when used in place of lockdowns. Many other countries — including the UK, where mask use was initially controversial — have issued national mask mandates. Germany, for example, has required masks since April.
States are trying to make mask mandates stick with fines and jail time
Many cities and states have decided to issue mask mandates, giving them the legal authority to prosecute people who don’t comply.
New Jersey was the first state to mandate mask-wearing indoors. It did so back on April 8, when the state, along with New York, was grappling with a massive wave of cases. The order required customers and staff to wear face coverings at essential businesses and on public transit, and said businesses could deny entry to customers who refused to wear them.
In July, the order was extended to wearing masks outside when social distancing isn’t possible, although the governor has not said how it will be enforced. The focus was initially on education, with volunteers in Newark passing out fliers, but later that month, the city’s police department announced it would begin handing summonses to anyone who did not comply.
In Colorado, both Denver and Boulder County adopted mask policies in May, which was notable both for the early timing and for the steep penalties right off the bat for breaking them. In Boulder County, if you refuse to wear a mask in indoor and outdoor public spaces when you can’t stay 6 feet from others, you face up to a $5,000 fine and one year in jail; in Denver, it’s up to $999 or 300 days in jail. (Other countries, like Germany, are levying even heavier fines: Failing to comply with mask use there can lead to a fine of 10,000 euros, which is around $11,755 USD.) Two months after those county-level mandates, Colorado’s governor issued a statewide mask order, which specified that counties and cities in the state are allowed to enforce even stricter rules. Denver, for example, requires children over the age of 3 to wear masks; the state requires only children over 11 to do so.
As Colorado’s cases increased through late July, Danica Lee, director of public health investigations at the Denver Department of Public Health & Environment, says that getting people to wear masks became a little easier, with people recognizing the higher risk of becoming infected. Lee has been one of the top health officials in charge of Denver’s Covid-19 response, including finding the balance between educating the public on the importance of wearing masks and punishing those who refuse to comply.
“So far, we’ve been saving enforcement for truly egregious situations,” she says. But the department is switching up its tactics: It now has its own enforcement teams, which are currently focusing on night and weekend compliance. “At first, we focused on trying to encourage people to not be out socializing in public. Over the past few weeks, we’ve had an increased focus on compliance with businesses, as well as individuals,” Lee says. As of July 30, the department had issued 809 mask-related warnings.
In the last week of July, the department went from a total of seven mask citations to 27, the majority of which were issued at bars and restaurants, and predominantly to management rather than to patrons. These people have been given a court summons, and a judge will determine the fine amount or duration of jail time. The first weekend of August, teams in Denver issued 20 tickets for violations of public health orders, including not wearing face coverings or exceeding crowd capacities. Inspection teams also closed five businesses that were previously warned or had particularly egregious violations.
Lee recognizes that it can be hard for businesses to enforce Denver’s guidelines. The department has been advising business owners to clearly post signs about wearing masks and ensure that their own employees do. “Basically, we’re advising taking all the measures you can, short of intervening with individuals, because there were quite a few safety concerns over interactions becoming politicized,” Lee says. “Any time there is a conflict with a patron that looks like it could pose safety hazards, our guidance would be to contact law enforcement.”
Laws can also be difficult to enforce universally and equitably, says Julia Marcus, an infectious disease epidemiologist and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.
In one example, during a weekend in May, the New York Police Department handed out masks to white people in affluent neighborhoods while officers punched a Black man and issued tickets to other people of color for not wearing masks. At the beginning of mask orders, some worried that racism would make it unsafe for people of color to cover their faces, like in a viral video of two Black men in surgical masks being tailed around a store by a policeman. Now we are seeing that the opposite problem — being unfairly singled out for not wearing a mask — may also be an issue.
In the absence of state mandates, corporate mask rules fall on employees to enforce
Many retailers, worried about their high-risk indoor environments, haven’t waited for government orders to require clients to wear masks. Major chains, including CVS, Target, Walmart, McDonald’s, Kroger grocery stores, and Costco, have announced nationwide mask policies, even in places without a statewide order, like Arizona and Florida.
Home Depot, which rolled out a country-wide mask order on July 17, says it has put up signs warning customers and plays announcements over the PA systems. “We also have social distancing captains who will remind customers that they must wear a mask,” a company spokesperson wrote in an email. Home Depot will offer masks to those who arrive without one.
But these mandates also come with limitations. “It’s too dangerous to forcibly or physically deny entry,” the Home Depot spokesperson wrote.
These aren’t idle fears: In San Antonio, a passenger was shot after a man was told he couldn’t ride a public bus without a mask. A Dollar Store employee in Michigan was killed after telling a customer to wear a mask. And employees at a Trader Joe’s in Manhattan were taken to the hospital after a fight with customers who refused to wear masks.
A spokesperson for a major retailer, who asked not to be named because he didn’t have permission from his employer to speak with the media, said businesses just haven’t gotten the support they need from government and law enforcement to enforce mask policies. “There are [customers] who are just being stubborn now, and we’re trying to keep our employees safe,” he told Vox. He says when the company has called law enforcement for help, some stores have gotten the cold shoulder. “They’re like, ‘Don’t call us for a mask policy, it’s a waste of our time. We’re not coming.’ Which is fine, I get it. But if city officials are telling us we have to do it, and there’s no enforcement mechanism … the last thing we want to do is to have our employees physically engage anyone — over any activity.”
Airlines, on the other hand, have had some success in enforcing their mask requirements. A Delta flight was recently forced to return to its gate after two passengers refused to comply with its mask policy. The airline warned that violations of its mask requirement might result in the loss of future travel privileges.
Alaska Airlines requires during check-in that people agree to wear a mask, and it provides masks on request for people who don’t have one. If passengers refuse to wear one, flight attendants have been given the authority to give passengers a “yellow card” warning, like in soccer, and then ban repeat offenders from future travel. American Airlines recently removed from the plane a woman who refused to wear a mask — and the other passengers clapped.
Other sectors of the travel industry are taking note: The American Hotel & Lodging Association, whose members include Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Radisson, and Wyndham, recently started requiring staff and guests to wear face masks regardless of state policy. The specific rules will vary by company, and how this will be enforced hasn’t been made clear. Chip Rogers, president and CEO of the association, said in an emailed statement that many companies have already been instituting mask rules, which helps staff and guests “to make it safer and easier for Americans to travel, while also supporting hotel and tourism employees.”
