MASKS
Wearing a face covering helps prevent the spread of Covid-19?
And the Government and its scientific and medical advisors seemed to all agree with us...
“In terms of wearing a mask,
if you don’t have an infection really reduces the risks… almost not at all…”
Chris Whitty, 4th March 2020
“The evidence for the use of masks
by the general public – especially outdoors – is extremely weak…”
Matt Hancock, 24th April 2020
“The evidence on face-masks has always been quite variable… quite weak,
quite difficult to know and there’s no real trials on it.”
Government Briefing Statement on 24 April 2020
“Recommendation from SAGE is completely clear – there is weak evidence of a small effect that a face mask can prevent infection going from someone who is infected to the people around them.”
Government Briefing, 28th April 2020
… until they didn't, and masks were made mandatory in shops on 24th July 2020.
So, the 180 degree turn made by the Government when suddenly mandating the wearing of masks in July must have been based on a wealth of scientific studies and research, right?
No scientific evidence was produced by the Government; no details were laid out as to how the efficacy of this mandate would be measured; and no conditions were stipulated as to how and when the mandate would be rescinded. In other words, no impact assessment was carried out – or if it was, it has been kept secret from the public. This means that mandating the public to wear masks in shops and public transport breaks the Health & Social Care Act, 2012. Basically, governments can't simply dream up restrictions to the public's health and freedoms without sufficient justification. That only happens in dictatorships.
Do you wear a mask just to avoid confrontation? And because it makes life easier, right?
It may seem like it makes your life easier... but as we have seen with the new lockdowns and the destruction of the Christmas holidays, complying with senseless government directives does not improve the situation for any of us – indeed, the Government's recent actions demonstrate that the opposite is true. The more nonsensical rules we accept, the more nonsensical rules the Government dictates. So, from a moral standpoint, refusing to comply with rules and regulations invented, seemingly, on a daily basis, and with no sound basis in law, is not a good thing unless there is a demonstrable danger in not doing so.
Am I not helping others by wearing a mask, though? Saving grannies and the NHS like the posters I see everywhere tell us?
Masks do not stop the spread of viruses, full stop. They were never designed to do so. And as we have seen in recent weeks, cases are, according to the Government, now rising to terrifying levels – worse than in March, we are told - and with new strains lurking about, too... except there's a glaring problem with this message, because the only people getting tested are those that wear masks, sanitise their hands, and distance. So, based on the government's 'evidence' it's obvious that masks, distancing, hand-sanitising, and other measure taken by those terrified of the 'virus', do not work. Or the rt PCR test doesn't work. Or a combination of all of the above doesn't work.
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Here's the link to CDC research that mask wearers have more chance of testing positive for Covid-19:
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/pdfs/mm6936a5-H.pdf (see Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report section).
And here is the link to the list of studies over decades showing masks have no positive effect on surgical infections.
But surely wearing a mask can't do me any harm – it's only a bit of cloth, right?
Aside from the link to research showing that 85% of positive Covid cases were mask wearers (see section above), and wore masks always or often, wearing face-coverings for long periods, or using the same face-coverings repeatedly, can cause a variety of health issues, from rashes and skin eruptions, to respiratory infections and breathing problems – even death in extreme cases. Government 'experts' (that is, people paid to say what the Government tells them to) have tried to convince us that masks are safe and do not impede breathing and oxygen uptake... except if this were true, the Government would not have made exceptions for people with COPD, asthma, and other illnesses with breathing issues. They tell us surgeons wear them all the time, for example... except this is only partially true. Surgeons wear the thin paper masks for short periods before a nurse removes and changes it to a fresh one for the surgeon. This happens throughout the surgical procedure.
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Interesting fact: in a 1991 study, surgeons wore masks during only 50% of their surgeries for 2 years. After 1,537 operations performed with masks, the wound infection rate was 4.7%, while after 1,551 operations performed without masks, the wound infection rate was only 3.5%.
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The reason surgical staff change their masks regularly is because breathing, like sweating, and passing urine and faeces, is an elimination process. It removes waste products from the body via the lungs. You breathe out warm, moist, CO2-laden air whilst also expelling bacteria, mould spores, and other contaminants at the same time. Now, a face-covering cannot prevent the spread of a virus, but it can trap warm, moist bacteria and mould-laden particles and provide a breeding ground for such toxins to multiply... and then you breath them all back in again! VERY unhealthy – and it can be downright dangerous. Bacterial pneumonia (often requiring hospital admission) has skyrocketed since huge swathes of the world's population began wearing face-coverings – and it can only get worse now we are into flu season in the Northern hemisphere.
Still not convinced? Ask yourself these important questions...
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Are the people not wearing masks getting sick from Covid-19? Why aren't they?
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Are government advisors, health experts, and ministers - those dictating what we can and can't do in our lives at the moment - practising what they preach relating to wearing masks, distancing, and other Covid-19 measures?
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Why are TV doctors and other personalities, also preaching the government line and telling us what to do, often caught by the media ignoring the rules and not wearing masks or distancing?
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Why are people in other countries, with the same positions in government and scientific advisory bodies as in the UK, also seen out and about without masks - unless they're been interviewed on camera?
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What makes these establishment figures confident enough to flout the regulations that we are expected to follow? What do they know that we don't?
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Why aren't there lots of Covid-19 deaths from frontline staff who didn't have to wear masks until recently (shop workers, police, mechanics, builders, etc.)?
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Why aren't there biohazard bins in our homes and streets for disposal of gloves and masks if the virus is so contagious and dangerous?
