CDC advises employees not to argue with anti-mask customers

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged retail and service employees not to attempt to engage with customers who refuse to wear masks. The CDC issued the guidance about workplace violence associated with the coronavirus pandemic on Monday and included tips about what to do and not do when confronted by someone refusing to cover his or her face. “Don’t argue with a customer if they make threats or become violent. If needed go to a safe area (ideally, a room that locks from the inside, has a second exit route, and has a phone or silent alarm),” the guidance reads. “Don’t attempt to force anyone who appears upset or violent to follow COVID-19 prevention policies or other policies or practices related to COVID-19,” it added.

The CDC also provided “warning signs” that should be spoken about during employee training. “As part of training, employees often learn verbal and non-verbal cues that may be warning signs of possible violence. Verbal cues can include speaking loudly or swearing. Non-verbal cues can include clenched fists, heavy breathing, fixed stare, and pacing, among other behaviors,” the CDC said, adding that the more cues a customer is showing means the customer is more likely to become violent. The guidance follows incidents of violence across the country stemming from confrontations over mask usage. Earlier in August, a New York couple was arrested after they allegedly beat a teenage employee of a Pennsylvania theme park in the face after he reminded them of the park’s mask policy. The victim had to receive surgery because of the magnitude of his injuries. The United States has reported some 5.7 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus and more than 178,000 deaths since the pandemic began.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/cdc-advises-employees-not-to-argue-with-anti-mask-customers

'They are not alone': Pompeo deputy meets Belarus opposition leader

Deputy Secretary of State Steve Biegun met with Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya at the outset of a trip that could see the United States take a significant role in a political eruption that threatens one of Russia’s closest allies. “The very fact of the meeting itself sends [a] powerful message to Belarusian people: They are not alone,” a Baltic official said after Biegun and Tikhanovskaya spoke in Lithuania. Biegun’s overture to Tikhanovskaya, the schoolteacher and stay-at-home mom who challenged Belarusian tyrant Alexander Lukashenko in the August elections, marked a major overture from the Trump administration at a time when the U.S. has very limited diplomatic presence in the country. Their meeting took place on Monday, before a Tuesday stop in Moscow, where Kremlin officials are working to help Lukashenko keep power in defiance of unprecedented protests against his declaration of victory in fraudulent elections. “It's important to shine a spotlight on what's happening in Belarus, to raise the bar on Lukashenko's using violence,” former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker, who also worked as special envoy for the crisis in Ukraine before resigning during the impeachment controversy, said of Biegun’s trip to Vilnius and Moscow. “And also [to convey] that the idea of military intervention or a crack down on the Belarusian people that Russia would participate in would be unacceptable, and there would be very severe consequences for Russia if they did that.”

The Belarusian protests come at a tricky time for both Russia and the U.S., as Lukashenko has irritated Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent months due to an apparent fear that the Kremlin would pressure him to bring the former Soviet vassal state back into a political union under Moscow’s leadership. Trump administration officials have sought to improve ties with the Belarusian regime in order to help avert such an outcome, which would empower Putin to sharpen military threats against neighboring NATO allies, but Lukashenko’s brutality in attempting to suppress the protests hardened attitudes in Washington and Western Europe. “It's important to keep focusing on this being the Belarusian people themselves demanding the right to choose their own government,” Volker said. “It’s not a contest between the U.S. and Russia.” The protests have persisted since the Aug. 9 election, in which Lukashenko claimed 80% of the vote despite previously having felt vulnerable to political threats even from weak challengers. “Probably for the first time, Lukashenko does not really have a majority, which was a surprise to him — probably even a surprise to the people themselves,” said Belarusian native Alena Kudzko, a senior foreign policy analyst at GLOBSEC in Bratislava. “This is something new in the country for sure, and this is the momentum that we're having right now.”

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/they-are-not-alone-pompeo-deputy-meets-belarus-opposition-leader

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