Both the Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines will be available.
The first clinic will take place from 10 a.m. to noon, Monday, July 12 at the Glyndon Elementary School, which is located at 513 Parke Ave. S.
The second will take place from 10 a.m. to noon, Tuesday, July 13 at the Dilworth Elementary School, which is located at 108 Main St. N.
The third clinic will be held from 10 a.m. to noon, Wednesday, July 14 at the Family Services Center inside the Clay County Public Health offices at 715 11th St. N., Suite 105 in Moorhead.
The Pfizer vaccine is available for those over the age of 12, while the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is available for those 18 and older.
To register in advance, visit ClayCountyMN.gov/462/Public-Health. Walk-ins are also welcome.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, Utah (KTVX) A Utah woman and Utah senator are teaming up to get some answers after a group claims theyve experienced life-altering injuries that they believe are from theCOVID-19 vaccine.
While the symptoms havent been officially linked to the vaccine by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, some people are convinced that the two are related, including Brianne Dressen.
Dressen is apreschool teacher inSaratoga Springswho participated in the AstraZeneca clinical trial back in November.
Theres no question that the vaccines do save lives, they are an important piece of the puzzle to get us through the pandemic. But we all knew that some people were going to draw the short straw with these vaccines, so we need to take care of those who are getting the short straw,Dressen said.
That includes her. She got her vaccine on Nov. 4 and says she hasnt been the same since.
Immediately within an hour I had tingling down my armand by the time I got home, my vision was blurry and double,Dressen said.
Dressen said her sensitivity to sound and light became so severe that she had to have earmuffs on all the time and sunglasses.
Things progressed pretty quick. So, I have this weeks long neurological decline, and no one knew what was going on. I called the test clinic several times, finally two days later they had me come in and they did a neurological exam and they said,oh it looks like you have MS, so you probably need to get that checked out, Dressen said.
She said her symptoms continued to worsen, and just before Thanksgiving, she said her legs stopped working, sending her to the emergency room. However, after running several MRIs, cat scans, and lumbar punctures, no one could tell her what was wrong.
I spent the next several months of my life trapped in my room by myselfcompletely alone and in silence. Even the sound of my husbands pants swishing was too much for my ears. We put towels on the windows trying to make it darker and it was a nightmare, Dressen said.
I missed out on Christmas; I didnt buy my kids a single Christmas present. Ive missed out of months of their lives; they dont know me as the mom that I used to be taking care of them. I would take them to and from school, to extracurricular activities, I would help them with homework, make them meals. But now, they just know me as sick mom,Dressen said.
She spent months teaching herself how to walk, eat, and form sentences again all while she traveled near and far to try and get some answers.
The hospital didnt know what was going onnone of the neurologists that I saw knew what was going onI called the test clinic several times and they had no idea what was going on,Dressen said.
She said she has talked with other people who are dealing with the same symptoms after getting their COVID-19 vaccines.
I want these people to get help. I want the CDC to do the right thing and communicate with the medical community so these people can get help. I want the public to be able to have the full picture so they can make an informed decision,Dressen said.
While she calls herself pro-vaccine, she believes the people who are injured are being left behind.
We absolutely can have the vaccines and we can take care of the injured. This does not need to be an either-or thing,Dressen said.
A few weeks ago, Dressen visited a research institution in Washington DC. While she was there, she met up with Utah Senator Mike Lee and Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson to explain what she has experienced and to voice her concerns.
After showing all the research and data shes collected, the two senators agreed to write a letter on her behalf to the CDC and FDA demanding some answers.
The full letter is included below. In it, they asked for a response to each of the six questions they wrote out no later thanJuly 12.
Posted: Jul 10, 2021 / 03:54 PM EDT / Updated: Jul 10, 2021 / 06:07 PM EDT
The Omega Psi Phi fraternity held a Pfizer vaccine clinic and blood drive today over at the Second Baptist Church on East 26th Street.
LECOM Health was there giving out the shots, and the Community Blood Bank was drawing blood.
The fraternity wants the community to see how urgent it is to donate blood and build immunity against COVID-19.
One member told us that this is so important because it can save lives.
