Follow our live coronavirus updates HERE Coronavirus: The symptoms

Read our live coronavirus updates HERE

Follow our live coronavirus updates here Coronavirus: the symptoms

Follow our live coronavirus updates here

Confusion over whether face masks would reduce the spread of Covid-19 in public places deepened today as a minister suggested that there may not be enough to go round even if scientists recommend their use on public transport and in offices.

France is "very likely" to make face masks compulsory on busy trains and buses, a minister indicated today.

The Scottish Government has recommended wearing face masks in enclosed public spaces like shops and public transport to stop the spread of coronavirus.

Mike Pence chose not to wear a face mask during a tour of a US hospital despite the medical centre's own rules stating that visitors should wear personal protective equipment.

Design and technology teachers have made more than 200,000 pieces of protective equipment for frontline NHS workers, new figures reveal.

Wearing face masks in public may be "useful" when the UK's lockdown restrictions are eased, the Prime Minister has said.

Disney has said it will donate one million face masks to children in vulnerable communities to help fight the spread of coronavirus.

Eurostar says all its passengers must wear face masks from Monday as a safeguard against the coronavirus.

Ministers have been urged to "get ahead of the game" by assuring the public about what their plans are for stockpiling face masks before lockdown measures are eased.

Military-style discipline will be needed from every individual to get the country safely back to work, the Defence Secretary said today as ministers started preparing to modify the two-metre social distancing rule.

Heartless thieves have stolen 80,000 face masks from a Manchester warehouse which were meant to be used by NHS and frontline workers fighting coronavirus.

UK arrivals could be told to self-isolate for 14-days PM will reportedly recommend face masks while at work or on public transport More money will be set aside for cycle lanes to limit rush hour travel

David Keys speaks to scientists and health experts about the new tools that could help in the fight against Covid-19 and future coronavirus outbreaks

In this week's issue of our environment newsletter, we look at the sustainability of different types of face masks and how orphan oil and gas wells in Alberta could be converted into green energy projects.

Apple will reopen stores in four states next week with precautions such as temperature checks, face masks and social distancing.

The designer also shared the pattern online

It's the first European airline to make face masks mandatory for passengers

Fashionable face masks with philanthropic flair

Soap fans rejoice - you can now purchase themed face masks that feature your favourite soap characters from Corrie, EastEnders and more

People ignoring CDC guidelines are ‘ruining it for everyone’

EBay is refusing listings for N95 and N100 masks, hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes and says it's working to remove listings with inflated prices.

Indications are emerging about the plan the Prime Minister will set out on Sunday for lifting the lockdown in England.

Health professionals are incensed by dramatic price increases for face masks and other protective equipment by one of Australia's largest medical supply companies.

The federal government has suspended shipments of N95 respirators from a Montreal-based supplier after about eight million of the masks made in China failed to meet specifications. 

There is no baseball being played in the US because of coronavirus, but a manufacturer of the uniforms worn in the Major League is now using the same fabric to make protective clothing in the fight against the pandemic.

As more states reopen their economies, officials say fighting the coronavirus outbreak means wearing a face covering. But some are balking at restrictions.

Switching products to suit the times: the floor tile manufacturer now making masks for the NHS.

In the era of COVID-19, surgical masks are a necessity for all healthcare workers and an effective way to curtail the spread of the virus within the general public. Since surgical masks are still in relatively short supply, companies and researchers have been working on ways to make available masks last longer. Cleanbox Technology, based […]

by J. David McSwane

The Transportation Security Administration ignored guidance from the Department of Homeland Security and internal pushback from two agency officials when it stockpiled more than 1.3 million N95 respirator masks instead of donating them to hospitals, internal records and interviews show.

Internal concerns were raised in early April, when COVID-19 cases were growing by the thousands and hospitals in some parts of the country were overrun and desperate for supplies. The agency held on to the cache of life-saving masks even as the number of people coming through U.S. airports dropped by 95% and the TSA instructed many employees to stay home to avoid being infected. Meanwhile, other federal agencies, including the Department of Veterans Affairs’ vast network of hospitals, scrounged for the personal protective equipment that doctors and nurses are dying without.

