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As schools start up for the fall across the country, the question of kids and masks looms large. In some states, masks are mandated for all public schools, regardless of vaccination status. In other states, mask mandates are banned. In still others, the decision is left up to local leaders, with perspectives on what is right and safe falling across the spectrum.

Such uncertainty and inconsistency have left parents reeling, especially with the highly contagious Delta variant surging, millions of kids too young to be vaccinated yet, and drastically differing opinions on whether kids should mask up in the classroom.

The evidence for universal masking preventing viral spread is quite deep and wide at this point, but concerned parents may be looking for more specific guidance. Which masks are best for kids? And where do I even start trying to figure that out?

Thankfully, there’s a guy who has answers to those questions.

Aaron Collins is a mechanical engineer who wrote his Master’s thesis on the science of aerosols—tiny particles in the air from things like smoke or viruses—and worked for years developing instruments to measure and describe them. During the peak of the pandemic, he built an aerosol lab in his bathroom to test which masks are most effective at preventing aerosol spread and has been meticulously recording the results of his tests ever since.

He has collected his data in a Google doc that anyone can access and shares his findings in YouTube videos. According to his FAQ, this is the goal of the project:

• Identify both highly protective masks, and suppliers that have quality controls in place so that there is a high confidence that products sold meet these requirements.
• Test and identify as many high quality protective masks as possible.
• Help explain the complex discussion about masks, provide context to the different types and test standards
• Provide a transparent data collection and data analysis so people can see what is happening, the limitations of my test.
• Be completely independent from a mask supplier or source. Independent reviews is the most important thing, I want no bias!

In one of his most recent videos, Collins shared what kid masks he recommends if you’re looking for high filtration masks. (High filtration masks protect the wearer in addition to protecting those around them.) Check it out:

Current Top Mask Picks & Kids Masks

www.youtube.com

You can read his FAQ here for more information about how he analyses the masks. Also, check out the Google spreadsheet with all of his data and links to where you can find these masks here.

As COVID cases increase and kids start congregating in classrooms, the question of protection is only going to grow more important. Getting ahead of the spread with effective masks is one way families can ease some of the concern as well as (hopefully) protect us all from worsening variants in the coming months.

Employers have tried to get their employees to take the COVID-19 vaccine by giving them benefits including time off to get the shot, extra vacation days, and bonuses. Walmart, the country’s largest private employer, has announced its employees that work in stores and warehouses are eligible for a $150 bonus as an incentive to be vaccinated.

McDonald’s offers workers at its corporate headquarters up to four hours of time off to get vaccinated.

Kroger, the nation’s largest supermarket chain, announced it will give a $100 bonus to employees who show proof of vaccination.

But instead of just incentivizing workers with positive rewards, a number of employees may start leveling financial penalties against those who refuse to get vaccinated.

As people return to their workplaces during the Delta variant spike, unvaccinated employees are increasingly becoming a liability. They open up workplaces to outbreaks and drive up healthcare costs for the company, insurers, and employees.

Coming soon for the unvaccinated: a $50 monthly paycheck deduction from your employer https://t.co/6flyGC3RC9 https://t.co/7GTCkziOsM

— Forbes (@Forbes)
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“Getting hospitalized with Covid-19 in the United States typically generates huge bills,” Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal and Stanford University’s Glenn Kramon wrote in The New York Times. Kramon said that a 14-day hospitalization for an uninsured person in the Miami area can result in a $104,000 bill.

Now, companies are considering more drastic measures to combat the costs of the unvaccinated by docking their pay.

“Employers have tried encouraging employees to get vaccinated through offering incentives like paid time off and cash, but with the Delta variant driving up infections and hospitalizations throughout the country – at the same time that vaccination rates have stalled – we have received inquiries from at least 20 employers over the past few weeks who are giving consideration to adding health coverage surcharges for the unvaccinated as a way to drive up vaccination rates in their workforce,” said Wade Symons, Mercer’s regulatory resources group leader.

Mercer is one of the world’s largest employee benefits consultants.

Mercer hasn’t disclosed which companies are considering docking workers’ pay but said that the average surcharge will be somewhere between $20 to $50 a month. The hope is that the surcharge will help offset the costs associated with unvaccinated workers and will encourage them to get the shot to avoid the penalty.

Docking an employee’s pay stops short of the more drastic tactics being used at Walmart, Google, Tyson Foods, and United Airlines. They have all imposed vaccine mandates on some or all of their employees. Those who still refuse inoculation can be terminated.

