While major health agencies flip-flop on the question of the general public wearing masks, our county commissioners have supported a masking directive.
Officials and media campaigns prompt …
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While major health agencies flip-flop on the question of the general public wearing masks, our county commissioners have supported a masking directive.
Officials and media campaigns prompt people to engage in “mask shaming”. As one writer said, “To not wear... is selfish, irresponsible and sometimes deadly behavior.”
Generating fear that unmasked people are now a threat is one of the many ways communities are being fractured.
The CDC says there is “no significant reduction in transmission with face masks,” yet recently advised we wear masks. Why? Their reversal cites seven impressive-sounding studies as rationale.
None of those studies address masks.
Likewise, after stating that “universal community masking” is ineffective at “preventing infection from respiratory viruses, including COVID,” the World Health Organization muddied their stance.
A June 5 WHO paper states: “The widespread use of masks by healthy people in the community setting is not yet supported by high quality or direct scientific evidence and there are potential benefits and harms to consider.”
The harms? Wearing masks creates “increased risk of self-contamination” and “a false sense of security.” Worse, science shows that they reduce oxygen levels, increase CO2, are breeding grounds for infections, and can cause headaches, immune suppression, and hypoxia.
What are potential benefits? The actual reasons we should mask include:
“Reminding people to be compliant with other measures;
“Making people feel they can play a role in contributing to stopping spread of the virus;
“Fabric masks can also be a form of cultural expression.”
As WHO once again acknowledges, no definitive research shows that masks curb the spread of coronaviruses. They can harm our health.
Nonetheless, masking fosters “compliance” and allows for “cultural expression”. This, WHO tells us, is a “behavioral and social” experiment to “evaluate the impact of using masks in the general population.”
Are we being socially engineered into a new (masked) normal?
Ana Wolpin
PORT TOWNSEND