And as schools reopen, they may become ground zero for mask enforcement fights. In Indiana, for example, Gov. Eric Holcomb recently made a state-wide mandatory mask order for everyone, including all students in third grade and above. “Kids should not be getting mixed messages throughout the day,” Holcomb said in a press conference. “When they leave school grounds, they need to see that everyone is doing what they’re doing — that best practices are best for all.”
To help make this mandate stick, Indiana has purchased 3.1 million masks to distribute to students. Holcomb reportedly wanted to have breaking the mandate punishable as a class B misdemeanor, but after significant pressure, the order says that schools will be responsible for developing and implementing an enforcement plan. States like Nebraska lacking statewide mandates may soon see differing mask rules in schools, depending on their location. That makes it harder for public health officials like Lee in Colorado, who says that in her experience, “it’s really important to have consistent messages between health agencies” at the local and state levels.
Shifting norms around masks to reduce the anger and the shame
Many public health experts say that consistent public health education and effective messaging is the most important tool in getting people to change their behavior. Which means that threatening people with being banned from a business or issuing fines or jail time are not actually the best ways to get more people to wear masks in public.
“As much as we can shift social norms around wearing masks so that there will be fewer angry people who refuse to wear them — that would be best,” Marcus says.
According to Marcus, the AIDS epidemic is an excellent example of the perils of criminalization. There are laws in 26 states around the country that make it illegal to not disclose if you are HIV positive before having sex, but they have only increased stigma and abuse. “The way I see it, it’s all on a spectrum — shaming and fines and arrests, it’s all the same punitive model,” she says.
“Ideally, we would have a model that promotes collective action through rewards and positive reinforcement,” Marcus says. The Surgeon General recently modeled an example of what that would look like, telling the president at an event: “You look badass in a facemask.”
Thus far, the mixed mask messaging from government leaders — and even evolving recommendations from health agencies — hasn’t helped unify people around this effective public health action. It can understandably be hard for residents to embrace this sort of new behavior when even their local officials can’t agree on it.
For example, in Georgia, where Atlanta’s mayor, Keisha Lance Bottom — who herself has tested positive for Covid-19 — tried to create a mask mandate. The governor sued to try to block the mandate in court (“on behalf of the Atlanta business owners and their hardworking employees who are struggling to survive”).
“The main problem with masks now is the lack of a coherent message from the leaders,” says Alex Horenstein, an assistant professor of economics at Miami Herbert Business School at the University of Miami, who studies behavioral economics. He says that this leads to inaccurately assessing the risk of not wearing a mask “since the signal is too noisy,” adding that if more people do not wear masks, the risk aggregates, making those who do less safe too — and possibly leading people to the false conclusion that masks don’t work.
Marcus has found that in conversations with people who are ideologically opposed to masks that they are surprisingly willing “to listen to a scientist when that scientist doesn’t shame them or yell at them for their risky behavior.”
Instead, she tries to acknowledge their concerns — like that masks aren’t effective or that masks infringe on their liberties. From there, they can have a conversation about these issues, talking about how masks are more important in certain settings or about other people’s freedom when distancing isn’t an option. “This is what public health does,” Marcus says. “We try to understand what’s making it hard and then adopt strategies to increase adherence.”
It’s also entirely normal for there to be resistance to a public health intervention, says Horenstein. “People want to have a choice over how much risk they want to face,” he says. “If you make a regulation that constrains people’s choices too much, what happens is they change their behavior so they can still approach their optimal risk.”
Like Marcus, Horenstein says the best answer is public education, tailored to specific audiences’ risks and values. Yet, he adds, risks, at the end of the day, are collective. “So the question we’re facing with masks is: What risk should we let people take when their decisions affect others?”
Lois Parshley is a freelance investigative journalist. Follow her Covid-19 reporting on Twitter @loisparshley.


vox--2020-08-05--It’s easier than ever to make hand sanitizer. But eased restrictions have come with consequences.

Weeks before the pandemic shut down the country , Robin Christenson woke up in the middle of the night .
Initial fears about the virus had started to materialize , and she was worried .
Then she came across an article about how there was a shortage of hand sanitizer .
Christenson , one of the owners of Blinking Owl , a craft distillery in California , saw an opportunity for her businesses to grow .
“ So the next day , I ran to work and I sat down with my head distiller and I said , ‘ Can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Christenson said .
In March , Americans panicked .
They rushed to grocery stores , stockpiling everything from toilet paper to baking yeast , hoping to soothe their anxieties and prepare for the unforeseeable future .
Hand sanitizer was one of the most in-demand items , with sales spiking 1,400 percent as early as January .
While the Food and Drug Administration has said that hand-washing with soap and water is the best way to prevent the spread of infection , the disinfectant quickly became “ something of a Holy Grail , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ demand for hand sanitizer , the FDA waived certain regulations for its production , paving a new way for the industry by allowing nontraditional manufacturers like distilleries and perfumers to produce their own sanitizers .
For some business owners , that has meant a fast-growing new revenue stream .
But the eased restrictions have also come with complications — just as states across the country are reopening , creating fresh need for sanitation .
Although nowhere near the peaks of March , discussion around hand sanitizer is once again in the news , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and recalls .
“ They pinky-promised to follow the rules , but guess what ?
Some of them didn ’ t follow the rules , ” said US Public Interest Research Group ( PIRG ) consumer watchdog Teresa Murray of new hand sanitizer manufacturers .
Those rules include what can be put into the formula .
Some manufacturers have added methanol to their hand sanitizer formulas , which is toxic if it is absorbed through the skin and deadly if swallowed : “ Methanol exposure can result in nausea , vomiting , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , seizures , coma , permanent damage to the nervous system , or death , ” said an FDA press release .
“ Although people using these products on their hands are at risk for methanol poisoning , young children who ingest these products and adolescents and adults who drink these products as an alcohol ( ethanol ) substitute are most at risk.
” In Arizona , four people died and 26 were hospitalized after drinking hand sanitizer that contained methanol as an alcohol substitute .
The FDA has now listed 87 potentially @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some irony here that you ’ re using hand sanitizer to try and be safer , and in some cases , it can actually be making you sick , ” Murray said .
The US PIRG is advising people to stick with brand-name hand sanitizers in order to avoid contamination , or choose brands that manufacture other hygiene products like shampoo .
Murray also suggested avoiding discount stores .
There have also been complaints about odd-smelling hand sanitizers ( due to lack of carbon filtration ) , excessive stickiness , and false claims @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one Iowa-based hand sanitizer company of promising that its sanitizer could “ mitigate , prevent , treat , diagnose , or cure COVID-19.
