Kansas tested whether mask mandates decrease COVID-19 cases. The results were clear Do we really have to ask anymore if masks slow the spread of the coronavirus? kansascity

Do masks work? Better yet, do we really need to ask?

Apparently so.

OK. But as the national debate on whether masks inhibit the spread of COVID-19 goes on far beyond its logical conclusion, what should be a new closing argument has just been made. In Kansas, of all places.

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Confirmed coronavirus cases in the world reach 20 million. PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The confirmed number of coronavirus cases in the world has reached 20 million. That’s according to the tally kept by Johns Hopkins University. Health officials... AP NEWS

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Vilified, threatened with violence and in some cases suffering from burnout, dozens of state and local public health leaders around the U.S. have resigned or have been fired amid the coronavirus outbreak, a testament to how politically combustible masks, lockdowns and infection data have become.

Six to eight weeks. That’s how long some of the nation’s leading public health experts say it would take to finally get the United States’ coronavirus epidemic under control. If the country were to take the right steps, many thousands of people could be spared from the ravages of Covid-19. The economy could finally begin to repair itself, and Americans could start to enjoy something more like normal life.

America’s Obesity Epidemic Threatens Effectiveness of Any COVID Vaccine Vaccines engineered to protect the public from influenza, hepatitis B, tetanus and rabies are less effective for obese people, leaving them more vulnerable to serious illness. As scientists race to… sarahmvarney Kaiser Health News

For a world crippled by the coronavirus, salvation hinges on a vaccine.

But in the United States, where at least 4.6 million people have been infected and nearly 155,000 have died, the promise of that vaccine is hampered by a vexing epidemic that long preceded COVID-19: obesity.

The lost days of summer: How Trump fell short in containing the virus A politics-first, science-second attitude has become pervasive inside the White House — championed first and foremost by the president — as the pandemic rages out of control. Philip Rucker, Yasmeen Abutaleb, Josh Dawsey, Robert Costa Washington Post

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US reports show racial disparities in kids with COVID-19 NEW YORK (AP) — Racial disparities in the U.S. coronavirus epidemic extend to children, according to two sobering government reports released Friday. One of the Centers for Disease Control... AP NEWS

NEW YORK (AP) — Racial disparities in the U.S. coronavirus epidemic extend to children, according to two sobering government reports released Friday.