Skip to content

Pennsylvania Governor Asks All Residents to Wear Masks in Public

US Ambassador Calls on Countries to Release Religious Prisoners Amid Pandemic

The U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom called on governments to release their religious prisoners amid the current pandemic. One of the countries singled out by the ambassador was China. “It’s a good public health move for their nations and it’s morally obviously the right thing to do. We, unfortunately, have a number of religious prisoners around the world in various countries that are being held,” ambassador Sam Brownback said during a briefing on April 2. He explained that COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP virus, could easily spread in prisons given the tight space. The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus as the CCP virus because the Party’s coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China and create a global pandemic. Brownback called on several…

Pennsylvania Governor Asks All Residents to Wear Masks in Public

Pennsylvania residents are suggested to wear a cloth mask in public to curb the spread of COVID-19, said Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday, becoming the first U.S. governor to make such a recommendation.

Wolf noted that the Trump administration is readying guidelines on wearing face masks and called on Pennsylvanians to make their own and wear them when they are out in public, namely at the grocery store, pharmacy, and other places where people gather.

“Wearing a mask will help us cut down the possibility that we might be infecting an innocent bystander, like that grocery store cashier, the pharmacist, or someone stocking shelves,” Wolf said during a video news conference, via WPVI. “These folks are keeping us alive by getting us the supplies we need. We owe it to them to do everything we can to keep them safe. Right now, that means wearing a mask.”

Amid a shortage of N95 respirators during the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) virus pandemic, residents should not buy them, he said. Those masks should be reserved for healthcare workers, the governor said.

Wolf added in the news conference that masks are not a substitute for the social distancing measures that were put in place.

“Masks help prevent people from sharing illnesses. But, they don’t do a great job at keeping people from getting sick and they’re not foolproof, so it is critical that our first act is to ask ourselves if we really need to leave our house. If we don’t really, truly need to leave, then we shouldn’t,” he said.

Homemade Masks

The state’s Department of Health posted guidance (pdf) on “homemade masks” on its website.

“Homemade masks made out of fabric and cloth are not considered” personal protective equipment, according to the website.

Pennsylvania Governor Asks All Residents to Wear Masks in Public A shopper and cashier both wear masks and gloves and the cashier also has on a plastic visor at the checkout station Pat’s Farms grocery store in Merrick, New York, on March 31, 2020. (Al Bello/Getty Images)

But homemade masks such as a scarf or bandana can limit the spread of droplets containing the CCP virus.

“When a homemade mask can鈥檛 be acquired a scarf or bandana can be utilized. By implementing community use of these homemade fabric or cloth masks, everyone will have a higher degree of protection from this virus,” the department said.

Wearing such a mask, the department said, might be helpful for shopping at essential businesses, visiting a doctor or hospital, using public transportation, interacting with people at businesses, or when feeling sick.

“Because homemade masks protect everyone else from the droplets created by the wearer, it is important that as many people as possible wear these masks when leaving their homes. This helps prevent those who may be infectious but are only mildly symptomatic or not symptomatic from spreading the virus to others in the community. Everyone should remember the phrase ‘my mask protects you, your mask protects me,’” it said.

There are also online tutorials for making face masks on YouTube and on other websites. Online retailers, including Etsy, are selling cloth masks.

So far, more than 8,400 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the state, while more than 100 deaths have been reported, according to online tallies.

This article is from the Internet:Pennsylvania Governor Asks All Residents to Wear Masks in Public

China Probes Alleged Fraud at Luckin Coffee, Banks Review IPO Work

HONG KONG/BEIJING—China’s securities regulator said on April 3 it would investigate claims of fraud at Luckin Coffee Inc., and sources said some of the banks involved in the Chinese chain’s successful U.S. IPO last year were reviewing their work in the listing. Shares of Luckin, which competes in China with Starbucks Corp, sank as much as 81 percent on Thursday in New York after it announced an internal investigation had shown its chief operating officer and other employees fabricated sales deals. The company said it had suspended COO Jian Liu and employees reporting to him, following initial recommendations from a special committee that was appointed to investigate issues in its financial statements for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2019. The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said on Friday it…