“We don’t need them. People who are in an infectious environment need them. Nobody is flying,” Charles Kielkopf, a TSA attorney based in Columbus, Ohio, told ProPublica. “You don’t take things for yourself. It’s the wrong thing to do.”

Kielkopf shared a copy of an official whistleblower complaint he filed Monday. In it, he alleges the agency had engaged in gross mismanagement that represented a “substantial and specific danger to public health.”

TSA has not required its screeners to wear N95s, which require fitting and training to use properly, and internal memos show most are using surgical masks, which are more widely available but are less effective and lack the same filtering ability.

Kielkopf raised a red flag last month about the TSA’s plan to store N95 respirators it had been given by Customs and Border Protection, which found more than a million old but usable masks in an Indiana warehouse. Both agencies are overseen by DHS. That shipment added to 116,000 N95s the TSA had left over from the swine flu pandemic of 2009, a TSA memo shows. While both stockpiles were older than the manufacturer’s recommended shelf life, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that expired masks remain effective against spreading the virus.

Kielkopf and another TSA official in Minnesota suggested that the agency send its N95 masks to hospitals in early April, records show. Instead, TSA quietly stored many of them in its warehouse near the Dallas-Fort Worth airport and dispersed the rest to empty airports across the nation.

“We need to reserve medical masks for health care workers,” Kielkopf said, “not TSA workers who are behind an X-ray machine.”

The Number of Travelers Passing TSA Checkpoints Has Dropped to Historic Lows

The TSA didn’t provide answers to several detailed questions sent by ProPublica, but spokesman Mark Howell said in an email that the agency’s “highest priority is to ensure the health, safety and security of our workforce and the American people.”

“With the support of CBP and DHS, in April, TSA was able to ensure a sufficient supply of N95 masks would be available for any officer who chose to wear one and completed the requisite training,” the statement read.

“We are continuing to acquire additional personal protective equipment for our employees to ensure both their and the traveling public’s health and safety based on our current staffing needs, and as supplies become available,” TSA said.

A review of federal contracting data shows the agency has mostly made modest purchases such as a $231,000 purchase for gallons of disinfectant, but has not reported any new purchases of N95s.

An internal TSA memo last month said the surplus of N95s was expected to last the agency about 30 days, but the same memo noted that estimate did not account for the drastic decline in security officers working at airports. ProPublica asked how long the masks were actually going to last, accounting for the decreased staffing levels.

“While we cannot provide details on staffing, passenger throughput and corresponding operations have certainly decreased,” the TSA statement said.

The trade journal Government Executive reported this week that internal TSA records showed most employee schedules have been “sharply abbreviated,” while an additional 8,000 security screeners are on paid leave over concerns that they could be exposed to the virus.

More than 500 TSA employees have tested positive for COVID-19, the agency reported, and five have died.

The CDC has not recommended the use of N95s by TSA staff, records show, but that doesn’t mean workers who have or want to wear them can’t.

In one April 7 email, DHS Deputy Under Secretary for Management Randolph D. Alles sent guidance to TSA officials, urging them to wear homemade cloth face coverings and maintain social distancing. But the N95s, which block 95% of particles that can transmit the virus, were in notoriously short supply and should be “reserved” for health care workers.

“The CDC has given us very good information about how to make masks that are suitable, so that we can continue to reserve medical masks and PPE for healthcare workers battling the COVID-19 pandemic,” Alles wrote.

But two days later, on April 9, Cliff Van Leuven, TSA’s federal security director in Minnesota, followed up and asked why he had been sent thousands of masks despite that guidance.

“I just received 9,000 N-95 masks that I have very little to no need for,” he said in the email, which was first reported by Government Executive. “We’ve made N95s available to our staff and, of the officers who wear masks, they overwhelmingly prefer the surgical masks we just received after a couple months on back order.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz had publicly asked that anyone who had PPE donate their surplus to the state’s Department of Health, Van Leuven said in the email to senior TSA staff.

