Tag: face masks

HOMELAND SECURITY WORRIES COVID-19 MASKS ARE BREAKING FACIAL RECOGNITION, LEAKED DOCUMENT SHOWS

WHILE DOCTORS AND politicians still struggle to convince Americans to take the barest of precautions against Covid-19 by wearing a mask, the Department of Homeland Security has an opposite concern, according to an “intelligence note” found among the BlueLeaks trove of law enforcement documents: Masks are breaking police facial recognition.

The rapid global spread and persistent threat of the coronavirus has presented an obvious roadblock to facial recognition’s similar global expansion. Suddenly everyone is covering their faces. Even in ideal conditions, facial recognition technologies often struggle with accuracy and have a particularly dismal track record when it comes to identifying faces that aren’t white or male. Some municipalities, startled by the civil liberties implications of inaccurate and opaque software in the hands of unaccountable and overly aggressive police, have begun banning facial recognition software outright. But the global pandemic may have inadvertently provided a privacy fix of its own — or for police, a brand new crisis.

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Wearing mask causes “stress and anxiety” for people with claustrophobia

To mask or not to mask, that is the question for many before leaving the safety of their home during the global pandemic.

But for some, the decision to wear a mask isn’t as simple as yes or no. For some, it’s a full-on battle with their mental health.

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Elderly Man Shot Dead by Police After Refusing to Wear a Mask in Grocery Store

The debate over face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic has torn friendships apart, pitted family members against each other, and even led to an innocent bus driver being beaten to death in France by a group of thugs who became angry when he said it was the law they put on their masks. Now, a 73-year-old man has been killed after an incident sparked from a mask dispute. This time, it was the mask refuser on the end of the violence.

According to police, they were called out to the Valu-Mart in Minden, Ont. just after 8 a.m. last Wednesday because an elderly man wanted to shop without wearing his mask. It is unclear at this point whether or not the man had a medical condition which prevented him from wearing a mask. What is clear, however, is that his choice not to wear one would set off a chain of events leading to his untimely death at the hands of police.

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Nonpharmaceutical Measures for Pandemic Influenza in Nonhealthcare Settings—Personal Protective and Environmental Measures


Disposable medical masks (also known as surgical masks) are loose-fitting devices that were designed to be worn by medical personnel to protect accidental contamination of patient wounds, and to protect the wearer against splashes or sprays of bodily fluids (36). There is limited evidence for their effectiveness in preventing influenza virus transmission either when worn by the infected person for source control or when worn by uninfected persons to reduce exposure. Our systematic review found no significant effect of face masks on transmission of laboratory-confirmed influenza.

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