Gives ample blood supplies for people who might need blood and to save a life, with the COVID vaccinations and opportunity for someone to get their first dose of the vaccination with LECOM and also save lives, said Homer Smith, Member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Zeta Phi Chapter.
There were incentives of $10 gift cards to Country Fair and $10 in cash for getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
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Oregon State University student Chloe Zinda said she was in disbelief when she received a text message from the Oregon Health Authority -- the first indication that shed won the states $1 million jackpot for getting vaccinated against COVID-19.
Zinda, who was at work as a swim instructor, said she showed the text to one of her co-workers and then sent it to her relatives -- asking them all: Is this a scam?
Later in the day at her McMinnville home, she spoke by phone to state officials and learned that she indeed was Oregons newest millionaire. And probably among the youngest. She didnt state her age during a news conference Friday, but public records indicate shes 23 or 24.
I was so shocked, a beaming Zinda said, Gov. Kate Brown standing off to her side. I ran downstairs and was just screaming and running around. Yeah, it was insane.
Brown had announced the creation of theTake Your Shot, Oregon lottery campaign seven weeks ago as a strategy to increase slowing vaccinations. Although the campaign doesnt appear to have turned out to be the powerful motivator that state officials had hoped for -- with no statewide bump in inoculations that could be clearly attributed to the lottery incentive -- state officials still celebrated some overall victories.
Im just absolutely thrilled that more than 2.4 million Oregonians have gotten their first vaccination, Brown said.
Just over 70% of Oregon adults are at least partially inoculated. When accounting for all ages, 59% have been partially vaccinated and 54% have been fully vaccinated. Thats four to six percentage points ahead of the national average -- ranking Oregon 17th among states for partial vaccinations and 12th for full vaccinations.
Oregon Health Authority Director Patrick Allen said the state aims to vaccinate 80% of adults of color by the end of August and ultimately 80% of all Oregonians who are adults.
Thats how well finally put the pandemic behind us, Allen said.
Allen didnt state a vaccination goal for children. Currently only those 12 and older are authorized by the federal government to receive vaccines.
He thanked Zinda and millions of others for getting their shots.
Zinda was randomly selected on June 28 from more than 2.2 million adults in Oregon who received at least one dose of vaccine by June 27.
The state also selected five vaccinated youth ages 12 to 17 as recipients of $100,000 college scholarships and 36 adults whod won $10,000 a piece -- one in each of the states three dozen counties. At least 10 counties also sweetened the offerings by using federal coronavirus relief money to hand out more prizes to vaccinated residents -- ranging from $2,500 to $20,000. Washington County, the only in the Portland area to do so, decided to award 10 additional prizes of $10,000 each and five additional college scholarships of $20,000 each.
But the state Friday announced only Zindas $1 million win and hasnt said who the other winners are yet. Officials havent said precisely when they will do so, but said the news will be shared in coming weeks as winners are notified. They gave no explanation for the delay in notifying winners or announcing their names, and previously said theyd hoped to make the announcements by the end of this week.
Its not clear whether Zinda was vaccinated before or after the governors May 21 announcement that she was creating a lottery to encourage more inoculations. During the news conference held on Zoom, reporters were able to ask only three questions -- apparently because of technological difficulties -- before officials ended it.
Zinda didnt respond to a request for an interview afterward, and a spokesman for the governors office said she wasnt available. The governors office and the Oregon Health Authority werent able to answer or didnt immediately respond Friday to several questions The Oregonian/OregonLive posed by email, including about Zindas age and when she was vaccinated.
Zinda said she had never imagined getting vaccinated would lead her to position before the podium Friday. She said she decided to get immunized for many reasons, including to protect the youngsters she teaches how to swim.
She plans to spend the money paying off college debt and pursuing an art career by opening an art studio.
This money is really going to life-changing for me, Zinda said. ... Im just really excited for what the future holds.
Coronavirus in Oregon: Latest news | Live map tracker |Text alerts | Newsletter
-- Aimee Green; agreen@oregonian.com; @o_aimee
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BERLIN, July 5 (Reuters) - A rising number of Germans are not showing up for COVID-19 vaccination appointments, prompting calls for fines to be imposed as Germany races to get shots in arms to counter the rapid spread of the more infectious Delta variant.