Health insurance companies are also considering a financial penalty for those who refuse to get vaccinated. Given the fact that 97% of all COVID-19 hospitalizations are now unvaccinated people, insurers want to encourage people to get the jab to avoid unnecessary six-figure payouts. Such a policy would also benefit the vaccinated who won’t have to pay for rising premiums caused by the unvaccinated.

Even though there has been a recent uptick in people getting vaccinated due to the spread of the Delta variant, the U.S. is still far from reaching herd immunity. Employers have exhausted most of the carrots to get people to get the shot and now’s the time for the sticks. Things are only going to get more difficult for those who refuse the shot.

We live in some weird times, as you no doubt tire of being reminded. Even so, there’s a trend afoot that seems random even for our Mad Libs era: It turns out some celebrities aren’t so into bathing. Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher don’t give their kids baths that often. Neither do Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard. Jake Gyllenhaal, he finds washing himself to be “less necessary” than he once did. But there’s one person you won’t see on a list of celebrity bath skeptics: Jason Momoa.

In a new interview with Access Hollywood (as caught by Page Six), Momoa was asked about this strange new trend. And he himself isn’t having it. “I’m not starting any trends. I shower, trust me,” Momoa responded. “I’m Aquaman. I’m in the f*cking water. Don’t worry about it. I’m Hawaiian. We got saltwater on me. We good.”

For the record, it’s not like these celebs — and their kids — are running around a stinky mess. They just don’t necessarily do it every single day. Gyllenhall, for instance, doesn’t like being grimy, at least around others.

“I do believe, because Elvis Costello is wonderful, that good manners and bad breath get you nowhere. So I do that,” he told Vanity Fair. “But I do also think that there’s a whole world of not bathing that is also really helpful for skin maintenance, and we naturally clean ourselves.”

But Momoa clearly doesn’t subscribe to that, and probably not only when he’s playing DC’s resident nautical hero.

(Via Access Hollywood and Page Six)

Several NBA teams opened their Summer League runs on Sunday, but the league delivered another jam-packed slate on Monday. In one of the afternoon contests, the Philadelphia 76ers walloped the Dallas Mavericks, leading by more than 30 points and eventually claiming a 22-point win after easing off the pedal after halftime. Six players scored at least nine points for the Sixers, and Philadelphia enjoyed intriguing performances from players like Paul Reed, Isaiah Joe and 2021 first-round pick Jaden Springer.

However, the standout effort came from 2020 first-round selection Tyrese Maxey, who put his entire arsenal on display. Maxey, who was a prominent member of Philadelphia’s rotation at times last season, wasted no time making his presence known in Las Vegas. In fact, the 20-year-old guard from Kentucky scored 14 points in the opening period, including a buzzer-beating drive and finish.

Before halftime, Maxey was able to establish his well-rounded offensive attack, particularly with his jump shot. That included a trio of three-point connections, and he had 19 points at the break to lead Philadelphia to a 26-point advantage.

If not for the non-competitive nature of the matchup on the scoreboard, Maxey may have joined Knicks guard Immanuel Quickley in exceeding the 30-point barrier in the early portion of Summer League. He had 21 points with 7:40 remaining in the third quarter, though Maxey never scored again and played sparingly after halftime. When Maxey did play, the Mavericks clearly decided to take him away as a scoring option, with Dallas rather amusingly sending two defenders in his direction on a regular basis.

Crucially, Maxey was able to connect on three of his six attempts from long distance, which unlocks his offensive profile. Maxey has a devastating floater game and tremendous touch, with those traits evident dating back to his collegiate days in Lexington. However, there have been questions about his shooting form and accuracy since before the draft, and Maxey will need to do more to erase those doubts after a rookie season in which he buried only 30.1 percent of his threes on limited volume.

If Maxey is able to establish himself as a solid-or-better shooter, especially off the dribble in pick-and-roll settings, there is very little he can’t accomplish as a combo guard. Philadelphia likely won’t lean on him as a primary initiator on a regular basis, both because the Sixers have title aspirations in 2022 and because Maxey is perhaps best suited in a secondary role. At the same time, he could provide them with another option to initiate the offense on the ball, and Maxey is also comfortable as a cutter offensively and as a very strong defender at the point of attack.

It is never wise to overstate the importance of Summer League, especially in a one-game sample. Still, Tyrese Maxey was fantastic in his opening effort, scoring nearly a point per minute on strong efficiency and creating positive questions about whether he has anything left to prove in the unique setting that is Las Vegas in August.

