News Information and Media Site: The pivot to double-masking

THE BIG STORY

What is double-masking? Here's how it can keep you safer from the coronavirus.

With the news being dominated by coronavirus variants that are reportedly more contagious, it's time to revisit the steps we are taking to protect ourselves.

You may have heard people talking about shifting to "double-masking." Experts told us that in particularly risky situations, double-masking or upgrading to an N95 respirator, is a good idea.

But is one cloth mask still effective? Here's how one expert put it: "The philosophy that one mask is good, two masks are better is probably true. I would prefer that somebody wore one mask properly than two masks improperly, but if you can wear two masks properly, that's great."

Experts focused on fit. Whatever you wear, they said, should fit snugly around your face.

One doctor recommended people who are more at risk of severe illness, work indoors around other people, or live in areas where COVID-19 transmission is high wear a cloth mask on top of a surgical one or insert a filter in between two cloth layers.

Here's everything you need to know about double-masking.

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STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

Biden just repealed one of Trump's major anti-abortion policies

The "global gag rule" has existed for decades. It bans international groups that receive US aid from performing, facilitating, or even discussing abortion.

Since Ronald Reagan applied the rule in 1984, it has become a predictable ritual for every Democratic president to repeal it and every Republican to reinstate it.

But here's the thing: when former president Donald Trump came into office, he reinstated and expanded it significantly. As a consequence, not only did thousands of international aid organizations cut their reproductive healthcare programs, but they then had to cut off any organizations they helped fund that discussed abortion.

On Thursday, Joe Biden repealed the rule, making it easier for organizations abroad to receive the funding they need to provide reproductive healthcare services.

SNAPSHOTS

Progressives are just getting started on their fight to abolish the Senate filibuster. A number of progressive groups are making the first big fight of Joe Biden's presidency about Senate procedure. They're warning that Biden's agenda could collapse if Democrats don't change the Senate.

They had six COVID vaccines left and they were stuck in the snow — so they started knocking on car windows. A team of Oregon health officials got stuck on a snowy highway — with six Moderna vaccine shots that could soon expire. So they got to work looking for other stranded motorists who might want a surprise vaccine.

A pediatrician with terminal cancer killed another pediatrician and himself during a hostage situation. Bharat Narumanchi died by suicide after fatally shooting a beloved Austin pediatrician, Katherine Lindley Dodson, during a hostage situation at a children's medical center.

Legendary actor Cicely Tyson has died at age 96. Tyson became a legend over decades of turning down stereotypical roles for Black women and instead forging a path with nuanced characters that led to household name status. From Zendaya to Viola Davis, really moving tributes rolled in. Here's her incredible career in photos.

Tyson poses for a portrait in 1973. Michael Ochs Archives

LEFT UNPREPARED

Hollywood is leaving COVID safety to ill-prepared assistants who say they have no idea what they're doing

It wasn't long before Hollywood studios started filming again during the pandemic. Productions are expensive, and it drains resources to stay paused for too long. One thing some studios did as the cameras started rolling again: they hired crew responsible for COVID safety.

The people hired for these roles say they have not been adequately prepared. Lack of resources and proper training, conflicting messages from executives, and no industry standards have pushed some of the people in charge of keeping Hollywood's sets safe to the breaking point. Others have had to make up the rules as they go just to keep the train from going off the track.

One COVID safety liaison for a Warner Bros. show told us that the executives "sit in their at-home offices and issue these mandates, but we have to deal with the crew's fears and complaints."

A COVID compliance assistant working on an Amazon Studios show said, "I have no formal training. I have no medical training. I don't know anything more or less about coronavirus than the next person."

PUT THE TEA ON

Clear the schedule for these weekend longreads

JoJo Siwa's coming out showed how Gen Z is doing it differently. The children's entertainer announced she is queer in a way that feels different from the past. Lauren Strapagiel reflects on how it "shows how much coming out has evolved past my outdated millennial comfort zone."

Why Promising Young Woman's dark message is so powerful. The movie has been making waves, particularly for its subject matter and ending. In an essay that contains significant spoilers, Alessa Dominguez writes about why the film's take on power and trauma is deeper than the usual pop feminism.

The Real Housewives has a lesbian problem. Even before Braunwyn Windham-Burke came out, most of her RHOC castmates weren't exactly supportive of her attraction to women. Shannon Keating asks, why is the franchise still condoning so much casual anti-LGBTQ prejudice?

Be intentional about how you unwind and recover today,

Elamin

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