Mario Czaja, head of the Berlin Red Cross, said 5%-10% of people were skipping appointments at the city's vaccination centres - with second doses particularly affected - up from a no-show rate of less than 0.5% at the start of the year.
With around 15,000 vaccinations planned per day at the centres, the number of wasted appointments is having a "massive effect on Berlin's vaccination coverage", Czaja told Deutschlandfunk radio on Monday.
"We need the free slots. We are still not out of the woods and we can't afford to be negligent," he said, urging people to cancel their appointments if they managed to get a second dose earlier elsewhere.
Despite the missed appointments, Czaja said the centres have not had to discard vaccines as, once thawed, they can be stored for three to four days in fridges.
People might be skipping second shots because they have been vaccinated by their family or company doctor, or may be on holiday, Christian Fuellers, medical director of a vaccination centre in North Rhine-Westphalia, told ARD television.
Young men in particular also appear to think getting one dose will be sufficient, he added.
Whatever the reasons, no-shows pose a headache to Germany's plan to speed up vaccinations to try and get ahead of the more contagious Delta variant, now responsible for half of German coronavirus cases and expected to dominate later this month.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants Germany to achieve a vaccination rate of 80%, a participant in a meeting of her party's executive committee told Reuters.
Around 39% of Germans have now received the recommended two shots, while 56.5% has had at least one dose.
Germany, Europe's most populous country and largest economy, is expected to receive a bumper delivery of 7.65 million doses this week, according to Health Ministry data, of which 4.95 million are destined for its vaccination centres.
But the seven-day daily average of administered shots slumped last week to 701,998 per day, down almost 18% on the daily average seen in the second week of June.
Czaja has suggested that a fine of between 25-30 euros ($30-36) be levied on those who miss appointments. But others have warned that such action could be counterproductive.
"Instead of thinking about penalties, we should think about what we can do to keep vaccinations up," Reinhard Sager, president of the German Association of Districts, told Die Welt.
German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Monday penalties for vaccination no-shows were not envisaged.
Elsewhere, countries from the United States to Russia have introduced incentives, such as cash or the opportunity to win a car or an apartment, to try to boost vaccine take-up. Some Russian regions have also introduced compulsory vaccination for some workers. read more
($1 = 0.8424 euros)
Reporting by Caroline CopleyAdditional reporting by Andreas Rinke
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
People relax at the Georgetown Waterfront Park on Monday in Washington, D.C. While pandemic restrictions have been lifted for much of the country, the Delta variant of COVID-19 is hospitalizing thousands of people in the U.S. who have so far not gotten a vaccine. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images hide caption
People relax at the Georgetown Waterfront Park on Monday in Washington, D.C. While pandemic restrictions have been lifted for much of the country, the Delta variant of COVID-19 is hospitalizing thousands of people in the U.S. who have so far not gotten a vaccine.
In many ways, American life is returning to normalcy: Masks are no longer required in many locations, schools and universities are slated to re-open, and the days of social distancing begin to fade as concerts and sporting events bring spectators back.
In the U.S., we're now averaging 154 deaths a day from COVID-19 a tiny fraction compared to the pandemic's peak -- and there are still some safety measures and restrictions in place. Late pandemic American life hasn't quite returned to the status quo, but it feels much closer to normal than it did six months ago.
But while we may long for authorities to give an all-clear and say the pandemic is history, the crisis isn't over, in the U.S. or abroad.
The question of when the crisis will actually be over is a layered one with different answers from a local, national and global perspective.
The U.S. declared COVID-19 a national emergency on March 13, 2020.
After many months in which the U.S. led the world in coronavirus cases, the virus is now under much better control, due to wide availability of COVID-19 vaccines.
That federal emergency status is still in effect it has been renewed several times, most recently in April. It can be extended by the Secretary of Health and Human Services for as long as the emergency is deemed to exist.
Healthcare workers, first responders and essential workers are honored for their service during the COVID-19 pandemic at the "Hometown Heroes" ticker tape parade in Manhattan on Wednesday. Newsday LLC/Newsday via Getty Images hide caption
Healthcare workers, first responders and essential workers are honored for their service during the COVID-19 pandemic at the "Hometown Heroes" ticker tape parade in Manhattan on Wednesday.
