Tag: face masks

Why The Push Is On To Make Pandemic Life “Permanent”

One year after Americans were ordered to close down society for “two weeks to flatten the curve,” Bloomberg columnist Andreas Kluth warned, “We Must Start Planning for a Permanent Pandemic.”

Because new variants of SARS-COV-2 are impervious to existing vaccines, says Kluth, and pharmaceutical companies will never be able to develop new vaccines fast enough to keep up, we will never be able to get “back to normal.”

“Get back to normal” means recovering the relative liberty we had in our already overregulated, pre-Covid lives. This is just the latest in a long series of crises that always seem to lead our wise rulers to the same conclusion: we just cannot afford freedom anymore.

Covid-19 certainly wasn’t the beginning. Americans were told “the world changed” after 9/11. Basic pillars of the American system, like the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, were too antiquated to deal with the “new threat of terrorism.” Warrantless surveillance of our phone, e-mail, and financial records and physical searches of our persons without probable cause of a crime became the norm. A few principled civil libertarians dissented, but the public largely complied without protest.

“Keep us safe,” they told the government, no matter the cost in dollars or liberty.

Perhaps seeing how willingly the public rolled over for the political right during the “War on Terror,” authoritarians on the left turbocharged their own war on “climate change.” Previously interested in merely significantly raising taxes and heavily regulating industry, they now wish to ban all sorts of things, including air travel, gasoline-powered cars, and even eating meat.

Since Covid-19, however, even the freedom to assemble and see each other’s faces may be permanently banned to help the government “keep us safe.”

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Potentially toxic masks distributed in schools and daycares in Quebec

One model of mask distributed to Quebec schools and daycares may be dangerous for the lungs as they could contain a potentially toxic material, according to a directive sent out by the provincial government on Friday.

Radio-Canada has obtained documents showing Health Canada warned of the potential for “early pulmonary toxicity” from the SNN200642 masks which are made in China and sold and distributed by Métallifer, a Quebec-based manufacturer.

“If you have this type of mask in stock, we ask that you stop distributing them and keep them in a safe place now,” the provincial government says in the directive that was sent by three ministries: education, families and higher education.

Some daycare educators had been suspicious of these grey and blue masks for a while because they felt like they were swallowing cat hair while wearing them, Radio-Canada has learned.

Health Canada conducted a preliminary risk assessment which revealed a potential for early lung damage associated with inhalation of microscopic graphene particles. Graphene is a strong, very thin material that is used in fabrication, but it can be harmful to lungs when inhaled and can cause long-term health problems.

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Spain Passes Law Mandating Face Masks Even While Swimming in the Sea

Spain has passed a new law forcing people to wear face masks everywhere outside and even while swimming in the sea.

Yes, really.

The legislation, which came into effect on Wednesday, mandates face coverings for children as young as six, with refusniks facing fines of €100 euros.

The only exemption to the rule is adults playing sports outside, but people tanning outside or swimming in a pool or the ocean are still required to cover up.

“This will apply to people who are sunbathing or even swimming in the sea,” confirms the London Evening Standard.

The utter stupidity and real danger of having to wear a face mask while swimming in the sea goes without saying.

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Biden administration offering $500k in contest for improved mask designs

The Department of Health and Human Services announced Wednesday that the agency “launched an innovation challenge competition today encouraging American inventors to aid the nation’s COVID-19 response by designing effective, comfortable face masks for personal use that resolve the common concerns people have about wearing masks” such as “fogged glasses” and “difficulty speaking through face coverings.”

Submissions for the contest are due by April 21, and up to 10 winners will be eligible to receive $10,000 prizes in the first phase. Up to “5 winners will be selected to split a total $400,000 prize purse” in the second phase.

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Researchers Say 4 Billion Masks Tossed Out Daily Could Cause Environmental Catastrophe

Around the world, every minute of every day, three million masks are tossed out. Let that sink in. THREE million masks are tossed out every MINUTE.

Every single day, on average, a little over four billion — with a “b” — masks are thrown out.

Every single month, 129 billion — again with a “b” — masks are tossed out.

And this does not include all the other protective equipment.

“Preventing masks from becoming the next plastic problem,” is the name of a research paper published this year and here’s the takeaway:

Recent studies estimated an astounding 129 billion face masks being used globally every month (3 million / minute) and most are disposable face masks made from plastic microfibers (Prata et al., 2020). With increasing reports on inappropriate disposal of masks, it is urgent to recognize this potential environmental threat and prevent it from becoming the next plastic problem.

Yes, there is a layer of plastic in all those disposable masks, and here’s a collection of photographs that bring the problem to life.

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