Facebook will also include additional prevention tips and links to public health agencies
Washington:
Facebook announced on Thursday that it would remind users to wear protective masks, responding to the latest wave of American coronavirus cases, which have sparked new fears of containing the pandemic.
The social media giant has said it will include alerts at the top of Facebook and Instagram feeds from the U.S. with plans for expansion in the future.
“With the increase in COVID-19 cases in the United States, we are placing an alert at the top of Facebook and Instagram to remind everyone to wear face covers,” the company said in a statement.
Facebook will also include additional prevention tips and links to public health agencies in its COVID-19 information center.
Twitter appeared to join the call for masks with a sardonic message that referred to a long-standing user request for a tweet edit button.
“You can have an edit button when everyone is wearing a mask,” said a tweet from the official Twitter account, which was shared some 93,000 times in an hour.
These measures come amid a fracture in parts of the United States over the need to wear masks, with some Americans rejecting face covers as a government intrusion.
President Donald Trump, who has not yet been seen in public wearing a face mask during the crisis, said this week that he would “have no problem” doing so under certain circumstances.
“If I was in a difficult situation with people, I would absolutely do it,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business, as many American states have reported an increase in the number of cases.
Heath experts voiced concern last month when Trump held a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, without requiring participants to wear masks.
Eight members of his campaign staff working at this event tested positive for the virus.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