” “ If the FDA doesn ’ t get a tighter grip on this going forward as things reopen , we could end up seeing many more problems , ” Murray said .
Many of the toxic sanitizers on the FDA ’ s do-not-use list are manufactured outside the US , largely in Mexico .
But recently , a hand sanitizer made by a Tennessee distillery was labeled toxic .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ become an increasing problem since the FDA ’ s restrictions were eased and new players entered the market , there are many businesses and distillers committed to producing safe and usable hand sanitizers .
Linda Evans O ’ Connor , VP and chief of staff for Lachman Consultant Services , has received an uptick in calls from businesses looking to get into the hand sanitizer industry , after Lachman released a condensed version of the FDA ’ s guidelines for production in layman ’ s terms .
“ We saw sort of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hey we want to do this just to help us get through Covid and just under the emergency use authorization , ’ ” she said .
Now she ’ s hearing that these same companies want to stay in the hand sanitizer business “ because this isn ’ t something that ’ s going away.
” Christenson conducted thorough research and followed the World Health Organization ’ s ( WHO ) formula in order to safely produce hand sanitizer at her distillery .
She also received help from the Distilled Spirits Council of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ We continue to supply large , large volumes of hand sanitizer , more than we ever dreamed we would continue to make , ” she said .
“ It doesn ’ t show any signs of falling for us.
” Owner of Black Momma Vodka Vanessa Braxton has also started making hand sanitizer during the pandemic : “ I never thought I would make hand sanitizer .
That was never in my view until the pandemic , ” she said .
Braxton ’ s company has a loyal customer base , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ She initially started making hand sanitizer after the American Distilling Institute requested she help supply the government and local community .
Since then , Braxton has been closely following the WHO ’ s formula and is now registered with the FDA .
She has also made it a priority to employ people in her local community and manufacture all of her products in the US .
“ A lot of companies are making hand sanitizer but they ’ re not registering or getting a permit from the FDA to do it , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ how you make sure , too , that you ’ re providing a safe product.
” Since Black Momma Vodka has started producing hand sanitizer , the demand has skyrocketed .
Braxton is now in the process of expanding her hand sanitizer line to include new scents like lavender , peach tree , sage , and lemon .
“ We ’ re selling hand sanitizers night and day , ” she said .
“ I ’ ve learned the industry and I ’ m now perfecting the formula and doing research.
” It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the hand sanitizer industry has come with dangers .
But it has also presented entrepreneurs with a new opportunity for growth at a time when many businesses are struggling to get by .
“ I think that some of these recalls are going to weed out some of the players in the industry that are not conforming , and that the ones that are truly wanting to make the product according to the guidance are going to succeed , ” O ’ Connor said .
Every day at Vox , we aim to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

Weeks before the pandemic shut down the country, Robin Christenson woke up in the middle of the night. Initial fears about the virus had started to materialize, and she was worried. Then she came across an article about how there was a shortage of hand sanitizer. Christenson, one of the owners of Blinking Owl, a craft distillery in California, saw an opportunity for her businesses to grow.
“So the next day, I ran to work and I sat down with my head distiller and I said, ‘Can we make hand sanitizer?’” Christenson said.
In March, Americans panicked. They rushed to grocery stores, stockpiling everything from toilet paper to baking yeast, hoping to soothe their anxieties and prepare for the unforeseeable future. Hand sanitizer was one of the most in-demand items, with sales spiking 1,400 percent as early as January. While the Food and Drug Administration has said that hand-washing with soap and water is the best way to prevent the spread of infection, the disinfectant quickly became “something of a Holy Grail,” prompting worldwide shortages.
Amid the growing demand for hand sanitizer, the FDA waived certain regulations for its production, paving a new way for the industry by allowing nontraditional manufacturers like distilleries and perfumers to produce their own sanitizers. For some business owners, that has meant a fast-growing new revenue stream.
But the eased restrictions have also come with complications — just as states across the country are reopening, creating fresh need for sanitation. Although nowhere near the peaks of March, discussion around hand sanitizer is once again in the news, particularly around strange smells, faked products, and recalls.
“They pinky-promised to follow the rules, but guess what? Some of them didn’t follow the rules,” said US Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) consumer watchdog Teresa Murray of new hand sanitizer manufacturers.
Those rules include what can be put into the formula. Some manufacturers have added methanol to their hand sanitizer formulas, which is toxic if it is absorbed through the skin and deadly if swallowed: “Methanol exposure can result in nausea, vomiting, headache, blurred vision, permanent blindness, seizures, coma, permanent damage to the nervous system, or death,” said an FDA press release. “Although people using these products on their hands are at risk for methanol poisoning, young children who ingest these products and adolescents and adults who drink these products as an alcohol (ethanol) substitute are most at risk.”
In Arizona, four people died and 26 were hospitalized after drinking hand sanitizer that contained methanol as an alcohol substitute. The FDA has now listed 87 potentially toxic hand sanitizers.
“There is some irony here that you’re using hand sanitizer to try and be safer, and in some cases, it can actually be making you sick,” Murray said. The US PIRG is advising people to stick with brand-name hand sanitizers in order to avoid contamination, or choose brands that manufacture other hygiene products like shampoo. Murray also suggested avoiding discount stores.
There have also been complaints about odd-smelling hand sanitizers (due to lack of carbon filtration), excessive stickiness, and false claims by manufacturers. The FDA has accused one Iowa-based hand sanitizer company of promising that its sanitizer could “mitigate, prevent, treat, diagnose, or cure COVID-19.”
“If the FDA doesn’t get a tighter grip on this going forward as things reopen, we could end up seeing many more problems,” Murray said.
Many of the toxic sanitizers on the FDA’s do-not-use list are manufactured outside the US, largely in Mexico. But recently, a hand sanitizer made by a Tennessee distillery was labeled toxic.
While hand sanitizers that contain methanol have become an increasing problem since the FDA’s restrictions were eased and new players entered the market, there are many businesses and distillers committed to producing safe and usable hand sanitizers.
Linda Evans O’Connor, VP and chief of staff for Lachman Consultant Services, has received an uptick in calls from businesses looking to get into the hand sanitizer industry, after Lachman released a condensed version of the FDA’s guidelines for production in layman’s terms.
“We saw sort of a progression from these companies saying, ‘Hey we want to do this just to help us get through Covid and just under the emergency use authorization,’” she said. Now she’s hearing that these same companies want to stay in the hand sanitizer business “because this isn’t something that’s going away.”
