PART 16 – TO MASK OR NOT TO MASK? THAT IS THE QUESTION
I’m going to help you with something. You know those people you see driving in their car with their windows rolled up, wearing a mask, protecting themselves from themselves? Or that boater alone on the water all-masked up! Or that ornery older-lady who maced a couple in front of their children as they ate a picnic lunch in a park for not wearing masks! Realize this: You’re not the one with something wrong with you if you think those are odd behaviors. They are NOT just ODD behaviors, they can be downright dangerous. And you know what? Even the World Health Organization had to admit that there is no scientific basis for wholesale masking of the population. Here’s the headline from Mercola. “WHO Admits: No Direct Evidence Masks Prevent Viral Infection.” The article states: “According to the World Health Organization’s June 5, 2020, guidance on face mask use, there’s no direct evidence that universal masking of healthy people is an effective intervention against respiratory illnesses.”[i]
Ah, but then why pray tell are we being instructed to don the masks in almost all public situations? Does wearing a mask really help control the spread of the virus? ‘Follow the science,’ they tell us! So we’ll do just that. The following is taken from an article in Technocracy which reviewed the accumulated data on the use of masks. The author, Dr Colleen Huber, reviewed the peer-reviewed literature on the subject. We’re talking about studies published in the Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine and the like. So here it is: Just the facts Jack.
Study in RXiv 2020 – Dr Huber wrote: “Face masks were found to have no detectable effect against transmission of viral infections. It found: ‘Compared to no masks, there was no reduction of influenza-like illness cases or influenza for masks in the general population, nor in healthcare workers.’”[ii] A 2020 meta-analysis survey published by the CDC found “that evidence from randomized controlled trials of face masks did not support a substantial effect on transmission of laboratory-confirmed influenza, either when worn by infected persons (source control) or by persons in the general community to reduce their susceptibility.”[iii] Another review found that masking “very slightly reduced” the odds of getting the flu.[iv] Jump back a few years to 2011 to a study on masks and transmission. This work found that “none of the studies established a conclusive relationship between mask/respirator use and protection against influenza infection.”[v]
Then there’s the whole issue of airflow around masks. It seems wearing them can make the virus go farther by creating “brow jets.” Dr Huber (and quoting the study), “Considering those positioned next to or behind a mask wearer, there have been farther transmission of virus-laden fluid particles from masked individuals than from unmasked individuals, by means of ‘several leakage jets, including intense backward and downwards jets that may present major hazards,’ and a ‘potentially dangerous leakage jet of up to several meters.’”[vi]
Then there is the issue of penetration. Forty-four brands were studied and found to have over 35% penetration. Medical masks came out a little better at 20%.[vii] Yet another study found “surgical masks offered no protection at all against influenza.”[viii] And you have this, from an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine. “We know that wearing a mask outside health care facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection. Public health authorities define a significant exposure to Covid-19 as face-to-face contact within 6 feet with a patient with symptomatic Covid-19 that is sustained for at least a few minutes (and some say more than 10 minutes or even 20 minutes). The chance of catching Covid-19 from a passing interaction in a public space is therefore minimal.”[ix] Finally, there is the danger of masking. One study concluded, that masking can put strain on the “pulmonary, circulatory and immune systems, due to oxygen reduction and air trapping reducing substantial carbon dioxide exchange.”[x] ‘THEY’ tell us to “follow the science.” Then let us see all the science – on both sides!
[i] WHO Admits: No Direct Evidence Masks Prevent Viral Infection, Mercola, viewed August 3, 2020
[ii] T Jefferson, M Jones, et al. Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses. MedRxiv. 2020 Apr 7
[iii] Reference Study: J Xiao, E Shiu, et al. Nonpharmaceutical measures for pandemic influenza in non-healthcare settings – personal protective and environmental measures. Centers for Disease Control. 26(5); 2020 May.
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/5/19-0994_article
[iv] 3 J Brainard, N Jones, et al. Facemasks and similar barriers to prevent respiratory illness such as COVID19: A rapid systematic review. MedRxiv. 2020 Apr 1. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.01.20049528v1.full.pdf
[v] 6 F bin-Reza, V Lopez, et al. The use of masks and respirators to prevent transmission of influenza: a systematic review of the scientific evidence. 2012 Jul; 6(4): 257-267. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5779801/
[vi] M Viola, B Peterson, et al. Face coverings, aerosol dispersion and mitigation of virus transmission risk.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.10720, https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/2005/2005.10720.pdf
[vii] H Jung, J Kim, et al. Comparison of filtration efficiency and pressure drop in anti-yellow sand masks, quarantine masks, medical masks,
general masks, and handkerchiefs. Aerosol Air Qual Res. 2013 Jun. 14:991-1002. https://aaqr.org/articles/aaqr-13-06-oa-0201.pdf
[viii] C MacIntyre, Q Wang, et al. A cluster randomized clinical trial comparing fit-tested and non-fit-tested N95 respirators to medical masks to prevent respiratory virus infection in health care workers. Influenza J. 2010 Dec 3.
[ix] M Klompas, C Morris, et al. Universal masking in hospitals in the Covid-19 era. N Eng J Med. 2020; 382 e63.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2006372
[x] B Chandrasekaran, S Fernandes. Exercise with facemask; are we handling a devil’s sword – a physiological hypothesis. Med Hypothese. 2020 Jun 22. 144:110002. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32590322/
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