Filling the gap: Grassroots mask making in California during the Coronavirus pandemic.

In early months of 2020, California experienced a mask-making revolution during the Coronavirus pandemic. Media reports and personal pleas from the medical community regarding personal protective equipment shortages and rationing activated a female-led, voluntary response to protect frontline medical and essential workers, loved ones, and vulnerable populations. Mask makers impressed themselves into action, operating independent of the formal channels for emergency response to fill the gap in communities across the state using social media and crowdsourcing to match offers of assistance with needs. Makers provided protection to thousands of Californians using locally organized Facebook groups to share patterns, collaborate, problem solve, coordinate mask requests and distribution, and build community when the supply chain fell short. While many legitimate obstacles prevent the formal response community from coordinating with emergent volunteers, recognizing how efficient and effective they were during COVID-19 benefits the whole commu-nity approach to emergency management.

Using infrared thermography on farm of origin to predict meat quality and physiological response in cattle (Bos Taurus) exposed to transport and marketing.

Temperature is used as an indicator of animals' response to external stimuli and thus it could potentially be used as an indicator or poor animal welfare and meat quality. Remote monitoring of temperature can be achieved using infrared thermography (IRT) at the farm of origin before animals are sent to slaughter. Relationships between temperatures of cattle measured using IRT on-farm and potential indicators of stress and meat quality were investigated in 481 cattle in 2 experiments, one with sea transport and another with land transport. On-farm measurements included IRT and behavioural assessment of temperament along with measurement of physiological indicators of stress and carcass traits post-mortem. Significant correlations were found between IRT and meat pH, meat colour, creatine kinase, glucose, non-esterified fatty acids, magnesium, and temperament (P < .05). That said, these correlations did not persist across both experiments. Current findings suggest that on-farm IRT could have the potential to assist with the detection of compromised animal welfare and predict meat quality.