“If you are too weak to give yourselves your own law, then a tyrant shall lay his yoke upon you and say:” Obey! Clench your teeth and obey!” “And all good and evil shall be drowned in obedience to him.” Freidrich Nietzsche
Similar to all things Covid-related, this Inquisitive Libertarian has observed that these new creatures called “fact checkers” extinguish much, if not all, subject matter on mainstream platforms and social media that is critical of facemasks. Moreover, your government tells you to wear facemasks in public – even if walking by yourself outside in nature – so, by God, it must be right! After all, my government cares about their citizenry, right?
Science does not agree. Indeed, scientific research suggests quite the opposite position as that currently taken by political leaders and “fact checkers” (I will ignore the legal argument that most of these edicts are unconstitutional in the very countries that now require them).
Let’s explore … the Science
First, the basics:
- Surgical masks are designed for … wait for it … surgery! Their two primary reasons are: (1) to prevent blood & fluid splatter on surgeon & staff and (2) prevent fluids (e.g., saliva) dripping from the surgeon & staff onto an open wound of the patient.
- Pertinently, in the world of viruses (and masks), Size Matters.
- Single use masks (i.e., what the vast majority of people wear, due to government advise of replacing every few hours) are designed to filter out 95% of 3 microns or larger particles. The N95 masks are designed to a higher standard, rated to filter out 95% of 0.3 microns or bigger.
- Covid measures ~ 0.1 – 0.12 microns.
Do the math.
Covid is smaller – much smaller – than what the vast majority of masks are designed to filter out. Put another way, Covid will quite easily penetrate that mask of yours as readily as rain soaks through your cotton shirt. Think of swatting khats with a tennis racket. I don’t care if you’re Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal, you will struggle to kill those too-damn-small insects.
A side note - an argument can be made that the ASTM F2100 could be helpful, although even a 5% threshold on 0.1 microns could be seen as too high as all it takes in one micron-sized droplet to infect a person.
- Looking at the size of viruses and expanding our discussion:
- Masks will help prevent the spread of tuberculosis (TB) as TB has large “globule droplets” measuring 3 microns. Ebola can be viewed similarly, if using N95 or better-quality masks.
Interesting factoid about those N95 masks – they sport a one-way valve, so the wearer breathing out does not protect others in any way whatsoever (so much for the oft-repeated dogmatic theme of wearing masks to protect others…).
- Smallpox has killed more people in the 20th century than all of the wars together. If society could have “masked away” smallpox, wouldn’t we have? But like Covid, smallpox is too small for the masks to protect the wearer. Fact.
- Moving beyond the “size matters” argument, we’ve all seen far too many people each and every day lower and raise their mask around their nose with their hands. In what universe is THIS a safe practice? And many people wear “cloth-based dirty dishrags”, even if some are beautifully designed by famous fashion houses.
- Moreover, “between 2004 and 2016, at least twelve articles appeared in medical and scientific journals showing that face masks do not prevent the transmission of infection” Dr Vernon Coleman MB ChB DSc FRSA (link below)
- Scandinavia & Holland – those pesky northern Europeans seem to defy all political thought on Covid and masks. The Dutch, Danes & Swedes, who boast less deaths per capita than mask wearing nations, eschew the use of masks. A few quotes from medical leaders there from November 2020:
"From a medical point of view, there is no evidence of a medical effect of wearing face masks, so we decided not to impose a national obligation," said Medical Care Minister Tamara van Ark.
“Face masks in public places are not necessary, based on all the current evidence,” said Coen Berends, spokesman for the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment. “There is no benefit and there may even be negative impact.”
“With numbers diminishing very quickly in Sweden, we see no point in wearing a face mask in Sweden, not even on public transport,” said Anders Tegnell, Sweden’s top infectious disease expert.
- An expert at the Hoover Institute empathically states that “believing mask wearing stops Covid cases is super naïve, wrong & is garbage science” - Dr. Scott Atlas, pointing to actual scientific research from the NIH, the WHO & the CDC at the 35min mark of this video
- And a final slam dunk on the uselessness of facemasks – the mask manufacturers themselves admit, via their own packaging, that their product does not protect against Covid.
To review - governments force their populations to wear masks that the manufacturers’ unambiguously state are not Fit For Purpose.
As Homer Simpson so eloquently says on occasion … (ALL & COMPLETE credit for this image attributed to the Simpsons!)
In summary, scientifically generated data prove masks do NOT protect the wearer from Covid; nor protect others from a Covid-infected mask wearer from catching the virus.