It's not clear whether the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will issue any sort of all-clear. The CDC did not respond to NPR on the matter.
Ali Mokdad, an epidemiologist at the University of Washington, hopes that the CDC will eventually give Americans that go-ahead sign. He previously served in numerous roles over nearly 20 years at the CDC.
When the time comes, Mokdad tells NPR, "It's very important for our own CDC ... to say 'We're out of danger right now. We should move on with our lives.' "
He says there aren't set-in-stone metrics to determine when a pandemic is over, because the situation is dynamic and changing so fast. And the virus itself is evolving, too.
"When you look at the genetic makeup and sequencing of the virus ... and how it has been changing, there's still a lot of room for it to mutate. It's not at the end of the mutation cycle that it can do. So that virus could still carry a lot of surprises," he says.
The Foo Fighters reopened Madison Square Garden last month in New York City. The concert, with all attendees vaccinated, was the first in a New York arena to be held at full capacity since March 2020. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for FF hide caption
The Foo Fighters reopened Madison Square Garden last month in New York City. The concert, with all attendees vaccinated, was the first in a New York arena to be held at full capacity since March 2020.
The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11 last year the same day that life began to change dramatically in much of the U.S.
So when the virus eventually is under control, will WHO declare the pandemic over?
Basically, yes.
When the worldwide spread of COVID-19 stops, it will no longer be considered a pandemic. "In general, if the worldwide spread of a disease is brought under control to a localized area, we can say that it is no longer a pandemic but instead, an epidemic," WHO tells NPR.
But it emphasized that the characterization of the outbreak as a pandemic has no formal meaning under international law.
What does have a formal meaning is a "public health emergency of international concern" a status assigned to COVID-19 at the end of January 2020. That's the highest level of health alarm under international law.
WHO convenes an international committee every three months to determine if an outbreak should still be considered such a global health emergency. When it's over, WHO says it's over. That's what it did last summer regarding an Ebola outbreak in Africa.
But it will most likely be a while before that happens.
As WHO's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus frequently states: none of us will be safe until everyone is safe.
The Delta variant has spread just as fast through the U.S. as epidemiologists feared it would. It now accounts for more than half the cases in the U.S., and far more than that in certain states.
Lynn Goldman, an epidemiologist and dean of the school of public health at George Washington University, says the U.S. has certain things working for it, and some against it.
The good news is we've shown the ability to lower rates of transmission and deaths from the virus. And of course, Americans have widespread access to COVID-19 vaccines.
The bad news is there's resistance to the two main ways to prevent transmission getting vaccinated and wearing a mask.
"And unfortunately, those two attributes tend to coincide within the same people and within the same population subgroups," Goldman says. In other words, many of the same people who don't want to get a vaccine also don't want to wear a mask.
Graduates participated in a USC commencement ceremony at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in May. Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Imag hide caption
Graduates participated in a USC commencement ceremony at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in May.
As a result, Goldman says, we're likely to see continued transmission of the virus in the U.S., concentrated in the areas with lowest rates of vaccination.
The current vaccines are highly effective against COVID-19, including the Delta variant. That means vastly different outcomes for those who are vaccinated and those who aren't. Last month, for example, 92 people died of COVID-19 in the state of Maryland. All of them were unvaccinated.
The most precise indicators of progress or problems are very local.
National and even state-level metrics for infection or vaccination rates can be misleading, Mokdad says. A state's overall vaccination rate can disguise much lower numbers in certain pockets that remain highly vulnerable to outbreaks.
Low vaccination rates make it easier for fast-spreading variants to take hold.
While there are many ways to track progress (or not) in controlling the virus, Mokdad says one especially useful metric is hospitalizations.
"There is no way to make a mistake or underreport hospitalization for COVID-19, because everybody who goes to a hospital right now is being tested for COVID-19," says Mokdad.
That's in contrast to cases, which can go uncounted due to a lack of testing, and the number of deaths, which can spike weeks behind other indicators when an outbreak hits.