Christenson conducted thorough research and followed the World Health Organization’s (WHO) formula in order to safely produce hand sanitizer at her distillery. She also received help from the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States’ online educational resources.
“We continue to supply large, large volumes of hand sanitizer, more than we ever dreamed we would continue to make,” she said. “It doesn’t show any signs of falling for us.”
Owner of Black Momma Vodka Vanessa Braxton has also started making hand sanitizer during the pandemic: “I never thought I would make hand sanitizer. That was never in my view until the pandemic,” she said.
Braxton’s company has a loyal customer base, with more than 60,000 online shoppers. She initially started making hand sanitizer after the American Distilling Institute requested she help supply the government and local community. Since then, Braxton has been closely following the WHO’s formula and is now registered with the FDA. She has also made it a priority to employ people in her local community and manufacture all of her products in the US.
“A lot of companies are making hand sanitizer but they’re not registering or getting a permit from the FDA to do it,” she said. “That’s how you make sure, too, that you’re providing a safe product.”
Since Black Momma Vodka has started producing hand sanitizer, the demand has skyrocketed. Braxton is now in the process of expanding her hand sanitizer line to include new scents like lavender, peach tree, sage, and lemon.
“We’re selling hand sanitizers night and day,” she said. “I’ve learned the industry and I’m now perfecting the formula and doing research.”
It is no secret that the expansion of the hand sanitizer industry has come with dangers. But it has also presented entrepreneurs with a new opportunity for growth at a time when many businesses are struggling to get by.
“I think that some of these recalls are going to weed out some of the players in the industry that are not conforming, and that the ones that are truly wanting to make the product according to the guidance are going to succeed,” O’Connor said.


vox--2020-08-05--Missouri approves Medicaid expansion ballot initiative, extending coverage to 200,000 people

Missouri voters approved an expansion of the state ’ s Medicaid program in Tuesday ’ s election , according to Vox ’ s partners at Decision Desk — making another success story at the ballot box for the program in a state where it had been stifled by Republican opposition .
The ballot initiative expands Medicaid eligibility to 138 percent of the federal poverty level ( about $ 17,500 for an individual or $ 30,000 for a family of three ) as authorized under the Affordable Care Act .
An estimated 230,000 low-income Missourians will become eligible for Medicaid , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even higher given the recent job losses in the Covid-19 crisis .
The federal government will cover 90 percent of the expansion costs ; the state will be responsible for the other 10 percent .
The vote passed over the objections of Missouri ’ s Republican governor , Mike Parson , and conservative interest groups .
Bills had been introduced in previous legislative sessions that would have expanded Medicaid , but they were ignored by the GOP majority .
This makes Missouri the 39th state to expand Medicaid through Obamacare ; all the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the 2010 health care law .
About 2.3 million people nationwide are estimated to be uninsured because their state has refused to extend Medicaid eligibility and they make too little money to qualify for tax subsidies to buy private coverage .
( Eligibility for the ACA subsidies starts at 100 percent of the poverty level . )
Medicaid expansion has been making inroads in Republican-led states through ballot initiatives in recent years .
In 2017 , Maine voters approved Medicaid expansion after years of opposition by then-Gov .
Paul LePage .
Voters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ okayed Medicaid expansion in 2018 .
Most recently , in June 2020 , Oklahoma voters signed off on expansion in a ballot initiative .
Republican officials have sometimes tried to undo the results at the ballot box — in Utah , for example , GOP lawmakers sought to add restrictions on eligibility — but the Missouri initiative was specifically written to prevent tampering by the state legislature or the governor .
Medicaid expansion would be written into the state constitution , and the state can not introduce work requirements or any other limits @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to try to stop the Medicaid expansion initiative from appearing on the ballot , arguing it violated the Missouri Constitution , but the language was upheld by state courts .
Republicans argued that the state could not afford the expansion , in spite of the 90 percent federal funding match .
Supporters , on the other hand , said that expanding Medicaid and accepting the federal money would help prevent hospital closures as well as providing health insurance to many more Missourians .
As Vox has previously reported , one in four rural @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and one of the strongest indicators of a hospital ’ s vulnerability is being located in a non-expansion state .
Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

Missouri voters approved an expansion of the state’s Medicaid program in Tuesday’s election, according to Vox’s partners at Decision Desk — making another success story at the ballot box for the program in a state where it had been stifled by Republican opposition.
The ballot initiative expands Medicaid eligibility to 138 percent of the federal poverty level (about $17,500 for an individual or $30,000 for a family of three) as authorized under the Affordable Care Act. An estimated 230,000 low-income Missourians will become eligible for Medicaid, though that number could end up being even higher given the recent job losses in the Covid-19 crisis. The federal government will cover 90 percent of the expansion costs; the state will be responsible for the other 10 percent.
The vote passed over the objections of Missouri’s Republican governor, Mike Parson, and conservative interest groups. Bills had been introduced in previous legislative sessions that would have expanded Medicaid, but they were ignored by the GOP majority.
This makes Missouri the 39th state to expand Medicaid through Obamacare; all the holdouts have been driven by GOP opposition to the 2010 health care law. About 2.3 million people nationwide are estimated to be uninsured because their state has refused to extend Medicaid eligibility and they make too little money to qualify for tax subsidies to buy private coverage. (Eligibility for the ACA subsidies starts at 100 percent of the poverty level.)
Medicaid expansion has been making inroads in Republican-led states through ballot initiatives in recent years. In 2017, Maine voters approved Medicaid expansion after years of opposition by then-Gov. Paul LePage. Voters in Idaho, Nebraska, and Utah okayed Medicaid expansion in 2018. Most recently, in June 2020, Oklahoma voters signed off on expansion in a ballot initiative.
Republican officials have sometimes tried to undo the results at the ballot box — in Utah, for example, GOP lawmakers sought to add restrictions on eligibility — but the Missouri initiative was specifically written to prevent tampering by the state legislature or the governor. Medicaid expansion would be written into the state constitution, and the state cannot introduce work requirements or any other limits on benefits.
Conservative groups had sued to try to stop the Medicaid expansion initiative from appearing on the ballot, arguing it violated the Missouri Constitution, but the language was upheld by state courts. Republicans argued that the state could not afford the expansion, in spite of the 90 percent federal funding match.
Supporters, on the other hand, said that expanding Medicaid and accepting the federal money would help prevent hospital closures as well as providing health insurance to many more Missourians. As Vox has previously reported, one in four rural hospitals nationwide are in danger of closing, and one of the strongest indicators of a hospital’s vulnerability is being located in a non-expansion state.


