CNN Suggests Wearing A Face Mask In Public Is Racist

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CNN has published a lengthy article suggesting that wearing face masks to guard against coronavirus is racist due to African-Americans not being able to wear them over fears they will be treated like criminals.

Yes, really.

Noting that the CDC has encouraged all Americans to wear face masks in the fight against COVID-19, Trevor Logan, an economics professor at Ohio State University, says he “will not be following this guidance.”

“We have a lot of examples of the presumed criminality of black men in general,” Logan, who presumably isn’t knowledgable about FBI crime statistics, told CNN.

“And then we have the advice to go out in public in something that … can certainly be read as being criminal or nefarious, particularly when applied to black men,” he adds, noting how a black man wearing a face mask “looks like almost every criminal sketch of any garden-variety black suspect.”

On social media and in interviews with CNN, a number of people of color — activists, academics and ordinary Americans — expressed fears that homemade masks could exacerbate racial profiling and place blacks and Latinos in danger. https://t.co/hgJ435erKz

— CNN (@CNN) April 7, 2020

CNN Fernando Alfonso III then references how on social media “a number of people of color — activists, academics and ordinary Americans — expressed fears that homemade masks could exacerbate racial profiling and place blacks and Latinos in danger.”

In other words, the government advising Americans to wear face masks is discriminatory because blacks and hispanics who wear them may be mistaken for criminals.

https://summit.news/2020/04/07/cnn-s...lic-is-racist/


Only white people should wear protective face masks

Ok

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Not racist..........it's scientific. Darker skin does not absorb/produce enough vitamin D hence many have a compromised immune system.
https://www.livescience.com/20910-vi...disparity.html

[Sailor]

Not racist..........it's scientific. Darker skin does not absorb enough vitamin D hence many have a compromised system.
https://www.livescience.com/20910-vi...disparity.html

Outstanding Stretch!

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Lack of Vitamin D May Explain Black Americans' Cancer Deaths
By Christopher Wanjek June 12, 2012

African-Americans are 25 percent more likely to die from cancer than white Americans are, and the reasons are numerous, including lower socio-economic status, poorer access to health care, and the cancer diagnosis coming at later, more deadly stages.

Still, health experts say these factors cannot fully explain the extent of disparities in survival for the most common cancers, such as breast, lung, colon and prostate cancers.

A paper published in the current issue of the journal Dermato-Endocrinology points the finger at a seemingly obvious but overlooked culprit: the sun.

The researchers' theory is that, in northern latitudes, the dark skin of African-Americans cannot absorb enough sunlight to generate adequate amounts of vitamin D, which is often called the "sunshine vitamin." The body uses ultraviolet rays from the sun to manufacture vitamin D in the inner layers of the skin.

Vitamin D is needed for strong bones; doctors nearly 100 years ago associated a lack of adequate sun exposure with rickets among child laborers, exemplified by bowed legs. Recent studies also have shown that low levels of vitamin D in the blood seem to contribute to a weak immune system and a host of diseases, such as cancer and multiple sclerosis. [Infographic: The Power of Vitamin D]

This lack of vitamin D could completely fill in the health disparity gap for cancer survival between white and black Americans, the researchers said.

Previous work by geneticist Rick Kittles at the University of Chicago suggests that upwards of 75 percent of African-Americans are deficient in vitamin D. Kittles says that African-Americans living north of the 37th parallel — just about anyplace north of central California, Texas, Tennessee or North Carolina — will have difficulty through most of the year absorbing enough sunlight to make vitamin D, because of the low angle of the rays reaching the Earth's surface.

Given this largely established fact, researchers Alan Peiris of East Tennessee State University and William Grant of the Sunlight, Nutrition and Health Research Center in San Francisco set out to look for a correlation between vitamin D and cancer death disparities. (In past research, Grant and a colleague suggested low levels of ultraviolet-B rays in Austria, paired with Mozart's nocturnal habits, may have led to vitamin D deficiency in the composer, who died at the age of 35.)

What they found in the new study is preliminary but warrants further investigation, they said. Relying solely on a scientific literature review, the researchers found that low vitamin D is independently associated with each of the cancer types for which an unexplained health disparity exists between African-Americans and white Americans.