Accompanied by his family, a student gets vaccinated at a pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinic on Tuesday in Winnetka, Calif. Mario Tama/Getty Images hide caption
Accompanied by his family, a student gets vaccinated at a pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinic on Tuesday in Winnetka, Calif.
Even though U.S. cases are much improved from the peak, unvaccinated people will continue to die from COVID-19 until we successfully control transmission.
Experts say the next big challenge will come this winter. Another wave is expected as people move inside during colder months. There will likely be some outbreaks as students go back to school children under 12 are not yet eligible for the vaccines.
How dangerous the virus continues to be will depend on vaccination levels of the population and the lethality of the variant circulating when winter comes. How quickly a state or local government is willing to go back into restrictive measures like wearing masks indoors will play a role, too.
"For the short term, it will be seasonal, like what we see with the flu, simply because we don't have enough vaccine to vaccinate everybody in the world," Mokdad says.
If we do the right things like increasing production of the vaccine, he says, it's possible we eventually won't have to worry about COVID-19 anymore.
Goldman sees two possible scenarios for the U.S. in the near future.
One is that the virus evolves to more readily evade the vaccines that have been administered.
If that happens, she says, "then we'll have to go into a whole other round of re-vaccinating everybody." Drugmakers are already working on booster shots in case they become necessary.
On the other hand, that might not happen, and the current vaccines will continue to be highly effective.
In that case, Goldman believes that within the next several months "we'll see near elimination of the pandemic, certainly in the United States and Europe, other wealthy countries, Japan, Taiwan," while efforts will continue to immunize people in the rest of the world.
It's very likely, Goldman says, that even when we can say the pandemic is over, transmission will continue in parts of the country that have low rates of vaccination.
But one thing is clear. No matter what happens, the effects of the pandemic including long COVID, mental health issues, and economic fallout won't end when the official emergency does.
The coronavirus pandemic is not over. The trending Twitter hashtag #CovidisNotOver and fresh waves of outbreaks around the world have sent a strong message.
With increasingly transmissible COVID-19 variants including the delta and delta plus variants and the newer lambda variant becoming more prevalent and faltering vaccination campaigns, many places around the world are experiencing renewed outbreaks, reported the Deseret News.
Even previous pandemic success stories have begun to falter.
Currently, these are the top five worst outbreaks in the world.
Last week, the Southern African country of Namibia recorded the highest average rate of infections in the world, reported The Telegraph. Almost half of Namibias total COVID-19 cases have come in the last two months.
Mohammed Patel, a local paramedic, spoke to CNN about the straining health care system.
Delta has caused a whole lot of chaos, a whole lot of patients are suffering, their oxygen levels are dropping drastically daily there are patients that are suffering and there is no space in hospital, there is no ventilators available, Patel said. Its complete chaos.
According to Dr. Yakub Essack, the medical coordinator of a charity called Gift of Givers, the situation in Namibia is unlike any emergency situation hes ever dealt with.
In Thailand, coronavirus cases and deaths have more than doubled this week compared to last week, said Newsweek. Friday, the country reported more than 9,000 new cases and 72 new deaths, per Yahoo News. The health care system has begun to buckle under the increased demand.
The archipelago nation has now imposed a partial lockdown, but the restrictions are too little too late, said Newsweek. Cases are expected to continue rising.
Over the last two weeks, COVID-19 cases in Tunisia have increased by 138% to hit all-time highs, according to Our World in Data. Friday, Tunisia reported 9,823 new cases and 134 new deaths Thursday, per WHO data.
We are in a catastrophic situation, Nisaf Ben Alaya, a Tunisia health ministry spokesperson, said, per Al Jazeera. The health system collapsed.
The country has reimposed a total lockdown across most of the country and a partial lockdown on the capital, according to Al Jazeera. So far, only 4% of the population has received a coronavirus vaccination.
By absolute numbers, Indonesias outbreak is large and deadly. Previously called a coronavirus time bomb, the worlds fourth most populous country is being devastated by the current surge in cases, reported the Deseret News.
Hospitals have begun running low on or completely out of necessary oxygen. Some hospitals have temporarily closed or turned patients away due to staff and supply shortages, said The Guardian. One hospital even began using the front yard to treat emergency patients while using the building to isolate COVID-19 patients.
