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TORONTO -- A Toronto woman who refused to wear a mask while seeking treatment at a hospital and was forced out filmed and posted the incident on social media, drawing condemnation from local officials, celebrities and thousands of others.

Letitia Montana said she went to St. Josephs Hospital in Toronto with her son on July 4 for a "suspected broken finger."

"You're making me wear a mask otherwise you are going to deny me service," she is heard saying in the video filmed at the front counter of the emergency room.

"Yes, we're asking you to wear a mask," a nurse replies.

The video does not show Montana being escorted out of the emergency room.

It has since been viewed more than four million times.

Non-medical mask use has been encouraged by health officials across North America, and became mandatory in all indoor, public spaces in Toronto on Tuesday, as a means of slowing the spread of COVID-19.

A growing body of research has shown that mask use can reduce the emission of respiratory droplets that carry the virus, reducing the risk for people who cannot remain apart from infecting each other if both are masked.

It has also spurred backlash from some, including Montana, who say they lead to other health problems and their use was mandated as a form of political control.

Unity Health Toronto said Monday that its staff members at St. Joseph's Hospital were simply following the guidance of the Ministry of Health when asking Montana to wear a mask.

"This policy follows guidelines set out by Ontarios Ministry of Health based on our best scientific understanding of COVID-19 and how it spreads. We encourage all community members to seek care when they need it. At St. Josephs and any of our Unity Health Toronto sites, you will be asked questions about any COVID-19 related symptoms, to wear a mask and remember to maintain physical distancing in all parts of the hospital."

Toronto Mayor John Tory said he thought wearing a mask in a hospital emergency room of all places was a reasonable request.

"I dont think there are very many people who would argue with the requirement that when youre in a hospital, in the emergency room of a hospital, that you wear a mask."

Meanwhile, Health Minister Christine Elliott thanked the staff at St. Joseph's Hospital for their efforts.

"I would like to thank the brave frontline heroes at St. Joseph's Health Centre and across Ontario for putting themselves in harms way to care for us. When seeking care, each of us should follow all protocols in place at hospitals to help protect frontline workers and other patients."

Most on social media werent having any of it.

City of Toronto chief spokesperson Brad Ross warned Montana she was going to become a verb.

Councillor Michael Ford, who had to be hospitalized after contracting COVID-19 last month, chimed in as well, calling refusing to wear a mask selfish.

The encounter drew attention south of the border, where an even larger share of the population is up in arms against mask use due to COVID-19.

Montana said later on Twitter she stood by her decision to not don a mask in the emergency room.

On social media, Montana self identifies as a "truther," defined as a person who believes a conspiracy is blocking the public from learning the truth about an important subject.

She recently attended a protest in Ottawa demanding an end to lockdown measures and removal of the Liberals from power.

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Woman roasted on social media after refusing to wear mask in Toronto hospital - CTV News

BEIJING, July 07, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Glory Star New Media Group Holdings Limited (NASDAQ: GSMG) (Glory Star or the Company), a leading mobile and online digital media and entertainment company in China, today announced that it has established a strategic cooperation agreement with Nanfang Food Basket, an integrated sales platform for agricultural products in China. Nanfang Food Basket is operated by Nanfang Media Group, which has established a top brand presence in China with a service coverage of roughly 200 million people. The partnership between the Company and Nanfang Food Basket will focus on leveraging the substantial user traffic and dynamic media capabilities of the Companys CHEERS e-Mall platform to improve the marketing and sales performances of Nanfang Food Basket for its agricultural products, which include fresh fruits, vegetables, and dairy products. In addition, CHEERS e-Mall users in all parts of China will still be able to enjoy a delivery time of just a few days for these agricultural products, despite them being sourced from Chinas more rural and poverty-stricken areas.

After launching its CHEERS App in 2018, the Company concentrated on the integration of premium lifestyle content with online sales to pioneer a new and innovative content e-commerce model. In April 2019, the Company launched CHEERS e-Mall to better address Chinas youth and the diverse consumption needs of this same demographic. CHEERS e-Mall is a highly interactive shopping experience that allows users to browse the Companys online store while simultaneously enjoying the platforms premium lifestyle content.

