Wearing masks is a CDC-recommended* approach to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), by reducing the spread of respiratory droplets into the air when a person coughs, sneezes, or talks and by reducing the inhalation of these droplets by the wearer. On July 2, 2020, the governor of Kansas issued an executive order † (state mandate), effective July 3, requiring masks or other face coverings in public spaces. CDC and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment analyzed trends in county-level COVID-19 incidence before (June 1-July 2) and after (July 3-August 23) the governor's executive order among counties that ultimately had a mask mandate in place and those that did not. As of August 11, 24 of Kansas's 105 counties did not opt out of the state mandate § or adopted their own mask mandate shortly before or after the state mandate was issued; 81 counties opted out of the state mandate, as permitted by state law, and did not adopt their own mask mandate. After the governor's executive order, COVID-19 incidence (calculated as the 7-day rolling average number of new daily cases per 100,000 population) decreased (mean decrease of 0.08 cases per 100,000 per day; net decrease of 6%) among counties with a mask mandate (mandated counties) but continued to increase (mean increase of 0.11 cases per 100,000 per day; net increase of 100%) among counties without a mask mandate (nonmandated counties). The decrease in cases

Research examining associations between self-reported experiences of discrimination overall (e.g. potentially due to race, gender, socioeconomic status, age, etc…) and health –particularly among African-Americans – has grown rapidly over the past two decades. Yet recent findings suggest that self-reported experiences of racism alone may be less impactful for the health of African-Americans than previously hypothesized. Thus, an approach that captures a broader range of complexities in the study of discrimination and health among African-Americans may be warranted. This article presents an argument for the importance of examining intersectionalities in studies of discrimination and physical health in African-Americans, and provides an overview of research in this area.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected racial and ethnic minority groups in the United States. Whereas racial and ethnic disparities in severe COVID-19-associated outcomes, including mortality, have been documented (1-3), less is known about populationbased disparities in infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. In addition, although persons aged <30 years account for approximately one third of reported infections, § there is limited information on racial and ethnic disparities in infection among young persons over time and by sex and age. Based on 689,672 U.S. COVID-19 cases reported to CDC's case-based surveillance system by jurisdictional health departments, racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 incidence among persons aged <25 years in 16 U.S. jurisdictions ¶ were described by age group and sex and across three periods during January 1-December 31, 2020. During January-April, COVID-19 incidence was substantially higher among most racial and ethnic minority groups compared with that among non-Hispanic White (White) persons (rate ratio [RR] range = 1.09-4.62). During May-August, the RR increased from 2.49 to 4.57 among non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NH/PI) persons but decreased among other racial and ethnic minority groups (RR range = 0.52-2.82). Decreases in disparities were observed during September-December (RR range = 0.37-1.69); these decreases were largely because of a greater increase in incidence among White persons, rather than a decline in incidence among racial and ethnic minority groups. NH/PI,

Repeating the BinaxNOW antigen test for SARS-CoV-2 by two groups of readers within 30 minutes resulted in high concordance (98.9%) in 2,110 encounters. BinaxNOW test sensitivity was 77.2% (258/334) compared to real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Same day antigen testing did not significantly improve test sensitivity while specificity remained high.