Some 10 years ago, Tim Burton came close to making an Addams Family movie, done in stop motion and in the style of Charles Addams’ classic New Yorker cartoons. That never happened. But something close to it is now in the works: Wednesday, an eight-episode, live-action Netflix series directed and executive produced by Burton, which follows the family’s Goth icon of a daughter. It’s been in the works for a bit now, but they finally cast the parents — and the actors they chose has people really excited.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Catherine Zeta-Jones will play elegant but ghoulish Morticia. It carries on a tradition from the ’90s live-action Addams Family movies of casting an Oscar-winner as the family matriarch. (Anjelica Huston heroically performed the duties in those, while Charlize Theron voiced her in the 2019 animated movie.)

Zeta-Jones, who won her trophy for Chicago, back in 2003, will join Jenny Ortega (Yes Day, You) as Wednesday. She’ll also be hobnobbing with beloved character actor and scene-stealer Luis Guzman, who will step into shoes filled by John Astin, Raul Julia, and Oscar Isaac, playing fastidious and chipper patriarch Gomez.

It’s great and outside-the-box casting. Zeta-Jones hasn’t been as visible as she once was, and Guzman rarely gets roles as sizeable as Gomez in an Addams Family adaptation. Mind you, the show is about Wednesday and not a straight take on the source. Here is the premise, as per THR:

Wednesday is described as a sleuthing, supernaturally infused mystery charting Wednesday Addams’ years as a student at Nevermore Academy. Wednesday attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a monstrous killing spree that has terrorized the local town, and solve the supernatural mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago — all while navigating her new and very tangled relationships at Nevermore.

So you may not be seeing Zeta-Jones and Guzman’s Morticia and Gomez as often as you may like. The THR piece even refers to the actress, at least, as a “guest star.” Still, people on social media flipped for the casting.

Some even pointed out the show has turned into a bona fide Traffic reunion. (Zeta-Jones won her Oscar for the Steven Soderbergh drug saga, which boasted some predictably excellent work from Guzman.)

(Via THR)

The Dallas Mavericks have completed their No. 1 priority during the 2021 NBA offseason. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Mavs got All-NBA guard Luka Doncic to put pen to paper on a five-year supermax extension that will bring the franchise centerpiece $207 million over the life of the deal.

“Today is a dream come true,” Doncic said in a statement to ESPN. “The game of basketball has given me so much and has taken me to so many amazing places. I am humbled and excited to remain in Dallas as part of the Mavericks and appreciate the support of my fans.”

A two-time All-NBA selection, Doncic is the first player in league history to get rewarded with a designated rookie max extension. Additionally, the contract includes a player option for the fifth season.

The news of the extension comes after reports indicated that a Mavericks contingent would head to Slovenia, where Doncic is spending his offseason, to present him with the offer.

Already one of the best basketball players in the world, the 22-year-old Doncic made it known that he had no intention of turning down a payday this hefty from the team that acquired him in a Draft day trade with the Atlanta Hawks for Trae Young back in 2018. Last season, Doncic averaged 27.7 points, 8.6 assists, and eight rebounds in 34.3 minutes per game.

The only thing better than artsy shoot-em-ups? Even more artsy shoot-em-ups, of course. According to a Variety report, Amazon has officially purchased the rights to the upcoming film written by John Wick‘s Derek Kolstad entitled Coyote Blue. Much like the neon-lit, hyper-violent John Wick movies, Coyote Blue is slated as an intense action movie with an ultra-lethal leading man fighting to survive, though the synopsis makes it sound a bit different from the revenge story we’ve come to know and love:

“The story revolves around an everyman (Brown) who’s hunted by a ruthless criminal syndicate for his mysterious cargo, and now must navigate the treacherous terrain of Route 66 while unleashing his lethal set of skills in a fight for survival.”

In addition to Kolstad, both the Emmy award-winning Sterling K. Brown and Star Trek: Picard‘s Hanelle M. Culpepper are already attached to the project. Brown, who earned his Emmy for his performance in The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story and has been nominated several other times for his work in This Is Us, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, will be starring as the film’s main character.

For Culpepper, Blue Coyote will mark her feature directorial debut and her second collaboration with Amazon following her work as director on the upcoming television adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys. Coyote Blue also marks the second collaboration between Amazon Studios and Kolstad, as it was recently announced he is currently working on scripting a film adaptation of the Japanese action-horror manga Hellsing.

While we might not have a release date or any more information on Coyote Blue as of right now, with so many exciting projects in the works from everyone involved we’re sure the time will pass a bit quicker and we’ll have more details soon.

