Politics — Not Science or Health — Behind Return of Mask Mandates, Critics Say

Politics — Not Science or Health — Behind Return of Mask Mandates, Critics Say

Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D.

A growing number of universities, businesses and hospitals in recent weeks have reinstituted mask mandates and social distancing requirements, and a new report warned that broader mandates may be coming this fall.

At the same time, the Biden administration is pushing for the public to get COVID-19 booster shots for the fall and winter seasons — even though President Joe Biden ended the COVID-19 public health and national emergencies in May, as did the World Health Organization (WHO), citing an overall low level of COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations.

Meanwhile, recently released documents from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) reveal that public health officials privately questioned the effectiveness of masks and the guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) promoting their use.

While some experts have openly called for the widespread use of masks to return, experts who spoke with The Defenderquestioned the need for mandates and the effectiveness of masks in preventing the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses.

“Masks are not effective against the spread of viruses like COVID-19,” said Brian Hooker, Ph.D., senior director of science and research for Children’s Health Defense (CHD). “The virus is much too small to be blocked by a cloth/paper mask and even N95 masks have very limited effectiveness in reducing transmission.”

Dr. Meryl Nass, an internist and member of CHD’s scientific advisory committee, told The Defender that while medical professionals may “benefit from short periods” of mask-wearing before disposing of them, “Regular people who use these masks and are not trained in their use probably get no benefit and may well be at greater risk.”

Is threat of new mandates being used to push COVID boosters?

CBS News reported that several new COVID-19 variants have surfaced in recent weeks and are spreading across the U.S. These include the EG.5 variant, “estimated to be the ‘dominant’ strain in the U.S.,” FL.1.5.1 and a “highly mutated” strain, BA.2.86.

These strains have caught the attention of public health authorities and the WHO, which on Aug. 9 declared EG.5 (“Eris”) a “variant of interest,” even though the WHO acknowledged there’s no evidence the strain leads to more severe disease than its predecessors.

According to CNN, the CDC no longer reports aggregate COVID-19 case counts, but still urges people to “wear a mask with the best fit, protection, and comfort for you.”

Yet, CNN also reported there were “four new hospital admissions for every 100,000 people” in the U.S. for the week ending Aug. 12, “which is considered low.”

The CDC continues to recommend universal masking in areas where 20 or more people per 100,000 are hospitalized with COVID-19, and masking for “high-risk” individuals where between 10-19.9 people per 100,000 are hospitalized with COVID-19.

CNN cited a “growing number of hospitalizations” and increased virus levels in wastewater as “an early indication of a COVID spike.”

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[but..but...but....Its The 'Science' Right?]

A November 2021 letter obtained by The Functional Government Initiative following a Freedom of Information Act request revealed that Michael Osterholm, Ph.D., MPH, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, argued the CDC was promoting flawed mask data and excluded data which did not fit its narrative.

Osterholm, along with seven colleagues who co-signed the letter, asked the CDC to reconsider its claims regarding the “efficacy of masks and face coverings for preventing transmission of SARS-CoV-2,” adding that “the information and recommendations as provided may actually put an individual at increased risk of becoming infected.”

A meta-analysis published in Cochrane in January found masks were largely ineffective in reducing the spread of COVID-19. Cochrane has been described as “the gold standard” and “major source of high-quality, reputable meta-analyses.”

The study was authored by Oxford University senior associate tutor in epidemiology Dr. Tom Jefferson and 11 other researchers, who identified “78 relevant studies” conducted “in low-, middle-, and high-income countries” during health emergencies, and assessed the effects of different types of masks, including surgical masks and N95/P2 respirators.

The researchers found surgical masks “may make little to no difference in how many people caught a flu-like illness/COVID-like illness,” while N95/P2 respirators “probably [made] little to no difference in how many people have confirmed flu … and may make little to no difference in how many people catch a flu-like illness … or respiratory illness.”

A 2022 study published in Cureus by Beny Spira, Ph.D., coordinator of the Bacterial Genetics Laboratory at Brazil’s University of São Paulo, analyzed mortality and morbidity rates in Europe during the winter of 2020-2021, finding that “countries with high levels of mask compliance did not perform better than those with low mask usage.”

Spira told The Defender “If you compare the Nordics with southern Europe … the difference in mask wearing was gigantic,” he said. Sweden, which did not mandate masks, had lower levels of excess deaths compared to countries with mask mandates.

Notably, in 2020, Swedish state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell said, “We see no point in wearing a face mask in Sweden, not even on public transport,” adding there were “at least three heavyweight reports … which all state that the scientific evidence is weak.”

As of April 2022, Sweden had recorded fewer COVID-19-related deaths per million people than the U.S. — and 53 other countries. A Swedish government commission that investigated the country’s COVID-19 response found the no-lockdown strategy was “fundamentally correct,” and that, at most, masks should have been “recommended.”

Spira said masks “certainly will not help, because the best available studies … randomly controlled trials, have time after time shown that masks do not work. They do not prevent the spread of respiratory viruses.”

Spira has completed an updated study confirming his initial findings, but “most journals don’t accept this material,” he said.

A September 2022 study published in Environmental Researchconcluded that “Wearing of [surgical masks] raises CO2 content in inhaled air quickly to a very high level in healthy children … that might be hazardous to children’s health.”

The study’s lead author, Harald Walach, Ph.D., founder of the Change Health Science Institute in Germany and professional research fellow at Kazimieras Simonavicius University in Lithuania, told The Defender “We have been highly critical of mask mandates, and our study vindicated our original skepticism.”

“Masks do not appear to have changed the infection dynamics,” Walach said. “A lot of the problems are really home-made, as the vaccination campaigns might have led both to the emergence of more dangerous strains of the virus and immunologically compromised individuals that are much more susceptible.”

“For instance, if one looks at deaths and mortality data during 2020, with no vaccines present, one sees that the mortality rates were much lower — at least in Germany,” Walach said. “After the vaccination campaign started, death tolls rose. At the very least, this shows that the vaccination campaign did not do what it was meant to do: to prevent excess mortality. It rather exacerbated mortality.”

Harvey Risch, M.D., Ph.D., professor emeritus and senior research scientist in epidemiology (chronic diseases) at the Yale School of Public Health, told The Defender: “There is no evidence that wearing masks contributes appreciably to source control of respiratory virus infections. This has been shown in all of the studies of source control.”

Cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough told The Defender that while the Cochrane analysis “found that masks are ineffective … 17 studies, including three large randomized trials, have demonstrated that viricidal nasal sprays and gargles (iodine, xylitol) are very effective in reducing the spread of the virus,” suggesting their use be encouraged.

For Dr. David Bell, a public health physician, biotech consultant and former director of Global Health Technologies at Intellectual Ventures Global Good Fund, mask mandates pose a particular risk to children.

“What we can be confident of is that it will harm child development,” Bell said. “We can also be confident, from the common practice of wearing masks for photo sessions and then removing them to talk, that our political leaders know full well that the practice is essentially pointless from a health standpoint,” he said.

‘A test to see if people will still comply with obvious foolishness’

Results of a recent survey indicate that the majority of Americans are not highly concerned about COVID-19 and are not rushing to mask up.

Several experts who spoke with The Defender said politics — not science or health — drives policymakers’ decisions.

“We seemed to have moved well beyond evidence-based medicine,” Bell said. “This appears to be about politics, and showing you are following one side and so not associated with the other,” Bell said. “The alternative is viewed as ‘far right’ or something similar. The irony is that this is really about imposing totalitarian or fascist dictates.”

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