The Return of the Sting:
Or how I learned to stop worrying about the repeated beating of the dead horse known as "mask mandates".
CUYAHOGA COUNTY – For those not living in fantasy land, it may come as some surprise that Cuyahoga County executive Armond Budish has decreed that all individuals entering county buildings must wear masks again. The move came just two months after lifting the previous county-wide mask mandate and was argued as a “preventative measure” to curb the potential spread of another COVID outbreak.
If we set aside for the moment why this mandate is being returned at the height of summer when Vitamin D levels are at their peak and illness is nearly nonexistent, or whether or not executive edicts are even required to be followed, we still have a perplexing case of rolling out a protocol again for disease mitigation that doesn’t mitigate disease and for all intents and purposes has been put to bed on its safety and efficacy a while ago. At least for those of us who read the science, instead of trusting in it. But what does the science say about the issue? We know what our local health experts recommend, but what is behind their decisions?
It’s important when diving into this rotten carcass of an issue that we understand the basic principles behind why individuals advocate for masks in the first place. Once we understand the mechanism of action, so to speak, it shouldn’t be a surprise as to why every experimental study on the subject finds the same thing.
During the early days of COVID, many doctors on the frontline of the issue were running on a concept called Minimum Inoculum Theory. This theory held that the virus, once entering the body, would replicate at a set rate. Due to one’s immune system also operating on a set reaction timetable, larger “viral loads” were expected to translate to more severe disease i.e., the virus would enter the body and replicate at a rate that would overwhelm the immune system and result in more serious illness. Going on this theory, it would stand to reason that the limitation of that viral load, would allow the immune system to react more effectively and before it becomes overwhelmed or even prevent clinical infection entirely.
Whether or not this idea is valid is a separate matter. Doctors and nurses (or rather the hospital administrations at the recommendation of the CDC) took the plunge and decided that in the interest of risk mitigation they would advise wearing a specific type of mask to staff to limit the amount of exposure. It should be noted that it was never said that these masks, called NIOSH 95 respirators or N95’s, would prevent infection entirely. Rather, it was argued they could limit the viral load encountered by doctors entering the rooms of sick patients all day. The idea that any facial covering would or could prevent the spread of infection came not long after the rise of cases in the west, busting onto the scene with no scientific backing either in theory or in practice.
The reason why N95 masks were used is because they feature a specially designed static charge which can capture debris measuring .3 microns or above. While this wouldn’t capture all COVID particles, which measure anywhere from .1 to .5, it could catch some. In theory.
Regardless of the rationale for the use of N95 masks in hospitals, the public was clamoring for some strategy of risk mitigation they could do themselves. Suddenly the CDC and local health departments around the country were ignoring years of research into this very topic and telling people to put cut-up denim or underwear fabric over their faces, giving a whole new meaning to “pants-on-head”.
For years research institutions around the world have studied the effectiveness of masking on the spread of respiratory illnesses and infectious disease with the same result. A May 2020 meta-analysis published by the US CDC on influenza, which has a viral particle size significantly larger than COVID, found that face masks had no effect as personal protective equipment or as a source of control. (source).
Similarly, the Swiss Policy Research Center has already compiled an active list of research studies which all came to the same conclusion on the use of masks from various materials; they don’t prevent infection or mitigate the spread of disease. (source).
The reason for this is quite obvious when looking at it through the lens of common sense. The interweaving of cloth and surgical masks are simply orders of magnitude larger than the aerosolized particles of COVID-19. They can’t stop the exhalation of COVID particles anymore than skyscraper scaffolding can block a cannon shot full of marbles.
The mask apologist may be asking themselves “What is the harm? Even if it doesn’t stop everything, it could do something!” And right you are true believer, it does do something. It’s actively killing you. The issue with masking isn’t whether or not they prevent illness or mitigate the spread of infection (they don’t based on all available experimental metrics), but rather the immense harm they are doing to the human body.
An article published in the British Medical Journal chronicling the first randomized control study of cloth masks found the following conclusion:
“This study is the first 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 (Health Care Workers), particularly in high-risk situations, and guidelines need to be updated.” (source)
This finding was not unique either. The BMC Infectious Diseases Journal published an article in 2019 highlighting the significant risk of infection for those wearing masks (source).
The health risks of masking are not simply from the retention of bacteria and moisture. The often stated risk of consistent CO2 absorption and inhibition of the metabolic process has been well-documented as well. A study from the Journal of Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control found that even the vaunted N95 masks were not without these significant health repercussions.
“Breathing through N95 mask materials have been shown to impede gaseous exchange and impose an additional workload on the metabolic system. The benefits of using N95 mask to prevent serious emerging infectious diseases should be weighed against potential respiratory consequences associated with extended N95 respirator usage.”(source)
This inhibition of the body’s natural processes was also found in an Italian study in May of 2022. (source)
Again, to take a truly scientific approach, we should attempt to understand the mechanisms of action here. Experimental studies have shown masks of all stripes to bring a litany of health issues due to their constant retention of moisture and bacteria. The human body is a complex machine, constantly cycling through oxidation and antioxidation and expelling waste, including CO2, as a byproduct of this process. What the science here tells us is that the wearing of masks does not prevent aerosolized particles from passing in and out of you, which would be the basis of preventing infection or spread. They will, however, trap moisture, bacteria and inhibit the body’s natural process of expelling carbon dioxide leading to you breathing it back in. This leads to more severe illness and long-term health problems from more extreme illness, oxidative stress and cardiovascular damage. All of this is completely independent of the potential health effects from the inhalation of plasticizers used in the manufacturing of cloth and disposable face masks (HINT: It’s cancer) or of the potential psychological impacts of mask wearing on children.
On that front, a psychological study from Germany’s The Leibniz Institute for Psychology found that face masks could lead to “the potential to pave the way for strong psycho-vegetative stress reactions via emerging aggression, which correlate significantly with the degree of stressful after-effects.” (source) These findings were further backed by US based institutions in 2022 (source), and ultimately tied to the retarding of cognitive development by blocking out essential nonverbal cues for early childhood development.
The question we should be asking is not whether or not wearing a mask “works.” Wearing a mask does not “work” in any conceivable way that anyone has argued. Scientific analysis has shown the constant wearing of masks is actively leading to greater acute illnesses, psychological maldevelopment and will inevitably lead to long-term health issues in the future. The inhibition of the metabolic process and greater oxidative stress generated from wearing masks will ironically lead to more severe COVID-19 infections as well.
The real question we should be asking ourselves is, in the face of such overwhelming scientific evidence, why are our “health officials” and medical practitioners still telling people to wear something that will inevitably make them sicker? Ignorance is potent and powerful, but it is difficult to argue a position of ignorance among those already with power. Are we to believe the “experts” in the field of medicine are not capable of reading what you and I can?
While this return to clown shoes in Cleveland seems to have come at the behest of the CDC and Ohio Department of Health, it might also be worthwhile to start looking into who are local leaders really are, who owns them, and whether or not coronations from a uniparty are really the best way to run a democracy.
I’d like to end this article with a thought experiment. If our health officials and local administrators are this ignorant of what every legitimate scientific study has shown on the matter, should we be trusting their knowledge about other health-related issues? Conversely, if they are aware of the immense risk to our health that masks pose, and yet still demand you wear them, are they truly looking out for your general health?
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