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Please always ask the awkward questions - especially if government directives make no sense. And judge those telling us what to do on their actions, not what they say - we are all meant to be equal under the law, so those in power need to remember that. The attitude of 'Do as I say not as I do' is simply not acceptable in these difficult times. So always ask yourself why those in charge do not practice what they preach, and why they aren't afraid of the pandemic in the same way they expect us to be?
I'll get a fine for not wearing a mask, right?
The Government has created exemptions so general, and so all-encompassing that anyone and everyone can use it to avoid masking up. The loophole makes a mockery of the legislation and demonstrates quite clearly that mask-wearing does not work and the Government does not consider it essential – or there would be no exemptions! It is THAT simple.
The Government guidelines state that all you need to say, if questioned for not wearing a mask, is that you are exempt. That's it. You do not need to provide a badge (although carrying one can give people more confidence), a medical exemption letter, or divulge any personal medical information to anyone. You do NOT need to be ill or disabled, either. The UK Government guidance states that you do NOT have to wear a mask “where putting on, wearing or removing a face covering will cause you severe distress”, or “to avoid harm or injury, or the risk of harm or injury, to yourself or others”.
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The guidance goes on to say, “In settings where face coverings are required in England, there are some circumstances where people may not be able to wear a face covering. Please be mindful and respectful of such circumstances, noting that some people are less able to wear face coverings, and that the reasons for this may not be visible to others.” See the link:
So, there you have it.
If the thought of getting nappy rash on your face or developing bacterial pneumonia causes you distress, you are exempt from wearing a mask – and no one has the right to ask you for details. If they do? Refer them to the Government website and walk away.
Click on links for further evidence:
Masks don't work - https://off-guardian.org/2020/06/06/coronavirus-fact-check-6-does-wearing-a-mask-do-anything/
Denmark study: https://swprs.org/the-suppressed-danish-mask-study/
Studies showing masks are useless in preventing the spread of disease and, if anything, are unsanitary objects that themselves spread bacteria and viruses.
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• Ritter et al., in 1975, found that “the wearing of a surgical face mask had no effect upon the overall operating room environmental contamination.”
• Ha’eri and Wiley, in 1980, applied human albumin microspheres to the interior of surgical masks in 20 operations. At the end of each operation, wound washings were examined under the microscope. “Particle contamination of the wound was demonstrated in all experiments.”
• Laslett and Sabin, in 1989, found that caps and masks were not necessary during cardiac catheterization. “No infections were found in any patient, regardless of whether a cap or mask was used,” they wrote. Sjøl and Kelbaek came to the same conclusion in 2002.
• In Tunevall’s 1991 study, a general surgical team wore no masks in half of their surgeries for two years. After 1,537 operations performed with masks, the wound infection rate was 4.7%, while after 1,551 operations performed without masks, the wound infection rate was only 3.5%.
• A review by Skinner and Sutton in 2001 concluded that “The evidence for discontinuing the use of surgical face masks would appear to be stronger than the evidence available to support their continued use.”
• Lahme et al., in 2001, wrote that “surgical face masks worn by patients during regional anaesthesia, did not reduce the concentration of airborne bacteria over the operation field in our study. Thus they are dispensable.”
• Figueiredo et al., in 2001, reported that in five years of doing peritoneal dialysis without masks, rates of peritonitis in their unit were no different than rates in hospitals where masks were worn.
• Bahli did a systematic literature review in 2009 and found that “no significant difference in the incidence of postoperative wound infection was observed between masks groups and groups operated with no masks.”
• Surgeons at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, recognizing the lack of evidence supporting the use of masks, ceased requiring them in 2010 for anesthesiologists and other non-scrubbed personnel in the operating room. “Our decision to no longer require routine surgical masks for personnel not scrubbed for surgery is a departure from common practice. But the evidence to support this practice does not exist,” wrote Dr. Eva Sellden.
• Webster et al., in 2010, reported on obstetric, gynecological, general, orthopaedic, breast and urological surgeries performed on 827 patients. All non-scrubbed staff wore masks in half the surgeries, and none of the non-scrubbed staff wore masks in half the surgeries. Surgical site infections occurred in 11.5% of the Mask group, and in only 9.0% of the No Mask group.
• Lipp and Edwards reviewed the surgical literature in 2014 and found “no statistically significant difference in infection rates between the masked and unmasked group in any of the trials.” Vincent and Edwards updated this review in 2016 and the conclusion was the same.
• Carøe, in a 2014 review based on four studies and 6,006 patients, wrote that “none of the four studies found a difference in the number of post-operative infections whether you used a surgical mask or not.”
• Salassa and Swiontkowski, in 2014, investigated the necessity of scrubs, masks and head coverings in the operating room and concluded that “there is no evidence that these measures reduce the prevalence of surgical site infection.”
• Da Zhou et al., reviewing the literature in 2015, concluded that “there is a lack of substantial evidence to support claims that facemasks protect either patient or surgeon from infectious contamination.”
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Conclusions
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Schools in China are now prohibiting students from wearing masks while exercising. Why?
Because it was killing them. It was depriving them of oxygen and it was killing them. At least three children died during Physical Education classes -- two of them while running on their school’s track while wearing a mask. And a 26-year-old man suffered a collapsed lung after running two and a half miles while wearing a mask.
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Mandating masks has not kept death rates down anywhere.
The 20 U.S. states that have never ordered people to wear face masks indoors and out have dramatically lower COVID-19 death rates than the 30 states that have mandated masks. Most of the no-mask states have COVID-19 death rates below 20 per 100,000 population, and none have a death rate higher than 55. All 13 states that have death rates higher 55 are states that have required the wearing of masks in all public places. It has not protected them.