Christian Pulisic has decided to make a big-money move, although he’s not going to leave Premier League giants Chelsea any time soon. Puma announced on Monday morning that the USMNT star, who has worn Nike throughout his professional career up to this point, opted to leave his old brand and hop on board with the company that includes Neymar and Antoine Griezmann among its vast roster of footballers.

“Puma just fit in with exactly the message that I want to send,” Pulisic told Complex Sports in an interview about his decision. “I think we’re trying to inspire players just to get out and play any way they can and play the game and grow the game of soccer in America. And it lined up exactly with what I was feeling and it just seemed like a perfect fit.”

While Pulisic is not in line to get a signature boot from the company — well, not yet, at least — Puma and French designer Silni teamed up to make him a customized pair of ULTRA 1.3 boots that he will wear on August 11 when the Blues take on Villarreal in the Super Cup.

The decision to join Puma comes on the heels of Pulisic wrapping up second season in the Premier League. He scored six goals and assisted on four more in nearly 2,500 minutes across all competitions, but managed to carve out a role as an important member of Chelsea’s squad despite it adding two high-profile attacking players during the transfer window. In the last few months, Pulisic has managed to get a pair of trophies with club and country, winning the Champions League with Chelsea before taking home the inaugural Nations League with the United States men’s national team.

Doom Patrol is back and just as weird as ever in the new teaser trailer for season three. Earlier today, HBO Max released a first look at the show’s upcoming season featuring colorful collages and a whole lot of death. According to the YouTube video’s description, the next season picks up right where season two left off and follows the “part support group, part superhero team” fighting for “a world that wants nothing to do with them.”

“Last seen at a decrepit amusement park where Chief (Timothy Dalton) witnessed his metahuman daughter, Dorothy (Abigail Shapiro) engaged in a fiery face-off with “The Candlemaker,” an ancient evil deity who will stop at nothing to fulfill his world-ending destiny, join the Doom Patrol for an action-packed third season.”

For those unfamiliar with Doom Patrol, the ongoing HBO series is a reimagining of one of DC’s cult classic superhero groups of all time: the Doom Patrol. The show follows a group of superhuman individuals who gained their powers through a horrific accident that also left them permanently disfigured and subsequently shunned by society. However, despite this, the team tries to use their powers for good when not battling demons of their own. The current Doom Patrol line up as seen in the current show consists of Robotman aka Cliff Steele (Brendan Fraser), Negative Man aka Larry Trainor (Matt Bomer), Elasti-Woman aka Rita Farr (April Bowlby), Crazy Jane (Diane Guerrero), Cyborg aka Victor Stone (Joivan Wade), and last but not least, the team’s leader The Chief aka Niles Caulder (Timothy Dalton).

Doom Patrol‘s third season premieres with three new episodes on Thursday, September 23, giving newcomers plenty of time to catch up and fans the perfect excuse to watch it all again. Following the show’s premiere, subsequent episodes will be launching weekly every Thursday through November 11 on HBO Max.

For years, a constant debate surrounding the Philadelphia 76ers has been whether or not Ben Simmons needs to shoot more threes. Simmons’ jumper has been a weakness ever since he came into the league, but instead of being a poor shooter, Simmons just straight up does not let it rip from downtown — in his four-year career, Simmons is 5-for-34 from three, with 11 of those attempts coming during his rookie season.

There are two schools of thought here. One is that Simmons is already an All-Star basketball player without a jumper and should be viewed as such, the other is that his lack of a jumper will forever make him a basketball player with a hard ceiling. Regardless, an offseason tradition reared its head on Monday when a video popped up of Simmons working on his jumper in an empty gym. Simmons and Rajon Rondo were both getting some shots up, with Simmons knocking down both of his attempts from deep.

Simmons has explained his hesitancy to shoot threes in games before, telling Jackie MacMullan of ESPN last year, “With 3s, it’s never been like that. I’ve got to make it a point of emphasis. I could be one of those guys shooting 30% right now. But I’d rather be one of those guys shooting 40%.”

Of course, the sample we have from his NBA career — and admittedly very small one — shows that Simmons hasn’t cracked half that so far in his NBA career. The question he has to answer now is whether these little steps forward he appears to be in the midst of taking during the offseason can translate to practices and games. By no means does he need to be Joe Harris or anything, and one can make the case he doesn’t really need to let it fly from deep, anyway. But this would be a big tool for Simmons to add to his tool kit, and we’re only a few months away from figuring out if Simmons will have it when next season begins.