Target, CVS, Publix now requiring masks

NEW YORK — Target, CVS Health and Publix Super Markets on Thursday joined the growing list of national chains that will require customers to wear face masks regardless of where cities or states stand on the issue.

Target’s mandatory face mask policy will go into effect Aug. 1, and all CVS stores will begin requiring them on Monday. Publix Super Markets Inc., based in Lakeland, Fla., said that its rule will kick in on Tuesday at all 1,200 stores.

More than 80% of Target’s 1,800 stores already require customers to wear masks due to local and state regulations.

Can women pass virus to fetus? It’s rare

Can a pregnant woman spread the coronavirus to her fetus?

It’s possible, but it seems to be relatively rare and scientists think they know why that is.

Many viruses can cross the placenta and infect a fetus in the womb, and evidence has been growing that the coronavirus sometimes can too.

Researchers in Italy studied 31 women with COVID-19 who delivered babies in March and April and found signs of the virus in several samples of umbilical cord blood, the placenta and, in one case, breast milk. But this sort of testing can just detect bits of genetic material — it doesn’t mean there is virus capable of causing infection in those places.

Meanwhile, research led by the National Institutes of Health gives a possible reason for why fetuses aren’t infected more often: cells in the placenta rarely make the two tools that the coronavirus typically uses to gain entry. In contrast, they found plenty of what Zika and another type of virus use.

Spacecraft takes closeup of the sun

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A European and NASA spacecraft has snapped the closest pictures ever taken of the sun, revealing countless little “campfires” flaring everywhere.

Scientists on Thursday released the first images taken by Solar Orbiter, launched from Cape Canaveral in February.

The orbiter was about 48 million miles from the sun — about halfway between Earth and the sun — when it took the stunning high-resolution pictures last month.

USA Today: Anti-Fauci column misleading

NEW YORK — USA Today says that a column that the newspaper solicited and published from presidential trade adviser Peter Navarro criticizing Dr. Anthony Fauci was misleading and did not meet fact-checking standards.

The newspaper explained the decision in a note by Bill Sternberg, editorial page editor, attached to the column online. Navarro’s column originally moved online late Tuesday and was published in Wednesday’s newspaper.

Navarro wrote that Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, “has been wrong about everything I interacted with him on.”

The newspaper on Wednesday evening also ran a fact-check story by Washington reporter Ledyard King examining five of Navarro’s claims.

The Associated Press