Specifically, they found lingering disparities for 13 types of cancer after accounting for socioeconomic status, stage at diagnosis, and treatment: bladder, breast, colon, endometrial, lung, ovarian, pancreatic, prostate, rectal, testicular, and vaginal cancer; Hodgkin's lymphoma; and melanoma. For each one, there is a vitamin-D connection.

Few scientific studies have directly explored the link between cancer deaths and low vitamin D levels in African-Americans, though. One study published in the journal Cancer in 2011 indeed found that vitamin D deficiency contributes to excess African-American mortality from colon cancer. A Harvard study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention in 2006 found that African-Americans who are at risk for low vitamin D also had a higher risk for cancer death, particularly for digestive-system cancers.

The paucity of studies makes this a ripe topic for exploration, said Grant. If low vitamin D is the cause of this disparity in cancer deaths, thousands of lives could be saved annually by encouraging African-Americans to take a daily vitamin D supplement in the range of 1,000 to 4,000 IUs, he said. [9 Good Sources of Vitamin D]

Peiris added that monitoring vitamin D levels should be routine. The issue becomes critical given that passive exposure from the sun simply is not enough for millions of African-Americans living in northern cities such as Washington, New York and Detroit. Air pollution filters sunlight, too; and many African-American children stay indoor for long hours, sometime over concerns of neighborhood safety.

Obtaining enough vitamin D through food, regardless of one's skin tone, can be difficult. Sources include fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel and wild catfish. At least the sources, aside from cod liver oil, tend to be tasty.

Christopher Wanjek is the author of the books "Bad Medicine" and "Food At Work." His column, Bad Medicine, appears regularly on LiveScience.

https://www.livescience.com/20910-vi...disparity.html

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COVID-19 is an emerging, rapidly evolving situation.
Get the latest public health information from CDC: https://www.coronavirus.gov
Get the latest research information from NIH: https://www.nih.gov/coronavirus

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Vitamin D
Fact Sheet for Consumers
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Table of Contents
What is vitamin D and what does it do?
How much vitamin D do I need?
What foods provide vitamin D?
Can I get vitamin D from the sun?
What kinds of vitamin D dietary supplements are available?
Am I getting enough vitamin D?
What happens if I don’t get enough vitamin D?
What are some effects of vitamin D on health?
Can vitamin D be harmful?
Are there any interactions with vitamin D that I should know about?
Vitamin D and healthful eating
Where can I find out more about vitamin D?
Disclaimer
What is vitamin D and what does it do?
Vitamin D is a nutrient found in some foods that is needed for health and to maintain strong bones. It does so by helping the body absorb calcium (one of bone’s main building blocks) from food and supplements. People who get too little vitamin D may develop soft, thin, and brittle bones, a condition known as rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults.

Vitamin D is important to the body in many other ways as well. Muscles need it to move, for example, nerves need it to carry messages between the brain and every body part, and the immune system needs vitamin D to fight off invading bacteria and viruses. Together with calcium, vitamin D also helps protect older adults from osteoporosis. Vitamin D is found in cells throughout the body.

How much vitamin D do I need?
The amount of vitamin D you need each day depends on your age. Average daily recommended amounts are listed below in micrograms (mcg) and International Units (IU):

Life Stage Recommended Amount
Birth to 12 months 10 mcg (400 IU)
Children 1–13 years 15 mcg (600 IU)
Teens 14–18 years 15 mcg (600 IU)
Adults 19–70 years 15 mcg (600 IU)
Adults 71 years and older 20 mcg (800 IU)
Pregnant and breastfeeding women 15 mcg (600 IU)
What foods provide vitamin D?
Very few foods naturally have vitamin D. Fortified foods provide most of the vitamin D in American diets.

Fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, and mackerel are among the best sources.
Beef liver, cheese, and egg yolks provide small amounts.
Mushrooms provide some vitamin D. In some mushrooms that are newly available in stores, the vitamin D content is being boosted by exposing these mushrooms to ultraviolet light.
Almost all of the U.S. milk supply is fortified with 400 IU of vitamin D per quart, and so are many of the plant-based alternatives such as soy milk, almond milk, and oat milk. But foods made from milk, like cheese and ice cream, are usually not fortified.
Vitamin D is added to many breakfast cereals and to some brands of orange juice, yogurt, margarine, and soy beverages; check the labels.
Can I get vitamin D from the sun?
The body makes vitamin D when skin is directly exposed to the sun, and most people meet at least some of their vitamin D needs this way. Skin exposed to sunshine indoors through a window will not produce vitamin D. Cloudy days, shade, and having dark-colored skin also cut down on the amount of vitamin D the skin makes.