Thursday, Brazil reported the highest number of new COVID-19 cases and new deaths in the world, per WHO data. The country currently has the second-highest death toll in the world after the U.S., but experts predict that fatalities in Brazil will soon surpass the U.S., said BBC.
Professor Pedro Hallal, an epidemiologist leading the largest COVID-19 research study in Brazil, spoke to BBC about the outbreaks.
The Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna jabs have been linked to cases of mild heart inflammation - but the benefits still outweigh the risks, according to European and UK health agencies.
Myocarditis - inflammation of the heart muscle - and pericarditis - inflammation of the lining around the heart - have been observed in a small number of people who had the vaccines.
Both the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) say that younger men were most likely to see the complication, especially after their second jab.
Live COVID updates from the UK and around the world
The EMA and MHRA are recommending that healthcare professionals and the public be on the lookout for symptoms of heart inflammation in people who have had the two vaccines.
This includes chest pain, shortness of breath, palpitations and an irregular heartbeat.
Anyone with these symptoms who has been vaccinated should seek "immediate medical attention", the MHRA said.
But most cases were "mild" and people who reported the symptoms tended to recover with normal treatment and rest.
The Pfizer and Moderna jabs are mRNA vaccines, which work by training your body to recognise and destroy a particular part of the coronavirus called the spike protein, should you get infected with the real thing.
The MHRA says it has received 102 reports of inflammation following doses of the Pfizer jab, and seven cases following administration of the Moderna jab.
Roughly 18 million first and 11 million second doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been given out in the UK, while around 880,000 Moderna first doses have been given.
The EMA says, after 177 million total Pfizer doses were given out, 283 inflammation cases were reported.
And after 20 million Moderna doses, 38 inflammation cases were reported.
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While five of the European cases saw someone die, the EMA says these were all in older people or those with other conditions.
The cases were most commonly found in men under 40 and within 10 days of a second dose.
The majority of those recovered quickly with the normal treatments for myocarditis and pericarditis as well as rest.
The EMA is also making updates to list myocarditis and pericarditis as side effects of the jabs.
The MHRA said: "The COVID-19 vaccines remain highly effective in protecting people from COVID-19 and have already saved thousands of lives.
"These events are extremely rare and tend to be mild when they do occur.
"Our advice remains that the benefits of getting vaccinated outweigh the risks in the majority of people.
"It is still vitally important that people come forward for their first and second vaccination when invited to do so, unless advised otherwise."
No causal link has been found between the AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson shots and heart inflammation.
Another 31,772 COVID-19 cases and 26 deaths have been reported across the UK in the latest 24-hour period.
The figures, released on Sunday, compared with 32,367 cases and 34 deaths the day before - just below Friday's recorded cases when the highest number of infections since 22 January were recorded.
COVID cases in the past week have risen by just over 27% compared with the previous week while deaths have risen by two thirds.
Another 93,763 people had their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine in the UK on Saturday, taking the total to 45,881,721 - 87.1% of the adult population.
A total of 211,446 people had their second jab, meaning 34,764,511 (66% of adults) are now fully vaccinated.
The number of hospital admissions has more than doubled (56.6%) in the last week data is available for, with 563 people admitted to hospital on 6 July and 3,081 in the week to that date.
The latest statistics come eight days before most restrictions are due to be lifted in England as part of step four of the lifting of lockdown, although the final decision will be made on Monday.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson this week said the UK will have to learn to live with the virus as he hailed the success of the vaccine rollout and said the majority of those being admitted to hospital are unvaccinated.
But scientists have urged ministers to reconsider the plans as they described abandoning restrictions as a "dangerous and unethical experiment".
In a letter published in The Lancet, 122 British scientists said the exponential growth of the virus "will likely continue until millions more are infected, leaving hundreds of thousands with long-term illness and disability".
They also said they are concerned the strategy "provides fertile ground for the emergence of vaccine-resistant variants".
Mr Johnson said he wanted to move from "government diktat" towards personal responsibility, removing legal requirements for measures such as mask wearing.
