<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Officials in New York City this week&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12471305/NYC-Health-Department-tells-New-Yorkers-MASKING-Labor-Day-good-idea-new-Covid-variants-drive-infection-rates.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reportedly</a>&nbsp;urged residents to wear masks in public as a new strain of Covid-19 continues to spread throughout the country, while some hospitals and schools have also reimplemented mask mandates, though medical experts say masking requirements might not last long, and might not be necessary for the entire population.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan this week warned the virulent Ba.2.86 variant is “likely to evade immunity that has developed from vaccination or prior infection,” while a city health official told the Daily Mail it would be a “good idea” to mask up in crowded indoor places over the holiday weekend.



In Atlanta, Morris Brown College—a historically Black university—implemented a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/morris-brown-college-implements-two-week-covid-19-mask-mandate-as-cases-climb" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">two-week mask mandate</a>&nbsp;for all students and faculty last week as students move back on campus, also re-imposing social distancing amid “reports of positive cases among students.”



California-based healthcare facility Kaiser Permanente&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/kaiser-permanente-reinstates-covid-19-mask-mandate-amid-spike-in-cases-but/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reinstated</a>&nbsp;its mask mandate at its facilities in Santa Rosa, California last week “amid an uptick in patients testing positive,” while in New York, a group of hospitals also imposed mask mandates,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fox4news.com/news/citing-rising-covid-cases-these-us-hospital-systems-have-now-reinstated-mask-mandates" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">including</a>&nbsp;United Health Services, Auburn Community Hospital and University Hospital in Syracuse, New York.



In Santa Monica, California, Hollywood studio&nbsp;Lionsgate&nbsp;also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/hollywood-studio-covid-rates-mask-mandates-back-1235571466/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">requested</a>&nbsp;employees wear masks in certain parts of its facilities in response to a rise in cases last month.



A mask mandate is also in effect in&nbsp;<a href="https://sf.gov/information/know-when-masks-are-needed#:~:text=There%20are%20no%20longer%20masking,or%20people%20living%20in%20jails." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">San Francisco</a>&nbsp;for healthcare workers when around patients, as well as for employees at jails.



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-contra">CONTRA</h2>



Officials have been torn on mask mandate policies since the start of the pandemic, while studies have found mandates might not be a guaranteed safeguard from community-wide spread. George Washington University Dr. Leana Wen told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/31/health/labor-day-coronavirus-increase-wellness/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CNN</a>&nbsp;this week the decision to mask up also depends on an array of factors, including a person’s age and whether they’re at high risk of contracting the virus—she also said children in schools who are at low risk should not be required to mask up. When asked about Labor Day weekend precautions, Wen added people who didn’t cancel their plans last year probably don’t need to cancel them either, despite cases being on the rise.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



Vaccine boosters from drugmakers Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax are&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/08/21/new-covid-boosters-expected-this-fall-why-some-doctors-suggest-holding-off-on-getting-your-next-booster-until-then/?sh=6d037a70438b">expected</a>&nbsp;to be ready for use later this month and widely available in October, though they are still pending Food and Drug Administration approval. Those boosters, unlike their predecessors, target newer coronavirus strains, including the Eris strain and other XBB subvariants, adding to Americans’ arsenal to combat Covid, though only 17% of Americans have received the current bivalent booster shot,&nbsp;<a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations_vacc-people-booster-percent-pop5" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to</a>&nbsp;the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



15,067. That’s the number of Covid hospitalizations in the U.S. over the week ending August 19, an increase of 18.8% from the week before, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#maps_new-admissions-rate-county" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CDC data</a>. More than 6.27 million people in the U.S. have been hospitalized since the outbreak of the pandemic more than three years ago.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-chief-critic">CHIEF CRITIC</h2>



Despite the rise in cases, Republican lawmakers have slammed Covid mask mandates, with Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R)&nbsp;<a href="https://mailchi.mp/5dd152f9c1de/governor-tate-reeves-mask-mandates?e=ae3824fee2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">swearing off</a>&nbsp;potential mask orders, saying, “MIssissippians will not and should not submit to fear again.” In a&nbsp;<a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110979968873429026" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">video</a>&nbsp;posted on his social media platform Truth Social, former President Donald Trump argued mask mandates amounts to “fear mongering,” calling lawmakers “Covid tyrants,” and vowing: “We will not shut down our schools, we will not accept your lockdowns, we will not abide by your mask mandates and we will not tolerate your vaccine mandate.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/08/21/new-covid-boosters-expected-this-fall-why-some-doctors-suggest-holding-off-on-getting-your-next-booster-until-then/?sh=6d037a70438b">New Covid Boosters Expected This Fall: Why Some Doctors Suggest Holding Off On Getting Your Next Booster Until Then</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamhaseltine/2023/08/25/wastewater-analysis-update-on-ba286-in-the-united-states-its-here-be-careful/?sh=6ab2e5353cc0">Wastewater Analysis Update On BA.2.86 In The United States: It’s Here, Be Careful</a> (Forbes)

Business owner setting up face mask required sign in cafe window

Will Covid Mask Mandates Return? Here’s Where They’re Making A Comeback

Even the most unconventional businesses, such as a Cape Town candy shop, are selling masks to face off the economic crisis. 