However, despite the importance of the sun to vitamin D synthesis, it is prudent to limit exposure of skin to sunlight in order to lower the risk for skin cancer. When out in the sun for more than a few minutes, wear protective clothing and apply sunscreen with an SPF (sun protection factor) of 8 or more. Tanning beds also cause the skin to make vitamin D, but pose similar risks for skin cancer.

People who avoid the sun or who cover their bodies with sunscreen or clothing should include good sources of vitamin D in their diets or take a supplement. Recommended intakes of vitamin D are set on the assumption of little sun exposure.

What kinds of vitamin D dietary supplements are available?
Vitamin D is found in supplements (and fortified foods) in two different forms: D2 (ergocalciferol) and D3 (cholecalciferol) > best one. Both increase vitamin D in the blood.

Am I getting enough vitamin D?
Because vitamin D can come from sun, food, and supplements, the best measure of one’s vitamin D status is blood levels of a form known as 25-hydroxyvitamin D. Levels are described in either nanomoles per liter (nmol/L) or nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL), where 1 nmol/L = 0.4 ng/mL.

In general, levels below 30 nmol/L (12 ng/mL) are too low for bone or overall health, and levels above 125 nmol/L (50 ng/mL) are probably too high. Levels of 50 nmol/L or above (20 ng/mL or above) are sufficient for most people.

By these measures, some Americans are vitamin D deficient and almost no one has levels that are too high. In general, young people have higher blood levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D than older people and males have higher levels than females. By race, non-Hispanic blacks tend to have the lowest levels and non-Hispanic whites the highest. The majority of Americans have blood levels lower than 75 nmol/L (30 ng/mL).

Certain other groups may not get enough vitamin D:

Breastfed infants, because human milk is a poor source of the nutrient. Breastfed infants should be given a supplement of 400 IU of vitamin D each day.
Older adults, because their skin doesn’t make vitamin D when exposed to sunlight as efficiently as when they were young, and their kidneys are less able to convert vitamin D to its active form.
People with dark skin, because their skin has less ability to produce vitamin D from the sun.
People with disorders such as Crohn’s disease or celiac disease who don’t handle fat properly, because vitamin D needs fat to be absorbed.
Obese people, because their body fat binds to some vitamin D and prevents it from getting into the blood.
What happens if I don’t get enough vitamin D?
People can become deficient in vitamin D because they don’t consume enough or absorb enough from food, their exposure to sunlight is limited, or their kidneys cannot convert vitamin D to its active form in the body. In children, vitamin D deficiency causes rickets, a condition in which the bones become soft and bend. It’s a rare disease but still occurs, especially among African American infants and children. In adults, vitamin D deficiency leads to osteomalacia, causing bone pain and muscle weakness.

What are some effects of vitamin D on health?
Vitamin D is being studied for its possible connections to several diseases and medical problems, including diabetes, hypertension, and autoimmune conditions such as multiple sclerosis. Two of them discussed below are bone disorders and some types of cancer.

Bone disorders
As they get older, millions of people (mostly women, but men too) develop, or are at risk of, osteoporosis, condition in which bones become fragile and may fracture if one falls. It is one consequence of not getting enough calcium and vitamin D over the long term. Supplements of both vitamin D3 (at 700–800 IU/day) and calcium (500–1,200 mg/day) have been shown to reduce the risk of bone loss and fractures in elderly people aged 62–85 years. Men and women should talk with their healthcare providers about their needs for vitamin D (and calcium) as part of an overall plan to prevent or treat osteoporosis.

Cancer
Some studies suggest that vitamin D may protect against colon cancer and perhaps even cancers of the prostate and breast. But higher levels of vitamin D in the blood have also been linked to higher rates of pancreatic cancer. At this time, it’s too early to say whether low vitamin D status increases cancer risk and whether higher levels protect or even increase risk in some people.