vox--2020-08-05--Facebook took down a Trump post for the first time

Facebook has taken down a post by President Trump containing false statements about children ’ s susceptibility to Covid-19 .
It ’ s the first time the company has enforced its rules that ban harmful speech on one of Trump ’ s posts .
The post that Facebook removed is a Fox video clip in which Trump makes an incorrect statement , saying that children are “ almost immune ” to Covid-19 .
That isn ’ t true ; children are not immune to the virus .
Trump posted the clip on his personal Facebook account .
Facebook said it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it violates its policy against spreading harmful misinformation about Covid-19 .
It ’ s the latest development in the ongoing debate about whether Facebook should more strictly police false statements made by politicians like Trump on its platform .
Until now , the company has largely held off on moderating political speech because Facebook says it aims to be an open platform for communication rather than an “ arbiter of truth.
” But Facebook has taken a hard line on Covid-19 misinformation since the beginning of the pandemic — and Trump ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ video includes false claims that a group of people is immune from COVID-19 which is a violation of our policies around harmful COVID misinformation , ” a spokesperson for Facebook said in a statement to Recode .
While researchers think the harmful effects of Covid-19 are less severe for children than for adults , kids can still get the disease ( hundreds of children at a summer camp in Georgia recently became infected with Covid-19 ) , and some children have died from it .
Scientists are also still trying to understand the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in patients who have milder cases .
In President Trump ’ s statements on Fox , he falsely claimed , “ If you look at children , children are almost — and I would almost say definitely — but almost immune from this disease.
” He added , “ I don ’ t know how you feel about it , but they [ children ] have much stronger immune systems than we do somehow for this .
They do it .
They don ’ t have a problem.
” On Twitter , Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which was originally posted by the @ TeamTrump campaign account .
But by Wednesday evening , a spokesperson for Twitter told Recode that the video violated its rules on Covid-19 misinformation , and that the account owner ( in this case , @ TeamTrump ) will be required to remove the tweet before they can post again .
The spokesperson said this was not a suspension .
Twitter has blocked the post from view in the meantime .
For years , Trump has made false claims on Facebook — in recent months he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as mail-in voting and Joe Biden ’ s platform on policing .
Independent fact-checkers which are part of Facebook ’ s fact-checking network have flagged these posts as incorrect on their own sites , but Facebook has not labeled them as such on its platform because its rules exempt politicians from being fact-checked .
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly said that he does not want his company to be an “ arbiter of truth ” — and that the company does not fact-check political speech .
By contrast , in May , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s posts , such as when it labelled posts in which he made false claims about mail-in voting in California , as “ misleading , ” and directed users to accurate information about vote-by-mail .
Facebook has faced increasing criticism from leading Democratic politicians , disinformation experts , civil rights organizations , and even some its own employees for not enforcing its own policies when Trump uses its platform to spread misinformation , or when it didn ’ t moderate a “ when the looting starts , the shooting starts ” post he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protests in late May .
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment .
When it comes to political ads on its platform , which are distinct from ads , Facebook has moderated Trump before on a few occasions .
In June , Facebook took down a Trump campaign ad that displayed Nazi insignia .
And in March , Facebook took down another Trump ad which contained a link to a Trump campaign survey that was marketed as a link to the US census .
And the company has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Trump ’ s posts on his personal page containing false statements about voting by adding links to these posts that share voter information .
The company , as a policy , adds these labels to all posts about voting in the 2020 US presidential election , regardless of their veracity or who posts them .
But this is the first time time the company has actually taken down one of Trump ’ s posts — which is sure to anger Republicans , some of whom have long complained of alleged ( and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ platforms , despite the success of many leading conservatives like Trump on the platform to date .

Facebook has taken down a post by President Trump containing false statements about children’s susceptibility to Covid-19. It’s the first time the company has enforced its rules that ban harmful speech on one of Trump’s posts.
The post that Facebook removed is a Fox video clip in which Trump makes an incorrect statement, saying that children are “almost immune” to Covid-19. That isn’t true; children are not immune to the novel coronavirus. Trump posted the clip on his personal Facebook account.
Facebook said it’s taking down the video because it violates its policy against spreading harmful misinformation about Covid-19. It’s the latest development in the ongoing debate about whether Facebook should more strictly police false statements made by politicians like Trump on its platform. Until now, the company has largely held off on moderating political speech because Facebook says it aims to be an open platform for communication rather than an “arbiter of truth.” But Facebook has taken a hard line on Covid-19 misinformation since the beginning of the pandemic — and Trump’s post crossed that line.
“This video includes false claims that a group of people is immune from COVID-19 which is a violation of our policies around harmful COVID misinformation,” a spokesperson for Facebook said in a statement to Recode.
While researchers think the harmful effects of Covid-19 are less severe for children than for adults, kids can still get the disease (hundreds of children at a summer camp in the state of Georgia recently became infected with Covid-19), and some children have died from it. Scientists are also still trying to understand the long-term effects of the disease, even in patients with milder cases.
In the president’s statements on Fox, he falsely claimed, “If you look at children, children are almost — and I would almost say definitely — but almost immune from this disease.” He added, “I don’t know how you feel about it, but they [children] have much stronger immune systems than we do somehow for this. They do it. They don’t have a problem.”
On Twitter, Trump posted the same Fox News clip, which was originally posted by the @TeamTrump campaign account. But by Wednesday evening, a spokesperson for Twitter told Recode that the video violated its rules on Covid-19 misinformation and that the account owner (in this case, @TeamTrump) will be required to remove the tweet before they can post again. The spokesperson said this was not a suspension. Twitter has blocked the post from view in the meantime.
On Thursday, a YouTube spokesperson confirmed that it had also taken down a post that shared the clip from Trump’s personal YouTube account.
In response to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube enforcing their misinformation rules on Trump’s posts, Trump campaign deputy national press secretary Courtney Parella sent the following statement to Recode on Thursday, in part:
Another day, another display of Silicon Valley’s flagrant bias against this President, where the rules are only enforced in one direction. Social media companies are not the arbiters of truth. The President was stating a fact that children are less susceptible to the coronavirus.
For years, Trump has made false claims on Facebook; in recent months, he has made incorrect statements about topics such as mail-in voting and former Vice President Joe Biden’s platform on policing. Independent fact-checkers that are part of Facebook’s fact-checking network have flagged these posts as incorrect on their own sites, but Facebook has not labeled them as such on its platform because its rules exempt politicians from being fact-checked. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly said that he does not want his company to be an “arbiter of truth” and that the company does not fact-check political speech.