But let’s dig deeper. Are masks actually harmful? Yes, it appears they are:
- There are numerous studies that prove masks, worn for extended periods of time, reduce oxygen & increased carbon dioxide levels to the brain. As such, mask wearers are more likely to develop infection and may damage their immune systems as reduced oxygen levels results in reduced T-cell production.
Think about that for a second – fear has caused far too many people to no longer use their powers of critical thinking. It seems oxygen-starved brains now only contribute to this zombie-like behaviour.
- The WHO’s latest advice is that surgical masks should be worn and replaced every 2 hours. Who amongst us goes through 6 masks per day (let’s ignore the environmental impact on this, shall we?)? As a result, many physicians belief that chest infections will skyrocket, since entire populations are now wearing “dirty rags” on their mouths & noses for hours each day.
- Facemasks trap warm moisture when one exhales, leading to acne flares, according to dermatologists. I have an 18-year-old son whose facial skin seems to prove this theory.
- Microparticles / “loose fibres” may be inhaled directly into our lung tissue from masks, causing life-long respiratory complications.
- A recent New England Journal of Medicine has recently stated “the chances of catching Covid19 from a passing interaction in a public space is minimal; in many cases the desire for wide-spread masking is a reflexive reaction to anxiety over the pandemic”. (see Dr Coleman’s link below for details of all references – and more - to these scientific studies).
- An October 2020 interview with Dr Michael Yeadon, the former Chief Scientific Officer of Pfizer, refers to a 1,500 person study that proved that “people wearing no masks had the same frequently of influenza type illnesses as those wearing high quality medical masks. And the people wearing cloth masks had twice” (let me repeat that … TWICE) “the frequency of the symptoms. And that study was laboratory confirmed” (link below)
Continue our digging exercise – this time digging beyond just the science.
On a psychological level, forced mask wearing was used historically to break people’s will, make them subservient. President Trump recently tweeted that mandated use of facemasks represents a "culture of silence, slavery, and social death." Whether you agree and/or like Trump is immaterial on this particular point … because his statement is fact based.
I encourage the reader to deep dive this issue as history is rich in information. From this writer’s perspective, I think it sufficient to say that this one meme captures our horrid human history of domination, control and slavery:
Masks depersonalise and dehumanise. And the damage to our children is incalculable. My 14-year-old daughter is required to wear a mask for the entire school day, including fitness hour. Masks were never designed for all-day wear – even for surgeons. This is wrong, this is inhumane, and - whereas I’m no lawyer – I believe this could be considered a hate crime when one factors in the science (I remind the reader that one of the main reasons I write these articles is because I have three children). One could say that I am most certainly “invested” with respect to this particularly heinous issue.
As the Nuremburg trials have resolutely established, blindly obeying orders - which would include wilful ignorance of science - is no defence for those forcing their populace to wear face masks. When the truth comes out – as it invariably will – there will be hell to pay.
But this is the year 2020 – a year where science and logic are relegated to the back of the room to observe, in silence, whilst overzealous politicians (many of whom may not have their citizens’ best interests at heart), anonymous “fact checkers”, Big Tech and mainstream media run rampant over our individual rights.
In summary, science most definitely does NOT support the wearing of facemasks to prevent Covid19 spread, all day mask wearing is likely to be harmful to your health and masks may be causing psychological harm to society at large, but most certainly to children.
This Inquisitive Libertarian’s bottom line on mask wearing? As always, I believe in an individual’s right to choose what makes sense for him or her. If said individual wants to believe quack science and suspect politicians, so be it. More power to you (but please do think of your children). I, on the other hand, will follow hard science. And, as a libertarian, I will always come out on the side of personal rights and freedoms over government overreach because any other position to me is … Just. Plain. Wrong.
I conclude with a link to the “Old Man in the Chair” - British humour at its best on this most serious of subjects. International best-selling author, Dr Vernon Coleman MB ChB DSc FRSA, explains why face masks do more harm than good. He has been banned by YouTube for disseminating information not congruent with “fact checkers”. But as a public service, he will send to you his recent book about the dangers of masks for free. But you’ll have to watch the vid in order to know how to get the free book.
Sources: (for the interested and/or sceptical reader):
1/ Dr Lee Merritt, MD & surgeon - Proof That Face Masks Do More Harm Than Good
2/ Dr Denis Rancourt - Face masks, lies, damn lies, and public health officials: “A growing body of evidence” https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343399832_Face_masks_lies_damn_lies_and_public_health_officials_A_growing_body_of_evidence
3/ Scandinavia health experts on masks:
4/ Dr Michael Yeadon interview regarding masks