Mask

• For the year to December 2023, in England COVID rates peaked at around one in 24 people.
• During the same month, Singapore also experienced record COVID cases and a spike in hospitalisations.
• COVID, then, is still a major public health problem, accounting for 10,000 deaths in 50 countries and a 42% increase in hospitalisations during December 2023 alone.
• COVID may not be a global health emergency at the moment, but it is still killing and harming far too many people worldwide.

How to fight COVID complacency

• In future campaigns, boosters should be offered more broadly.
• Cleaner air is essential for public health and will have benefits that extend beyond COVID.
• Good ventilation can not only reduce the spread of COVID and other respiratory viruses, but can generally help reduce indoor air pollution, and can even improve things such as school attendance and concentration in the classroom.

• Existing evidence suggests that masks do work to help reduce the transmission of COVID.
• We can still live with COVID and at the same time respect, and try to reduce, the harm it can cause.

Simon Nicholas Williams has received funding from Senedd Cymru, Public Health Wales and the Wales Covid Evidence Centre for research on COVID-19, and has consulted for the World Health Organization. However, this article reflects the views of the author only, in his academic capacity at Swansea University, and no funding or organizational bodies were involved in the writing or content of this article.

• Maybe it was delivering pizza, bagging groceries, busing tables or doing landscaping work.
• Chances are, you didn’t – and your boss or supervisor just told you to get to work.
• In 2021, 398 workers under 25 died after getting injured on the job.

Physical and cognitive limitations

• Work is more dangerous for young people because they’ve simply had less time to become aware of many common workplace hazards than their older co-workers.
• It’s also important to remember that bodies and brains continue to develop well into adulthood – up to age 25.
• In addition to physical changes that occur during adolescence, the brain is also developing and restructuring into early adulthood.
• They also engage in risky behaviors both on and off the job that may affect their performance at work.

Weaker protections in some states

• Duvan Tomas Perez, for example, died on the job while cleaning machinery in the Mar-Jac Poultry plant in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in August 2023.
• So was Michael Schuls, who died in June 2023 while attempting to unjam a wood-stacking machine at Florence Hardwoods, a Wisconsin lumber company.
• The Labor Department found 4,474 children employed in violation of federal child labor laws between Oct. 1, 2022, and July 20, 2023.
• Employers, including McDonald’s and Sonic fast-food franchisees, owed more than $6.6 million in penalties as a result.

3 steps employers can take

• In addition to following the law, I believe that employers and supervisors need to address the unique risks to young workers by taking these necessary steps: • Provide training on how to do tasks safely and supervise young workers until key tasks have been mastered.
• Remember that young workers often learn by watching their bosses and co-workers, whose actions can reinforce safety expectations and build a culture of safety.
• • Take into account a worker’s abilities when assigning tasks, and check in on them regularly, especially when switching tasks.

Diane Rohlman receives funding from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

• This voluntary field correction does not require a return of a mask with magnets unless the patient is contraindicated.
• All ResMed masks containing magnets are safe when used in accordance with the Field Safety Notice and updated Instructions for Use in the guides of affected masks.
• Refer to the ResMed Magnet Update website for more information about the updates issued to contraindications and warning labels.
• ResMed voluntarily updated its contraindications and warning labels in response to new information obtained through post-market surveillance and industry practices.

• Marketing agency CNCOM CO. LTD (C&COM) partnered with Hanul Worldwide, a leading distributor of food and lifestyle goods in the Philippines, hosted the successful 'Hi Seoul K-Beauty & Food Product Showcase' at Sequoia Quezon City in Metro Manila.
• View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231219459079/en/
  Celebrating the success of the Philippine K-Beauty & Food Showcase are key participants, including Kim Taekyun, CEO of C&COM (third from left, front row), and Kim Sunghwan, CEO of Hanul Worldwide (fourth from left, front row).
• (Photo: C&COM)
  Six Hi Seoul-certified companies, producers of high-quality cosmetics and food products, participated in the showcase, alongside five local distribution companies aiming to enter the Philippine market.
• This event, even with its virtual aspect, provided invaluable opportunities to connect with promising Philippine distributors and explore export potential."