In less than three weeks, ProudlySA’s newly-launched online portal for local manufacturers of masks hit 400 sellers. Collectively, these mask-makers have the capacity to produce around 14 million masks per week, says ProudlySA’s Deryn Graham, and those are only the manufacturers registered to the clothing sector’s National Bargaining Council.



Masks are a necessary accessory in the fight to prevent Covid-19 from spreading and companies around the world are shifting their core operations to crank out personal protection equipment (PPE).



Besides high-end designer brands like Louis Vuitton and Chanel now making eye-catching masks, many African businesses are pivoting their core operations to keep their businesses afloat.



“I decided to make masks purely to access a new revenue stream. I had been able to sell my socks online during the first level of lockdown, but I wasn’t authorized to ship them as they weren’t classified ‘essential goods’,” explains Chelsey Wilson, FEAT. sock co.’s co-founder and designer from Cape Town. What was holding Wilson back, initially, was that she didn’t want to make masks using generic, store-bought fabric.



“I wanted to keep true to my brand, which is all about bold and unique prints… I had to use custom-printed fabric I already had that made around 100 masks which all sold out in the space of three hours,” says Wilson, adding that given the demand, she should be able to sell around 300 masks a week going forward.



Jinae Heyns is the co-owner of Matsidiso, an ethical footwear and accessories brand with flagship stores in Stellenbosch and De Waterkant in Cape Town. For her, making masks was not a choice, it was a matter of survival: “We didn’t want to just make masks, we wanted to ensure that we were able to feed our team and do our part to support those who cannot easily afford or access proper masks.”



Matsidiso currently sells around 8,000 masks a month. Elastic is in low supply countrywide and what is left is being reserved for the medical industry. Matsidiso, which operates out of a family-run dancewear factory, uses lycra for their mask ties: “I care deeply about sustainable practices, and with masks, it’s no different. We have the material in-house,” adds Heyns.



Wendren Setzer from The Wren Design, a Muizenberg-based South African company that hand-makes environmentally-friendly bags and accessories using recycled cement packaging paper, had a unique challenge. With the capacity to create 1,000 masks a week, Setzer’s first obstacle was developing a paper prototype.



“We wondered how we could make a face mask out of paper? Several prototypes later, we developed two unique mask patterns. We also researched coatings and found a way to coat the paper to offer more – the paper is coated with Si02 and a second layer of SiAg02 is applied making the surface anti-microbial,” explains Setzer.



Although Cheaky Co traditionally sells confectionery, Lucas R Adams, its founder and Sea Point-resident in Cape Town, decided to launch two different masks into his online store.



“We’ve been selling weekly quantities within the hundreds,” says Adams. “There’s obviously been a massive spike in the production and sale of fabric face masks by those within textiles, but it soon dawned on us we hadn’t yet seen anyone within the food category offering them, so we thought, ‘why not add a small range for our community’? In the end, we thought that offering the option to add a mask to one’s cart when shopping our plant-based treats was a no-brainer…”



For many small businesses, the decision to make masks is the only way to potentially weather the pandemic. It’s about turning non-essential production lines into essential manufacturing businesses.



According to a Stanford University study, masks are the first step in reopening the economy (and may help with transitioning into a post-Covid world).



“These business owners are not only fighting for themselves; they do what they do to a great extent to ensure the safety of their entire team and because they want to see South Africa thrive. At the end of the day, these aren’t just masks, but actual protective gear that could help save a life,” ends Heyns.



-Tiana Cline

Wren_classic_masks

Start Of The Mask Economy

Equity Group Foundation, with support from Equity Bank, Mastercard Foundation, and the family of Dr James Mwangi, commit Ksh1.1 billion to support Kenya’s immediate needs to protect frontline medical staff.



Perhaps the most gratifying aspect of the coronavirus pandemic has been the concerted effort between corporates and individuals to forge partnerships and collaborations driven by a common purpose.&nbsp;



The Equity Group Foundation (EGF) and Mastercard Foundation are the latest in the line of big names pledging their robust support to help beat the pandemic in Africa.



They have just announced a commitment of Ksh1.1 billion to provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to frontline medical staff dealing with Covid-19 patients in public hospitals in Kenya.