By contrast, in May, Twitter started fact-checking some of Trump’s posts, such as when it labeled posts in which he made false claims about mail-in voting in California as “misleading.” Twitter directed users instead to accurate information about vote-by-mail.
Facebook has faced increasing criticism from leading Democratic politicians, disinformation experts, civil rights organizations, and even some of its own employees for not enforcing its policies when Trump uses its platform to spread misinformation, or when it didn’t moderate a “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” post he shared in response to Black Lives Matter protests in late May.
When it comes to political ads on its platform, which are distinct from ads, Facebook has moderated Trump on a few occasions. In June, Facebook took down a Trump campaign ad that displayed Nazi insignia. And in March, Facebook took down another Trump ad that contained a link to a Trump campaign survey that was marketed as a link to the US Census. The company has labeled (but not fact-checked) some of Trump’s posts on his personal page containing false statements about voting by adding links to these posts that share voter information. The company, as a policy, adds these labels to all posts about voting in the 2020 US presidential election, regardless of their veracity or who posts them.
But this is the first time Facebook has actually taken down one of Trump’s posts — which is likely to anger Republicans, some of whom have long complained of alleged (and unproven) anti-conservative bias on social media platforms, despite the success of many leading conservatives on the platform to date.


vox--2020-08-05--Lebanon was already in crisis. Then came the Beirut explosion.

Share All sharing options for : Lebanon was already in crisis .
Then came the Beirut explosion .
Before a deadly blast rocked Lebanon ’ s capital on Tuesday , the country ’ s economy was already on a Venezuela-like trajectory .
Now , with at least 100 people dead in Beirut , thousands wounded , many more displaced , and likely billions of dollars required to repair the damage , Lebanon is careening toward that devastating future .
Two explosions in Beirut ’ s port area sent a red mushroom cloud thousands of feet into the air .
Lebanese @ @ @ @ @ @ @ containing 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate — which can be used in agricultural fertilizer , bombs , and rockets — that had been stored six years prior fueled such a gigantic explosion .
By comparison , less than two metric tons of the substance was used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing .
It ’ s no surprise , then , that the resulting detonation was felt about 150 miles away on the island nation of Cyprus .
Hospitals are now overrun with the injured .
Unfound bodies lay under rubble or in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seek help to find their loves ones on social media .
Leveled city blocks are hard to clear because they ’ re covered in broken glass .
Lebanon ’ s Prime Minister Hassan Diab immediately vowed swift justice .
“ I promise you that this catastrophe will not pass without accountability , ” he said during his Tuesday night televised address .
“ Those responsible will pay the price.
” The next day , the government placed Port of Beirut officials under house arrest while an investigation into culpability continues .
But the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the tragedy may not be as bad as the fate of the everyday person in Lebanon , as the blast only exacerbated their longstanding problems .
The nation ’ s leaders mismanaged the economy for decades , namely with a Ponzi-like scheme whisking away the hard-earned money of Lebanese people from banks to keep the government afloat , pay off public debts , and line the pockets of those in charge .
The troubled policy screeched to a halt after the country ’ s banks simply ran out of money last year — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ d stored in accounts and expected to be available when needed .
That worsened an already bad situation : the unemployment rate hovers around 25 percent and about a third of the country lives below the poverty line .
The lack of funds has pushed millions into poverty , forcing some to eat at best every other day .
That ’ s made worse as the lira , Lebanon ’ s currency , has collapsed , driving the prices of necessary items like food upward .
It ’ s why many experts fear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the country , though they have few places to go in the war-torn region .
Any potential financial relief from the International Monetary Fund ( IMF ) likely won ’ t come after it watched the government mishandle the nation ’ s economy and because Lebanon ’ s most powerful political player is Hezbollah , a Shia Muslim party and militant group with close ties to Iran that the US considers a terrorist organization .
Add to all this the nearly 5,500 cases of coronavirus in the country as of August 5 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scenario from which it may take years — even decades — to recover .
“ The situation is definitely dire : political crisis , economic crisis , lack of resources , the pandemic , and now the explosion , ” Laura Bell , a Lebanon expert at West Texas A & M University , told me .
“ Lebanon could easily become a failed state if leadership and international assistance is not adequate.
” Lebanon is on its way to becoming the new Venezuela To understand how Lebanon got into this economic mess @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : 1 ) why Lebanon pegged its currency to the US dollar , and 2 ) how the government siphoned , and eventually lost , the money of Lebanese citizens from local banks .
Let ’ s start with the lira-dollar connection .
As Washington-based Lebanese American commentator Hussain Abdul-Hussain explained it to me , Lebanon ’ s big economic play after its 15-year civil war ended in 1990 was to attract investors and tourists , and bolster its services sector .
After all , Lebanon wasn ’ t big enough to have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ did have an educated population , skilled labor , and lovely sights for foreigners to visit .
Pegging Lebanon ’ s lira to the US dollar , which the government did in 1997 , was meant to show the world Lebanon was a safe investment — but it wasn ’ t .
Israel occupied southern Lebanon until 2000 , and Hezbollah proceeded to fight with Israel many times , most prominently engaging in a month-long war in 2006 .
That kind of instability scared off multinationals and other investors , thus hindering growth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all of this , Lebanon ’ s Central Bank kept the same exchange rate : 1,507 lira to $ 1 .
Lebanon is heavily dependent on imports — for example , about 80 percent of the food in the country is brought in from elsewhere , per the United Nations ’ Food and Agriculture Organization .
Adhering to the fixed exchange rate kept those prices down , thereby making products cheaper for Lebanese people to buy .
That worked for a time .
But in recent years , remittances from expats and loans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , while government dysfunction and corruption depleted what resources Lebanon had left .
Private banks tried to fill Beirut ’ s coffers with loans , which came mostly from US dollars Lebanese workers put into their accounts ( people in Lebanon can pay for goods and services with either the lira or US dollars , and many carry both currencies in their wallets ) .
Most knew this was happening , but they were convinced not to withdraw their cash with promises of a great return thanks to interest rates up to 15 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said , “ the Ponzi scheme.
” Simply put , the government ’ s mismanagement saw it run out of funds , which in turn led private banks to lend it more dollars , which meant the bank ’ s customers saw their deposits run out .
Repeat that process over and over and over again , and it was always likely nothing would be left for the government to borrow .
That long-predicted outcome came true last September as banks saw up to $ 100 billion disappear , according to government figures @ @ @ @ @ @ @ caused the lira ’ s exchange rate to spike , and the Central Bank was out of options ( read : other people ’ s money ) with which to bring it back down .