The Company continues to expand its user base as well as its online advertising and e-commerce businesses by consistently refining its service offerings and curating premium lifestyle content. As of April 30, 2020, CHEERS App downloads exceeded 106.5 million, while CHEERS App average DAUs reached 4.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020. In addition, during the 6.18 Shopping Festival in 2020, the Company collaborated with 460 business partners and 1,200 brands to present over 15,000 stock keeping units to its users. The Company also grew its GMV to RMB50.6 million during the 6.18 Shopping Festival in 2020, representing an increase of more than 40 times the GMV previously generated during the 6.18 Shopping Festival in 2019.

Mr. Bing Zhang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Glory Star, commented, We are pleased to announce our partnership with Nanfang Food Basket and are excited about its long-term potential. This collaboration not only marks our entrance into Chinas agricultural industry, but also showcases our commitment to empowering Chinas agricultural industry players through supply chain digitization. By bringing Nanfang Food Baskets agricultural products onto our CHEERS e-Mall platform, we will enhance our partners sales and marketing efforts while simultaneously augmenting our product offerings, user engagement, and platform stickiness to create a truly win-win situation. Importantly, Chinese farmers, who have experienced significant difficulties as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, will also benefit from this exchange as we provide them with more effective sales and marketing channels for their agricultural products. Looking ahead, we remain confident that our expansion of e-commerce offerings, cooperation with agricultural industry players, and unique combination of media and e-commerce will continue to fuel our expansion as we advance through the rest of 2020 and beyond.

About Glory Star New Media Group Holdings LimitedGlory Star New Media Group Holdings Limited is a leading mobile entertainment operator in China. Glory Stars ability to integrate premium lifestyle content, including short videos, online variety shows, online dramas, live streaming, its Cheers lifestyle video series, e-Mall, and mobile app, along with innovative e-commerce offerings on its platform enables it to pursue its mission of enriching peoples lives. The companys large and active user base creates valuable engagement opportunities with consumers and enhances platform stickiness with thousands of domestic and international brands.

Safe Harbor StatementCertain statements made in this release are forward looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this press release, the words estimates, projected, expects, anticipates, forecasts, plans, intends, believes, seeks, may, will, should, future, propose and variations of these words or similar expressions (or the negative versions of such words or expressions) are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, conditions or results, and involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors, many of which are outside the Companys control, that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Important factors, among others, are: the ability to manage growth; ability to identify and integrate other future acquisitions; ability to obtain additional financing in the future to fund capital expenditures; fluctuations in general economic and business conditions; costs or other factors adversely affecting our profitability; litigation involving patents, intellectual property, and other matters; potential changes in the legislative and regulatory environment; a pandemic or epidemic; and other factors listed in the Companys Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2019 and in other filings made by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Such information speaks only as of the date of this release.

ContactsICR Inc.Jack WangTel: +1 (646) 308-0546Email: gsnm@icrinc.com

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Glory Star New Media Holdings Limited Announces Partnership with Nanfang Food Basket to Expand CHEERS e-Mall Offerings and Support China's...

The spread of the coronavirus has surprising similarities to the spread of fake news, gun violence and even social media fads. What they all have in common is that mathematics plays a role in predicting how things "go viral," whether it's a germ, a rumor or an internet trend.

Adam Kucharski, associate professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, is the author of The Rules of Contagion: Why Things Spread And Why They Stop. Adam Kucharski hide caption

In his new book, The Rules of Contagion, Adam Kucharski, associate professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, talked about how to understand all types of contagion.

In your book, you describe a drinking game, Neknomination, that started on Facebook and YouTube in 2014 in Australia and "went viral." You studied it when it came to England, and you correctly predicted the game would die out quickly. How did you come to that conclusion?