Equity Bank (with Ksh300million), and the Mastercard Foundation (with Ksh500million), a long-time partner of EGF, are providing support as part of their Mastercard Foundation Covid-19 Recovery and Resilience Program.



The funding also includes a donation of Ksh300million from the family of Dr. James Mwangi, the Founding Chairman of EGF and Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Equity Group Holdings Plc. EGF will work in partnership with the Ministry of Health and the Covid-19 Emergency Response Fund in this endeavor.



Mwangi, also FORBES AFRICA’s Person of the Year&nbsp;in 2012, says about the initiative: “It started when my attention was drawn to a group of students and doctors who were raising funds for PPEs for young post-graduate students, especially in Kenyatta National and Referral Hospital (KNH).”



A member of Kenya’s Covid-19 Emergency Fund Board, he adds: “We invited the CEO of the Kenya Medical Association and a group of doctors from KNH and University of Nairobi where we established the need for PPEs for medical staff handling Covid-19 patients in the country. A team of seven was formed to help structure this initiative.”



This initiative will be to ensure availability of PPEs across the country as also scale up a mental wellness support system for medical staff.



Reeta Roy, President and CEO of the Mastercard Foundation says: “Healthcare workers are at the frontlines of caring for all of us, safeguarding community health. We must keep them safe. We are grateful this partnership meets the immediate needs precipitated by Covid-19, which the Foundation is prioritizing through our Mastercard Foundation Covid-19 Recovery and Resilience Program.” “We will endeavor to continue with our engagement and mobilization of our partners to extend our partnership towards procurement of diagnostic kits. We believe there is a chance for every Kenyan to get the support they require to overcome the Covid-19 infection,” concludes Mwangi.

49651099816_09e7ec6872_o

Big Names Back Covid-19 Response In Kenya

Topline: Apple will donate 9 million N95 protective masks to combat the coronavirus, Vice President Mike Pence said on Tuesday, making Apple one of several California tech companies pitching in as hospitals across the country report a shortage of protective gear.



<ul><li>Pence thanked Apple for agreeing to donate 9 million N95 respirator masks to healthcare facilities across the country during a press briefing on Tuesday.</li><li>Pence’s remarks come after Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted over the weekend the company was “working to help source supplies for healthcare providers fighting COVID-19” and “donating millions of masks for health professionals in the US and Europe,” but did not offer more specifics.</li><li>N95 respirators are masks that form a protective seal around a wearer’s mouth, filtering&nbsp; out at least 95% of particles in the air, according to the Centers for Disease Control, which makes them necessary to protect healthcare workers from being exposed to the disease from patients.</li><li>Facebook has also said it is donating its stockpile of 720,000 masks purchased during the California wildfires last year, which degraded the air quality in the San Francisco Bay Area.</li><li>Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;asking if all of the donated masks were stockpiled because of the wildfires or if the company got them from somewhere else.</li></ul>



Chief critic: Teddy Schleifer, a reporter at Recode, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/3/23/21191147/medical-masks-coronavirus-shortage-silicon-valley-donations-salesforce-apple-facebook-tesla" target="_blank">wrote</a> that health systems shouldn’t rely on the generosity of big tech companies to make up for the failures of the federal government. 



“But there is a risk in relying on corporate philanthropy—rather than the government—in solving this problem. For starters, it depends on the voluntary generosity of these companies to deal with an unprecedented emergency, an altruism that could vanish at any time,” he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/3/23/21191147/medical-masks-coronavirus-shortage-silicon-valley-donations-salesforce-apple-facebook-tesla" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wrote</a>.



Crucial quote: &#8220;And I spoke today, and the president spoke last week, with Tim Cook of Apple. And at this moment in time Apple went to their store houses and is donating 9 million N95 masks to healthcare facilities all across the country and to the national stockpile,” Pence said.



Key background: Apple is one of several California tech companies to give away N95 masks. In addition to Facebook, Salesforce, Tesla and IBM have also announced mask donations.



News peg: Doctors and nurses are sounding the alarm that they don’t have enough masks to protect healthcare workers. Not only does inadequate protective gear put important frontline health workers at risk, public health experts say, any situation endangering medical personnel may only further depletes the U.S. health system which already doesn’t have enough capacity to handle a surge in cases. State officials in New York and Illinois have criticized President Donald Trump for not stepping in to force companies to manufacture masks or allocate masks from private companies to ensure that states don’t <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-cuomo-says-states-are-bidding-up-cost-of-supplies-2020-3" target="_blank">outbid</a> each other for the same supplies. 



&#8211;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/">Rachel Sandler</a>, Forbes Staff, Breaking News

Tag: Masks

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

Will Covid Mask Mandates Return? Here’s Where They’re Making A Comeback

Start Of The Mask Economy

Big Names Back Covid-19 Response In Kenya

Apple Is Donating 9 Million Masks To Combat The Coronavirus