Tag: face masks

CNN Medical Analyst Admits Cloth Masks Don’t Work Against COVID

Slowly, the establishment media is beginning to admit that COVID is here to stay and has started to question some cherished pandemic policies.

On Wednesday, National Public Radio published a piece that admitted cloth face masks don’t work against COVID.  It blames Omicron for being the magical variant that can bypass all mask protection.

“Cloth masks are not going to cut it with omicron,” says Linsey Marr, a researcher at Virginia Tech who studies how viruses transmit in the air.

Omicron is so much more transmissible than coronavirus variants that have come before it. It spreads at least three times faster than delta. One person is infecting at least three others at a time on average, based on data from other countries.

“It’s very contagious,” says Dr. Robert Wachter, chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. “And the kind of encounter that you could have had with prior versions of the virus that would have left you uninfected, there’s now a good chance you will get infected from it.”

I want to point out that there was plenty of evidence that cloth masks were not working in 2020. I used my experience as an environmental health and safety professional to describe all the reasons mask mandates would fail:

The hands are one of the most efficient highways for germs into the body, but how many of us wash our hands (or even put sanitizer) when donning masks? And I can’t tell you how many times I see people with masks that are not covering the nose or chin. And, if you follow the California Office of Governor Guidance, you will be smearing contaminants onto the mask through your meal.

There are numerous other rules for good mask-wearing, including laundering after use. However, how many people actually grab a clean, fresh mask every time they use one? How many people properly launder (i.e., use bleach if washing by hand).

CNN’s medical analyst also admitted masks weren’t working. She and other “experts” are pointing to N95-respiratory protection as the way to go.

“Cloth masks are little more than facial decorations. There’s no place for them in light of Omicron,” [CNN medical analyst Dr. Leanna] Wen told CNN on Monday. “Wear a high-quality mask, at least a three-ply surgical mask.”

While cloth masks may have seemed like a good idea in 2020, they’re not particularly useful in areas of high viral transmission, studies have found. A September 2020 review found that cloth masks may be beneficial for preventing transmission in low-risk public settings but that they offered limited protection in healthcare settings.

However, relying on N95 masking to reduce numbers is doomed to fail like cloth masks…for many of the same reasons. N95 respiratory protection is meant for an occupational setting, with fit-testing done to ensure a good seal.

Additionally, the long-term wearing of N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators (FFR) and similar protections can cause health effects, as reported in a study involving healthcare workers (HCWs) published on a CDC blog.

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Outrage as COVID Fearmonger Maxine Waters Gets Special Treatment on Commercial Cross-Country Flight

Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters is the latest liberal poster child for the left’s “rules-for-thee-but-not-for-me” approach to oppressive coronavirus restrictions.

The California congresswoman — a vocal proponent of mask mandates — was caught not wearing her mask on a cross-country United Airlines flight from Virginia to Los Angeles last week.

The passenger who snapped the damning photo told the Daily Wire she was outraged that flight attendants repeatedly hounded her and other passengers to keep their masks on while ignoring Waters’ blatant violation of the Federal Aviation Administration’s mask mandate.

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Grandmother Who Violated Mask Mandate to Spend Christmas Behind Bars

An Irish grandmother who violated the nation’s mask mandate is to spend Christmas behind bars after being sentenced to a year in prison.

Margaret Buttimer, a 66-year-old grandmother, will spend this Christmas behind bars after being sentenced to one year in prison for violating Ireland’s mask mandate, with six months of the sentence being suspended.

The grandmother was initially imprisoned last week after breaching her bail terms by going Christmas shopping, having been ordered to stay away from stores.

According to a report by the Irish Examiner, Buttimer was sentenced after being found guilty of not wearing a mask in a restaurant.

The judge presiding over the case made reference to what he called the grandmother’s “absurd selfishness” and “willful disregard of others”.

He also refused to hand down community service to the woman, claiming that it would be contradictory to do so as she was engaging in “persistent community disservice”.

The 66-year-old now has multiple convictions for breaching public health guidelines, having been jailed twice for her actions.

Buttimer had no previous convictions prior to the pandemic, according to the Irish Independent.

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Now The Public Health Dictators Want You Masked in Your Own Home — And Other Tyrannical Weekly News

Now that another COVID variant has emerged with a scary new name, governments are excited to flex their dictatorial COVID powers once again.

Santa Cruz County, California is back with an indoor mask mandate, but this time with a twist.

The public health order states that in addition to public places like restaurants and gyms:

“Masks must be worn in private settings, including your home, when non-household members are present.”

And yes, this applies to the fully vaccinated.

It’s hard to imagine that this order is legal or how local authorities will be able to enforce the rule.

The sheer insanity is that these bureaucrats think they have this kind of power to begin with.

Click here to read the health order.

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Oxford Professor: Official Data Shows Face Masks “Made No Meaningful Difference” to Infection Rates

University of Oxford Professor Jim Naismith asserts that despite England dropping its mask mandate in July and Scotland keeping its rules in force, official data shows this “has made no meaningful difference” to infection rates.

Naismith goes on to argue that new face mask mandates imposed in England today are “unlikely to have much of an impact” in fighting off the spread of the Omicron variant.

Despite flatlining case numbers and declining deaths, partly achieved because England chose to lift lockdown restrictions in the summer unlike many European countries, mask mandates are once again back in force.

Face coverings are compulsory in shops, on public transport and numerous other venues arbitrarily chosen by the government.

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NY Times ‘Experts’ Says Face Masks Could Become Permanent

The New York Times has published an article citing “experts” who say mask wearing is now “normalized” and could remain in place permanently even when the pandemic ends.

Titled ‘When Can the Covid Masks Finally Come Off?’, the article explores when it’s likely the restrictions will come to an end, but then concludes that mask wearing may never end.

The piece cites scientists who say the general public “should be prepared to put masks back on in the event of future surges” and that older adults should continue to wear them anyway.

“Do we all wear masks the rest of our lives?” asked Dr. Stephen Luby, an infectious disease expert and epidemiologist at Stanford University.

“Before the pandemic there was a stigma associated with wearing masks in this country, but I think it’s become normalized in a lot of places,” noted Dr. Linsey Marr.

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School Forces Unmasked Kids to Wear Yellow Badges

A school in the UK is forcing children who don’t wear face masks due to them having an exemption to wear yellow badges on school premises and in class.

Yes, really.

An email form the school, which is not named, was posted on Twitter by journalist Allison Pearson.

The school cites an “increase” in the number of COVID cases, despite the fact that infection levels in the UK have been flat or even in decline over recent weeks, as a justification for re-introducing mandatory mask rules.

“Those pupils who were exempt from wearing a mask last academic year will once again be exempt and should wear a yellow badge,” states the email.

The yellow badge is historically understood to symbolize a “badge of shame” and was imposed on Jews at numerous points throughout history to denote them as ethnic or religious outsiders.

While no one is comparing the treatment of Jewish people in Nazi Germany to kids being forced to wear yellow badges, the use of such a symbol is still odious and morally bankrupt.

“Does the school have teachers who know their history?” asked Pearson.

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