In Neknomination, people were downing pints of beer and large quantities of alcohol. Each person would do it, post a video online and nominate two or three others to outdo them. Those people had to meet the challenge and nominate others within 24 hours. In studying it, we had two bits of information that are really hard to get at in disease outbreak: the reproduction number how many others one person "infects" and the lag time, 24 hours, after which people would stop spreading the game. Friends tend to cluster together and nominate the same people. That reduces the reproduction number below one and leads to a smaller outbreak. Despite a media frenzy in early February 2014, [the game] was all but gone by the end of that month.

Talk about the importance of the reproduction rate in contagion.

It's the mathematics of exponential spread. For each case of COVID-19 you have, how many others are you infecting? In the early stages of this pandemic, the reproduction number, or "R," was 2 to 3. Now, in many countries, it's in the 0.81.2 range. Anything above 1 means it's going to grow. If you bring the "R" rate down below 1, it means one person infects fewer than one other person, and you can say the spread of the disease is under control and will eventually die out. If the "R" is .95, you will have a declining epidemic.

Even though the epidemic is in decline with an "R" of less than 1, some people will continue to get infected, get sick and even die, correct?

Yes, that's a good point. There could be a large number of individuals still getting sick as transmission slows. You can't think that when you get to an "R" number below 1, the problem is solved.

How far into the future can you predict how a virus will spread?

The hard thing about predicting the future for COVID-19 is that it's so dependent on what governments do and what individuals do. You can see a lot of different scenarios depending on what people do. Models can be a useful way of laying out the possibilities. If you lock down longer, this is what will happen; if you lift the lockdown early, then this is what will happen. But a much larger question is what governments and people do with the information. Some countries might think a predicted level of contagion is acceptable. Other countries will think that same level of contagion is too high, and they need to put more measures in place for a longer time.

Contact tracing has been identified as a key element in stopping spread: finding all those in contact with a newly diagnosed case. Can that work in other areas, like stopping the spread of gun violence?

In a pandemic, you identify a patient and then you identify others in that person's network that they've been in contact with. You quarantine them all, and that should stop transmission. Violent events can also spread through definable networks like gangs. If you have a shooting, you try to find other people connected through friends, gangs or other networks. Some communities have what they call violence interrupters a well-known person in the community who has credibility. They might find friends of a gunshot victim and talk to them about the danger and futility of retaliation.

How do you think this pandemic is going to unfold?

It's often hard to imagine what might have happened had you done something differently. But we can watch different scenarios. Some countries, like New Zealand, had early travel restrictions and now have local control. With border restrictions, they might be able to keep that going. Other places, like Hong Kong and South Korea, are keeping the pandemic under control but with flare-ups. Some places in Europe and the U.S. are lifting lockdowns, but they're doing it differently with or without various substitute measures, like testing, contact tracing, mandatory masks and social distancing. And still other places, like India and South Africa, are not able to keep lockdown measures in place.

With this pandemic, we'll see alternative realities play out in real time with wide variations around the world. Things aren't going to look the same for a long time.

Susan Brink is a freelance writer who covers health and medicine. She is the author of The Fourth Trimester and co-author of A Change of Heart.

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New Book: 'The Rules Of Contagion: Why Things Spread And Why They Stop' : Goats and Soda - NPR

Johnny Depp has admitted excessive drinking, drug-taking and trashing hotel rooms, but denied accusations by his former wife Amber Heard that he had been violent towards her in his libel battle against the Sun, which has accused him of being a wife-beater.

Lawyers for Depp said the accusations of violence made by Heard were invented and he strenuously denied that he had ever been violent towards her.

Giving evidence at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Depp repeatedly insisted he had never been a violent individual but was someone who aspired to be a southern gentleman.

On the opening day of a three-week trial, the 57-year-old Hollywood actor disputed accounts given by Heard of domestic violence during their marriage.

The legal action has been brought by Depp after the Sun and its executive editor, Dan Wootton, published an article describing him as a wife-beater based on allegations Heard had made. Heard, 34, who was in court, is due to give evidence for the newspaper in the coming days.

