More Than 1.5B COVID Face Masks Will Pollute the Oceans: Study

An estimated 1.5 billion disposable face masks will end up in the oceans this year according to a Hong Kong-based conservation organization.

OceansAsia based its estimate on 52 billion masks being manufactured in 2020 to meet the demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Their report also says that a “conservative” calculation means at least 3 percent of them will be washed out to sea.

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Tourists Littering National Parks With Discarded Facemasks

Some are calling single-use face masks the new plastic bottle. Disposable masks are now becoming litter throughout the National Parks across the United States and visitors are littering the land and ancient caves.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic,129 billion face masks have been used each month globally, according to some estimates.

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List of National Retail Chains Requiring Masks Is Growing

Target, CVS Health and Publix Super Markets on Thursday joined the growing list of national chains that will require customers to wear face masks regardless of where cities or states stand on the issue.

Target’s mandatory face mask policy will go into effect Aug. 1, and all CVS stores will begin requiring them on Monday. Publix Super Markets Inc., based in Lakeland, Florida, said that its rule will kick in on Tuesday at all 1,200 stores.

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Walmart to Require Face Masks for All Customers

Walmart will require all customers to wear face coverings inside its stores beginning July 20, the company announced Wednesday.

“As the number of confirmed cases has spiked in communities across the country recently, so have the number and types of face covering mandates being implemented,” the retailer said in a press release.

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Biden Floats Issuing an Executive Order Requiring Every American to Wear Masks

Former Vice President Joe Biden floated the idea Thursday of issuing an executive order requiring all Americans to wear masks to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Wearing a mask can make the difference between life and death in some circumstances, Biden told a CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee suggested that making masks a requirement could help reduce cases and deaths.

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