Now the local currency is pretty much worthless .
In the past month or so , the lira has lost about 60 percent of its value , and about 80 percent total since October .
That ’ s made purchasing necessities like food difficult as those prices have gone up about 200 percent .
As an example , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is now equivalent to around $ 33 — a figure so high that Lebanon ’ s Army stopped purchasing meat for its soldiers .
It ’ s such a dire situation that experts say it ’ s likely Lebanon will find itself in a similar economic spot as Venezuela .
“ We are going in that direction , ” said Faysal Itani of the Center for Global Policy think tank in Washington .
If true , it could mean a total collapse of the country — and pure horror for the millions of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the Lebanon crisis is staggering Two weeks ago — well before the explosion at Beirut ’ s port — the Washington Post described the worsening situation in Lebanon : Such scenes may soon compel millions of refugees to flee the country in search of a better life .
That will be hard , experts tell me , because of Lebanon ’ s geographic location .
To its west is the Mediterranean Sea ; to the south , Israel ; and to the east and north , Syria , which has spent much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ civil war .
“ There aren ’ t that many places for people to go , ” Itani said .
What ’ s worse , about 20 percent of Lebanon ’ s 7 million population are refugees , with most coming from Syria to flee the fighting .
They will likely be among the hardest hit by the economic collapse , as they had few means to begin with .
Still , Lebanese workers who ’ ve toiled day in and day out to make a living have seen their wealth fade away @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mohammad Kekhia .
When he had a job , he used to earn up to $ 33 per day .
The problem is that income is worth around $ 5.50 today .
“ We used to eat with this money , ” Kekhia , who lives in one room with his wife and three kids , told NBC .
“ Now there ’ s no food .
No work .
No medication.
” Some , like Kekhia , may get some relief : The UN World Food Program , which is in Lebanon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now support Lebanese families for the first time since the 2006 war with Israel .
That ’ s also necessary since Tuesday ’ s blast took out all but a month ’ s worth of grain stores .
But the country as a whole is unlikely to get financial help .
The IMF has watched Lebanon ’ s leaders derail its economy for years , and in June the Central Bank saw about $ 49 billion disappear from its coffers — equivalent to about 91 percent of Lebanon ’ s 2019 economic output @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in charge of the country ’ s government , there ’ s little appetite at the IMF to send much-needed billions in assistance to Beirut .
“ It has been really difficult , ” Kristalina Georgieva , the IMF ’ s managing director , told reporters in July about weeks of negotiations her team has had with Lebanese officials .
“ The core of the issue is whether there can be unity of purpose in the country.
” The question many have now is if the economic crisis , mixed with the deadly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a nationwide popular uprising against the government .
“ In a country facing dire economic consequences and then hit by the Covid-19 pandemic , which only exacerbated the situation , it is possible that we could see a complete breakdown of ordered society , ” said West Texas A & M ’ s Bell .
Indeed , Lebanon ’ s largest protests since the civil war sprang up last October against government corruption and austerity measures , leading to the then-prime minister ’ s resignation .
A new set of anti-government demonstrations started @ @ @ @ @ @ @ currency crash .
And an imminent verdict in the murder trial of a beloved former prime minister — which has four Hezbollah members as defendants — might reignite deep-seated animosities toward the leading political-military group .
Further unrest isn ’ t guaranteed .
But if many in the country fault their leaders for the deaths and wounds of thousands , the tanking economy , and the pandemic — and can withstand rallying in the streets despite worsening conditions — Lebanon may soon see a mounting political crisis only get worse .
“ It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Leah Graham , a Lebanon expert at the University of North Alabama .
Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
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Share All sharing options for: Lebanon was already in crisis. Then came the Beirut explosion.
Before a deadly blast rocked Lebanon’s capital on Tuesday, the country’s economy was already on a Venezuela-like trajectory. Now, with at least 100 people dead in Beirut, thousands wounded, many more displaced, and likely billions of dollars required to repair the damage, Lebanon is careening toward that devastating future.
Two explosions in Beirut’s port area sent a red mushroom cloud thousands of feet into the air. Lebanese officials said a fire at a warehouse containing 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate — which can be used in agricultural fertilizer, bombs, and rockets — that had been stored six years prior fueled such a gigantic explosion. By comparison, less than two metric tons of the substance was used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
It’s no surprise, then, that the resulting detonation was felt about 150 miles away on the island nation of Cyprus.
Hospitals are now overrun with the injured. Unfound bodies lay under rubble or in the Mediterranean Sea, leading locals to seek help to find their loves ones on social media. Leveled city blocks are hard to clear because they’re covered in broken glass.
Another video of the explosion at Beirut Port #إنفجار_بيروت pic.twitter.com/mg2BQ0uj3u — Mohammad Hijazi (@mhijazi) August 4, 2020
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Hassan Diab immediately vowed swift justice. “I promise you that this catastrophe will not pass without accountability,” he said during his Tuesday night televised address. “Those responsible will pay the price.” The next day, the government placed Port of Beirut officials under house arrest while an investigation into culpability continues.
But the fate of Lebanon’s elites after the tragedy may not be as bad as the fate of the everyday person in Lebanon, as the blast only exacerbated their longstanding problems.
The nation’s leaders mismanaged the economy for decades, namely with a Ponzi-like scheme whisking away the hard-earned money of Lebanese people from banks to keep the government afloat, pay off public debts, and line the pockets of those in charge. The troubled policy screeched to a halt after the country’s banks simply ran out of money last year — meaning Lebanese workers lost savings they’d stored in accounts and expected to be available when needed.
That worsened an already bad situation: the unemployment rate hovers around 25 percent and about a third of the country lives below the poverty line.
The lack of funds has pushed millions into poverty, forcing some to eat at best every other day. That’s made worse as the lira, Lebanon’s currency, has collapsed, driving the prices of necessary items like food upward. It’s why many experts fear Lebanon may soon see refugees flock out of the country, though they have few places to go in the war-torn region.
Any potential financial relief from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) likely won’t come after it watched the government mishandle the nation’s economy and because Lebanon’s most powerful political player is Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim party and militant group with close ties to Iran that the US considers a terrorist organization.
Add to all this the nearly 5,500 cases of coronavirus in the country as of August 5, and Lebanon is facing a nightmare scenario from which it may take years — even decades — to recover.