“I’d like to donate the bulk of our current stock of N-95s in support of that need and keep a small supply on hand,” he wrote, adding the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport had screened fewer than 1,500 people the previous day, about a third of which were airport staff.

Van Leuven declined to comment, referring questions to a TSA spokesperson.

Later that day, Kielkopf forwarded the concerns to TSA attorneys in other field offices, trying to get some attention to the stockpile he felt would be better used at hospitals.

“I am sharing with you some issues we are having with n95 masks in Minnesota,” he wrote. “And the tension between our increasing supply of n95 masks at our TSA airport locations and the dire need for them in the medical community.”

Weeks went by, and finally, on May 1, Kielkopf wrote: “I have been very disappointed in our position to keep tens of thousands of n95 masks while healthcare workers who have a medical requirement for the masks — because of their contact with infected people — still go without.”

DHS did not respond to ProPublica’s questions about why it transferred N95 masks to TSA despite a top official saying they should be reserved for healthcare workers.

“So now the TSA position is that we desperately need these masks for the protection of our people,” Kielkopf said. “At the same time, most of our people aren’t even working. It’s a complete 180 that doesn’t make any sense.”

Do you have access to information about federal contracts that should be public? Email david.mcswane@propublica.org. Here’s how to send tips and documents to ProPublica securely.

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Here is where masks are currently required, as well as proposals that would dramatically increase face-covering requirements.

Building a wardrobe of fashionable face masks doesn't make me insensitive to the grave consequences of coronavirus.

LAX and many airlines are now requiring face coverings to avoid coronavirus spread. TSA agents will don them too.

While COVID-19 is invisible to the eye, one very visible sign of the epidemic is people wearing face masks in public. After weeks of conflicting government guidelines on wearing masks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that people wear nonsurgical cloth face coverings when entering public spaces such as supermarkets and public…

While COVID-19 is invisible to the eye, one very visible sign of the epidemic is people wearing face masks in public. After weeks of conflicting government guidelines on wearing masks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that people wear nonsurgical cloth face coverings when entering public spaces such as supermarkets and public…

While COVID-19 is invisible to the eye, one very visible sign of the epidemic is people wearing face masks in public. After weeks of conflicting government guidelines on wearing masks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that people wear nonsurgical cloth face coverings when entering public spaces such as supermarkets and public…

These three Etsy shop owners share what it's been like to sell protective face masks during the coronavirus pandemic.

A raft of fashion labels are now making non-medical masks to sell to consumers, including band t-shirt maker Bravado, which has made Rolling Stones, Queen and Ariana Grande versions.

Etsy CEO Josh Silverman discussed the e-retailer's sales swings from March to April and how the company has responded to the coronavirus pandemic.

How to lip read when everyone’s face is hidden behind a mask? That is the challenge facing deaf people across the world as the Covid-19 pandemic makes face masks a part of daily life. The answer could be transparent face masks but such masks are in short supply, leading some to make their own.

This week we bring you a show all about face masks as France starts to lift its lockdown. Faced with controversial shortages at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, French authorities initially rejected the notion of a generalised use before finally touting the device as essential, and in some situations compulsory.

People all over the world are now being advised to wear face masks to slow the spread of coronavirus. 

Luckily, Disney is here to bring a spark to this new corona fashion wear, especially for kids who are more frightened these days. 

In a statement on its home page, the company expressed its commitment to serving the communities during these challenging times by creating a new line of family-friendly reusable cloth face masks featuring its timeless stories and beloved characters.  

Disney announced it will donate one million cloth face masks for children and families in underserved and vulnerable communities across the U.S. and pledged to donate all the profits to the non-profit organization, Medshare, which specializes in redistributing medical supplies to hospitals in need. 

From Baby Yoda to Winnie The Pooh and Mickie Mouse, the masks are aimed at kids and kids at heart who can finally have a chance to let out their inner character. 

You can purchase a four-pack of face masks for $19.99 in small, medium, and large sizes. 

Check out some of the cool designs. 

More than 160,000 suspicious emails have been reported to a new scam-busting service in two weeks.

As coronavirus spreads in the provinces, more and more health workers are getting sick - and dying.