Can vitamin D be harmful?
Yes, when amounts in the blood become too high. Signs of toxicity include nausea, vomiting, poor appetite, constipation, weakness, and weight loss. And by raising blood levels of calcium, too much vitamin D can cause confusion, disorientation, and problems with heart rhythm. Excess vitamin D can also damage the kidneys.

The daily upper limit for vitamin D is 25 mcg to 38 mcg (1,000 to 1,500 IU) for infants; 63 mcg to 75 mcg (2,500 to 3,000 IU) for children 1-8 years; and 100 mcg (4,000 IU) for children 9 years and older, adults, and pregnant and lactating teens and women. Vitamin D toxicity almost always occurs from overuse of supplements. Excessive sun exposure doesn’t cause vitamin D toxicity because the body limits the amount of this vitamin it produces.

Are there any interactions with vitamin D that I should know about?
Like most dietary supplements, vitamin D may interact or interfere with other medicines or supplements you might be taking. Here are several examples:

Prednisone and other corticosteroid medicines to reduce inflammation impair how the body handles vitamin D, which leads to lower calcium absorption and loss of bone over time.
Both the weight-loss drug orlistat (brand names Xenical® and Alli®) and the cholesterol-lowering drug cholestyramine (brand names Questran®, LoCholest®, and Prevalite®) can reduce the absorption of vitamin D and other fat-soluble vitamins (A, E, and K).
Both phenobarbital and phenytoin (brand name Dilantin®), used to prevent and control epileptic seizures, increase the breakdown of vitamin D and reduce calcium absorption.
Tell your doctor, pharmacist, and other healthcare providers about any dietary supplements and medicines you take. They can tell you if those dietary supplements might interact or interfere with your prescription or over-the-counter medicines, or if the medicines might interfere with how your body absorbs, uses, or breaks down nutrients.

Vitamin D and healthful eating
People should get most of their nutrients from food and beverages, advises the federal government’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Foods contain vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber and other substances that benefit health. In some cases, fortified foods and dietary supplements may provide nutrients that otherwise may be consumed in less-than-recommended amounts. For more information about building a healthy diet, refer to the Dietary Guidelines for Americansexternal link disclaimer and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s MyPlateexternal link disclaimer.

Where can I find out more about vitamin D?
For general information on vitamin D:
Office of Dietary Supplements Health Professional Fact Sheet on Vitamin D
Vitamin Dexternal link disclaimer, MedlinePlus®
For more information on food sources of vitamin D:
U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) FoodData Centralexternal link disclaimer
Nutrient List for vitamin D (listed by food or by vitamin D content), USDA
For more advice on buying dietary supplements:
Office of Dietary Supplements Frequently Asked Questions: Which brand(s) of dietary supplements should I purchase?
For information about building a healthy diet:
MyPlateexternal link disclaimer
Dietary Guidelines for Americansexternal link disclaimer
Disclaimer
This fact sheet by the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) provides information that should not take the place of medical advice. We encourage you to talk to your healthcare providers (doctor, registered dietitian, pharmacist, etc.) about your interest in, questions about, or use of dietary supplements and what may be best for your overall health. Any mention in this publication of a specific product or service, or recommendation from an organization or professional society, does not represent an endorsement by ODS of that product, service, or expert advice.

Updated: March 24, 2020 History of changes to this fact sheet
https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-Consumer/

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Gee and I heard it was because guys thought it would make them look like WUSSIES, PUSSIES, SISSIES.

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Bottom line. Taking a D3/K2 supplement daily helps build a strong immune system.
Been taking a 5,000 IU D3 / 1,400 mcg K2 capsule every day for a year now. They're easily
found online with companies like Swanson and Vitacost...fairly cheap, too.

[AProudLefty]

A guy telling the author how he feels means CNN suggests that wearing face masks in public is racist?

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D3 - 5,000 IU - 365 softgels - $10.79 (that will last me a year!)
k2 - 1,400 mcg - 360 softgels - $46.00 (that will last me a year!)

$56.79 total/12 months = $4.73 per month to stay healthy.......bargain!

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CNN Suggests Wearing A Face Mask In Public Is Racist

CNN did not say it was racist. It carried interviews of others who made that claim.