Written submissions from the parties were released as the hearings began. In one witness statement, Depp claimed Heard had repeatedly punched him in the face and partially severed his finger by throwing a vodka bottle.

In another statement, the Pirates of the Caribbean and Edward Scissorhands star described her as a calculating, diagnosed borderline personality and narcissist who had married him to advance her career.

David Sherborne, Depps barrister, said Heard had invented these stories of serious violence. He is not and never has been a wife-beater.

Indeed, he says that it was Ms Heard who was the one who started physical fights, who punched or hit him (and there was little he could really do to stop this); she was the abuser, not him.

In a statement Depp also said that he had decided to divorce Heard after she or possibly one of her friends defecated in their marital bed, and she dismissed it as a harmless prank. He said it was the final straw in their deteriorating marriage.

A statement submitted by News Group newspapers, the publishers of the Sun, said it would demonstrate that the description of Mr Depp as a wife-beater is entirely accurate and truthful.

It added: The sting of the articles is correct namely that [Depp] beat his wife Amber Heard causing her to suffer significant injury and on occasion leading to her fearing for her life.

The paper said Heard was forging her own way in the acting profession and was not content to play the role of a supplicant consort. As a result of her having her own career, disputes between the two increasingly arose where Ms Heards professional life clashed with Mr Depps desire to dominate the relationship.

After Depp entered the witness box, the accusations and counter-accusations intensified. The hearing was shown a short clip filmed by Heard on a mobile phone that appeared to show Depp drinking wine early in the day and smashing bottles or glass in their kitchen.

At one stage Depp admitted he had been spending more than $30,000 (24,000) a month on wine before he went into rehab. But, he added, Yes, I drank to excess but drinking to great excess doesnt mean that you are out of control Violence is not something I go looking for.

He had avoided confrontation in his relationship with Heard, he recalled. Whenever these situations would escalate, I would try and go to my own corner. I wanted to separate before things got out of hand.

Questioned about drug use by Sasha Wass QC, for the Sun, Depp said he had first started taking his mothers nerve pills at the age of 11. He stood by an earlier magazine interview he had given in which he said: I did every kind of drugs there were by the age of 14.

He denied that he had ever indulged in destructive behaviour. He had taken drugs initially, he said, because it was the only thing I found to numb the pain. He had not taken ketamine but agreed he had used cocaine, ecstasy, LSD, mushrooms and cannabis.

Wass suggested Depp was someone who often expressed his anger by trashing hotel rooms. She took him through one incident when he was said to have inflicted almost $10,000 worth of damage on a New York hotel room.

I dont know the exact amount of damage, Depp answered. I made a few dents. Yes. It had been the culmination of a particularly bad couple of days, he said, because he had been screwed over by a friend.

I was angry, he added. That didnt mean I had an anger problem. On that occasion I chose to express my anger. He denied that it had been because he had quarrelled with a girlfriend.

His earlier relationship with actor Ellen Barkin was also examined by Wass. She accused him in a statement of throwing a bottle in her direction.

Depp replied: Miss Barkins statement about what she believed happened is not what happened. I dont want to call anyone a liar but I can tell you that never happened.

Asked about his view of himself, Depp occasionally paused for thought and volunteered personal reflections. When ones aspiration is to be a great gentleman, to be a great southern gentleman, that doesnt exclude you from the family of humans who have moments of frustration, he stated in one answer.

Heards spokesperson said in a statement outside court before the trial: Amber was never asked for these proceedings to take place. Amber obtained a domestic violence restraining order against Depp back in 2016 and has tried to move on with her life.

It is Johnny Depp who brought these proceedings against a British newspaper and has dragged her to the UK courts to give evidence on some of the most distressing moments of her life.

The hearing continues.

Originally posted here:
Johnny Depp admits heavy drinking but denies abuse of Amber Heard - The Guardian

While managing the ongoing response to an outbreak of one sometimes-fatal virus state officials are gearing up for an active summer season for another one, but the messaging to keep residents safe shares many similarities.