“The situation is definitely dire: political crisis, economic crisis, lack of resources, the pandemic, and now the explosion,” Laura Bell, a Lebanon expert at West Texas A&M University, told me. “Lebanon could easily become a failed state if leadership and international assistance is not adequate.”
Lebanon is on its way to becoming the new Venezuela
To understand how Lebanon got into this economic mess, you need to understand two things: 1) why Lebanon pegged its currency to the US dollar, and 2) how the government siphoned, and eventually lost, the money of Lebanese citizens from local banks.
Let’s start with the lira-dollar connection. As Washington-based Lebanese American commentator Hussain Abdul-Hussain explained it to me, Lebanon’s big economic play after its 15-year civil war ended in 1990 was to attract investors and tourists, and bolster its services sector. After all, Lebanon wasn’t big enough to have agricultural or industrial prowess, but it did have an educated population, skilled labor, and lovely sights for foreigners to visit.
Pegging Lebanon’s lira to the US dollar, which the government did in 1997, was meant to show the world Lebanon was a safe investment — but it wasn’t. Israel occupied southern Lebanon until 2000, and Hezbollah proceeded to fight with Israel many times, most prominently engaging in a month-long war in 2006. That kind of instability scared off multinationals and other investors, thus hindering growth over the long term.
Yet through all of this, Lebanon’s Central Bank kept the same exchange rate: 1,507 lira to $1. Lebanon is heavily dependent on imports — for example, about 80 percent of the food in the country is brought in from elsewhere, per the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization. Adhering to the fixed exchange rate kept those prices down, thereby making products cheaper for Lebanese people to buy.
That worked for a time. But in recent years, remittances from expats and loans from countries like Saudi Arabia dried up, while government dysfunction and corruption depleted what resources Lebanon had left. Private banks tried to fill Beirut’s coffers with loans, which came mostly from US dollars Lebanese workers put into their accounts (people in Lebanon can pay for goods and services with either the lira or US dollars, and many carry both currencies in their wallets).
Most knew this was happening, but they were convinced not to withdraw their cash with promises of a great return thanks to interest rates up to 15 percent. “Hence,” Abdul-Hussain said, “the Ponzi scheme.”
Simply put, the government’s mismanagement saw it run out of funds, which in turn led private banks to lend it more dollars, which meant the bank’s customers saw their deposits run out. Repeat that process over and over and over again, and it was always likely nothing would be left for the government to borrow.
That long-predicted outcome came true last September as banks saw up to $100 billion disappear, according to government figures. That, among other reasons, caused the lira’s exchange rate to spike, and the Central Bank was out of options (read: other people’s money) with which to bring it back down.
Now the local currency is pretty much worthless. In the past month or so, the lira has lost about 60 percent of its value, and about 80 percent total since October. That’s made purchasing necessities like food difficult as those prices have gone up about 200 percent. As an example, the cost of two pounds of meat is now equivalent to around $33 — a figure so high that Lebanon’s Army stopped purchasing meat for its soldiers.
It’s such a dire situation that experts say it’s likely Lebanon will find itself in a similar economic spot as Venezuela. “We are going in that direction,” said Faysal Itani of the Center for Global Policy think tank in Washington.
If true, it could mean a total collapse of the country — and pure horror for the millions of people in Lebanon.
The human toll of the Lebanon crisis is staggering
Two weeks ago — well before the explosion at Beirut’s port — the Washington Post described the worsening situation in Lebanon:
Bread, a staple of the Lebanese diet, is in short supply because the government can’t fund imports of wheat. Essential medicines are disappearing from pharmacies. Hospitals are laying off staff because the government isn’t paying its portion, and canceling surgeries because they don’t have electricity or the fuel to operate generators. Newly impoverished people are taking to Facebook to offer to trade household items for milk. Crime is on the rise. In one widely circulated video, a man wearing a coronavirus mask and wielding a pistol holds up a drugstore and demands that the pharmacist hand over diapers.
Such scenes may soon compel millions of refugees to flee the country in search of a better life. That will be hard, experts tell me, because of Lebanon’s geographic location. To its west is the Mediterranean Sea; to the south, Israel; and to the east and north, Syria, which has spent much of the past few years in a civil war. “There aren’t that many places for people to go,” Itani said.
What’s worse, about 20 percent of Lebanon’s 7 million population are refugees, with most coming from Syria to flee the fighting. They will likely be among the hardest hit by the economic collapse, as they had few means to begin with.
Still, Lebanese workers who’ve toiled day in and day out to make a living have seen their wealth fade away. In July, NBC News interviewed Mohammad Kekhia. When he had a job, he used to earn up to $33 per day. The problem is that income is worth around $5.50 today. “We used to eat with this money,” Kekhia, who lives in one room with his wife and three kids, told NBC. “Now there’s no food. No work. No medication.”
Some, like Kekhia, may get some relief: The UN World Food Program, which is in Lebanon to feed the Syrian refugees, will now support Lebanese families for the first time since the 2006 war with Israel. That’s also necessary since Tuesday’s blast took out all but a month’s worth of grain stores.
But the country as a whole is unlikely to get financial help. The IMF has watched Lebanon’s leaders derail its economy for years, and in June the Central Bank saw about $49 billion disappear from its coffers — equivalent to about 91 percent of Lebanon’s 2019 economic output. Between that and having Hezbollah basically in charge of the country’s government, there’s little appetite at the IMF to send much-needed billions in assistance to Beirut.
“It has been really difficult,” Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF’s managing director, told reporters in July about weeks of negotiations her team has had with Lebanese officials. “The core of the issue is whether there can be unity of purpose in the country.”
The question many have now is if the economic crisis, mixed with the deadly blast and coronavirus outbreak, will spark a nationwide popular uprising against the government. “In a country facing dire economic consequences and then hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, which only exacerbated the situation, it is possible that we could see a complete breakdown of ordered society,” said West Texas A&M’s Bell.
Indeed, Lebanon’s largest protests since the civil war sprang up last October against government corruption and austerity measures, leading to the then-prime minister’s resignation. A new set of anti-government demonstrations started this summer as Lebanese citizens watched their currency crash. And an imminent verdict in the murder trial of a beloved former prime minister — which has four Hezbollah members as defendants — might reignite deep-seated animosities toward the leading political-military group.
Further unrest isn’t guaranteed. But if many in the country fault their leaders for the deaths and wounds of thousands, the tanking economy, and the pandemic — and can withstand rallying in the streets despite worsening conditions — Lebanon may soon see a mounting political crisis only get worse.
“It’s a tinderbox,” said Leah Graham, a Lebanon expert at the University of North Alabama.