Tag: face masks

‘More Masks Than Jellyfish’: Covid Mask Pollution Is Destroying Ocean Ecosystems, Wildlife

While Covid face mask mandates have proved lucrative for governments, the pharmaceutical and PPE industries, and health officials, they have taken a devastating toll on the world’s oceans and wildlife according to ecological and environmental experts.

An extensive study from marine preservation group OceansAsia found that “the number of masks entering the environment on a monthly basis as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic is staggering.”

“From a global production projection of 52 billion masks for 2020, we estimate that 1.56 billion masks will enter our oceans in 2020, amounting to between 4,680 and 6,240 metric tonnes of plastic pollution,” OceansAsia reported. “These masks will take as long as 450 years to break down and all the while serve as a source of micro plastic and negatively impact marine wildlife and ecosystems.”

“Every single visit we find more masks,” OceansAsia’ Teale Phelps Bondaroff said, noting that since many masks are shredded and covered in algae, they may be consumed by fish and ocean creatures that mistakes the masks as food.

The global face masks market value was roughly $790 million in 2019, but exploded to over $166 billion by the end of 2020.

In a Facebook post from early in the mask and lockdown cycle, Operation Clean Sea nonprofit founder Laurent Lombard warned, “Knowing that over 2 billion disposable masks have been ordered, soon there are likely to be more masks than jellyfish in the waters of the Mediterranean…!”

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Oregon Health Officials Propose Making Mask Mandates Permanent

Oregon state health officials unveiled a new proposal in January which seeks to make temporary mask mandates permanent.

The current order, passed in November by the state’s workplace safety department, which requires all employers to implement state-imposed guidelines for social distancing and mask compliance, is set to expire on May 4. Oregon health bureaucrats are now seeking to make the rules permanent.

“Although the rule must be adopted as a permanent rule, its purpose is to address the COVID-19 pandemic,” the proposal reads. “Oregon [Occupational Safety and Health] intends to repeal the rule when it is no longer necessary to address the pandemic.”

No threshold for what constitutes when the mandate is “no longer necessary” however, is offered in the proposal.

New COVID cases in Oregon meanwhile, are averaging less than half what they were when the temporary order came into effect last fall. The state saw 769 new cases with a seven-day average of 603 positive tests the day to order was announced on Nov. 6 as they began to rise going into the Thanksgiving holiday.

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John Kerry Caught Flouting Airline Mask Rule While Flying First Class

Joe Biden’s ‘Climate Envoy’ John Kerry violated CDC mandates by removing his mask almost immediately after boarding a first class flight from Boston to DC.

The former Secretary of State didn’t even wait until the plane took off before removing his face covering in violation of both American Airlines’ policy and a CDC mandate requiring masks on flights.

As the Tennessee Star highlighted, Kerry literally let the mask slip as he began to read a book.

“He was not eating, nor drinking. He was simply flaunting Biden’s mandatory mask policy,” tweeted reporter Neil W. McCabe.

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