Whether it's the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 or the mosquito-borne eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus that appears primed for an active summer, the main message from Gov. Charlie Baker, Public Health Commissioner Monica Bharel and others Tuesday was that it's up to each individual to take appropriate steps to limit their own risk of exposure.

"The key to our message is about taking personal protective measures," Bharel said at a press conference in Plymouth. She added, "We've all been spending a lot of time indoors related to COVID-19 and we want the residents of Massachusetts to go outside and enjoy outdoor time with their families. But just like we asked you to take precautions against the other virus that causes COVID, we ask you to take enhanced precautions against EEE so that we can protect ourselves and continue to enjoy the outdoors."

Bharel said people across Massachusetts, not just areas that commonly see cases of EEE, should use mosquito repellents with an EPA-registered active ingredient, wear long sleeves and long pants when outdoors to reduce exposed skin, and stay aware of mosquito activity in the community.

And by the end of this week, legislation granting the administration new powers to run a statewide mosquito control response when the threat of EEE or other mosquito-related diseases is high could be one step closer to the governor's desk, House Speaker Robert DeLeo's office said.

The state is launching a public awareness campaign to remind people of the threat of EEE and the ways to stay safe during mosquito season, and will post the messages on digital billboards, on social media and streaming services, and on television, Bharel said. A new website, http://www.mass.gov/mosquitoesandticks, includes statewide EEE and West Nile virus risk maps.

Last year was the "most active year since the 1950s" for EEE in Massachusetts, with 12 human cases of EEE and six deaths, Bharel said. The disease can affect people of all ages and is generally spread to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito.

Outbreaks of EEE tend to extend themselves over two or three years, officials said Tuesday, so the state began last fall to prepare for this summer's mosquito season. The Department of Public Health has detected the virus in two mosquitoes already in 2020, which Bharel said is the earliest the virus has been identified here in 20 years. No human or animal cases have been reported yet this year.

Last year's EEE activity also showed that EEE is not contained to the typical clusters in Bristol and Plymouth counties, where certain swamps that serve as mosquito breeding grounds are more prevalent. The two EEE-infected mosquitoes reported by DPH already this year came from Orange and Wendell, areas into which the state had recently expanded its surveillance trap program.

"Part of this is about dealing with the fact that as the virus -- not COVID -- as the EEE virus migrates a bit as birds and mosquitoes migrate, it's important that we think a little more about this as a statewide issue and not so much on the particular areas where we've always focused on it where historically have been the places where we've typically seen the biggest outbreaks associated with EEE," Baker said Tuesday.

In addition to reminding people to protect themselves from EEE, Tuesday's press conference at the Plymouth County Mosquito Control Project served as a chance for the governor to press lawmakers to act on legislation he filed in April to modernize the state's approach to combating mosquito-borne illnesses like EEE and West Nile virus.

When he filed his bill, Baker wrote that the "current framework for mosquito control dates to the 1970s and does not allow for the sort of coordinated statewide efforts that are necessary to prevent and combat these viruses and the mosquitoes that carry them," saying that many cities and towns lack entities engaged in mosquito control and are not part of larger control projects.

The Senate approved a mosquito control bill (S 2757) based on Baker's legislation to give the State Reclamation and Mosquito Control Board new powers to fight mosquito-borne illnesses when the state Department of Public Health determines there is an elevated risk.

"The legislation that we filed with the Legislature which I do anticipate and hope will find its way through the Legislature shortly and get to our desk will allow the experts at the Department of Public Health, and the State Reclamation and Mosquito Control Board to work together proactively to protect public health across the commonwealth," Baker said. "When DPH determines that there is an elevated risk, the experts in mosquito control at the State Reclamation and Mosquito Control Board may take necessary actions to mitigate that risk."

Baker has good reason to anticipate that the bill will make its way through the Legislature soon. DeLeo's office told the News Service on Tuesday that the speaker told the governor last week that the House intends to take up the mosquito control bill this week the House is planning a formal session for Thursday and reiterated that plan during a conversation Monday.

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State, residents urged to be ready for active EEE season - Dorchester Reporter