�������ýҕ�l

More Americans may be wearing masks than early last spring, but other recommended behaviors to stop the pandemic's spread haven't kept pace, according to a new federal survey. And young people are the least likely to take needed steps to stop the virus, the data suggest. ... But the survey found either no change or a decline in other behaviors aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus, such as hand-washing, social distancing and avoiding public or crowded places. (Stein, 10/27)

As the coronavirus pandemic has worn on, an increasing percentage of adults have reported wearing face masks in an effort to combat the spread of COVID-19, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But, while mask-wearing has gone up, all other reported mitigation behaviors, like hand-washing, physical distancing and avoiding public or crowded places, slightly decreased or remained unchanged. (Weixel, 10/27)

The refusal to go along with expert health guidance has persisted even in parts of the country that are seeing soaring caseloads and hospitalizations. That was driven home this week when the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, Deborah Birx, toured North Dakota, which has had more coronavirus infections per capita than any other state and over the past month has experienced a stunning surge in hospitalizations and deaths. What Birx witnessed dismayed her.“Over the last 24 hours, as we were here and we were in your grocery stores and in your restaurants and frankly, even in your hotels, this is the least use of masks that we have seen in retail establishments of any place we have been,” Birx told reporters Monday after participating in a round table with Republican Gov. Doug Burgum, according to the Bismarck Tribune. (Achenbach and Rozsa, 10/27)

The Maine orchard where President Trump made an unplanned campaign stop over the weekend said it regrets the event grew so large, with many in attendance not wearing masks or practicing social distancing. "We share the concerns of many over the size of the gathering, lack of social distancing and mask wearing during the event. We were told this would be a small, unpublicized, surprise, private, photo op which gave us no cause for alarm," Treworgy Family Orchards in Levant, Maine, said in a statement issued Tuesday. (Mastrangelo, 10/27)

A Fallston man was arrested after refusing to wear a face mask inside a polling place on the first day of early voting in Maryland, according to charging documents. Daniel Swain, 52, was charged with trespassing and failure to comply with a health emergency. The Harford County Sheriff’s Office said deputies arrested him Monday after he refused to leave the Jarrettsville Volunteer Fire Company. Swain, along with his 22-year-old son, had come to the firehouse to vote, but the pair refused to wear masks, according to the documents. (Opilo and Oxenden, 10/27)

When Jessica Hill and her sister, Jayla, tried to walk into a shoe store in Chicago on Sunday, a security guard asked the pair to put on masks and use store-provided hand sanitizer. Instead, prosecutors said, they refused and brutally attacked the guard, with Jayla, 18, eventually grabbing the man’s hair while Jessica, 21, stabbed him 27 times. The guard eventually escaped and helped keep the sisters in the store until police arrested them. At a hearing on Tuesday, a judge with the Circuit Court of Cook County ordered the sisters to be held without bond on charges of first-degree attempted murder. (Peiser, 10/28)

Maybe this new polling from Ipsos will restore some of your faith in the common sense of your fellow humans. The polling shows that people mostly know truth from nonsense when it comes to the coronavirus. The people who call, email and tweet conspiracy absurdities may be the loudest, meanest and the least informed, but they are a distant minority. Most people get it. (LaFormer, 10/28)