UNMASKING THE TRUTH (PART II)

On 1 June, the Association of American Physicians & Surgeons (AAPS) published substantial research showing the ineffectiveness of masks to meaningfully slow down the spread of COVID-19.

Some of the facts presented include:

• “While cloth masks might capture 10-30 percent of some virus droplets in the air, all of the cloth masks and materials had near zero efficiency at 0.3 µm, a particle size that easily penetrates into the lungs.”
• “N95 masks protect health care workers, but are not recommended for source control transmission.”
• “Surgical masks are better than cloth but not very efficient at preventing emissions from infected patients.”
• “Cloth masks will be ineffective at preventing SARS-CoV-2 transmission, whether worn as source control or as personal protective equipment (PPE).”
• “Masks may confuse that message and give people a false sense of security. If masks had been the solution in Asia, shouldn’t they have stopped the pandemic before it spread elsewhere?”

Under the sub-heading “Final Thoughts,” the AAPS posted these bullet points:

• “Surgical masks are designed to protect the patient from the doctors’ respiratory droplets. The wearer is not protected from others airborne particles.”
• “People do not wear masks properly. Most people have the mask under the nose. The wearer does not have glasses on and the eyes are a portal of entry.”
• “The designer masks and scarves offer minimal protection – they give a false sense of security to both the wearer and those around the wearer.”
• “If you are walking alone, no mask – avoid folks – that is common sense.”
• “Remember – children under 2 should not wear masks – accidental suffocation and difficulty breathing in some.”
• “If wearing a mask makes people go out and get Vitamin D – go for it. In the 1918 flu pandemic people who went outside did better. Early reports are showing people with COVID-19 with low Vitamin D do worse than those with normal levels. Perhaps that is why shut-ins do so poorly.”

More Unproven Effectiveness

The New England Journal of Medicine article “Universal Masking in Hospitals in the COVID-19 Era,” published on 21 May, stated,

“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 30 minutes).

The chance of catching Covid-19 from a passing interaction in a public space is therefore minimal. In many cases, the desire for widespread masking is a reflexive reaction to anxiety over the pandemic.”

A 2015 study led by Raina MacIntyre, a Professor at the School of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of New South Wales, showed aerosol particles penetrated almost 97 percent of cloth masks.

Reported in the study, titled, “A cluster randomised trial of cloth masks compared with medical masks in healthcare workers”:

“This study is the first random control trial (RCT) of cloth masks, and the results caution against the use of cloth masks. This is an important finding to inform occupational health and safety. Moisture retention, reuse of cloth masks and poor filtration may result in increased risk of infection. Further research is needed to inform the widespread use of cloth masks globally. However, as a precautionary measure, cloth masks should not be recommended for HCWs, particularly in high-risk situations, and guidelines need to be updated.”

TREND FORECAST: Just as the media and polling agencies characterize getting a COVID vaccine as a political issue, so, too, they have labeled mask wearing as a pro or con political divide.

As we have previously noted, it is more an issue of Fear vs. Facts.

Again, as documented in the Trends Journal, the media, led by CNN, has used the COVID War to boost its ratings by spreading fear and hysteria. Thus, an uninformed majority who swallow sound bites and are ignorant of the facts are predominantly pro-mask.

These issues will be instrumental elements in the formation of new anti-establishment political parties that will grow stronger as economies deeply decline.