Taking the Mask Off
I was wearing a mask before anyone else I knew… Then I educated myself.
I was traveling throughout Asia when the whole narrative around COVID-19 started to unfold in the mass media in early 2020. I already had high-end N95 masks with me to protect myself from the air pollution in Korea. So when the news hit, I started wearing them when flying, including on a 13 hour flight from Vietnam to Europe in late February. Back then, I was basically the only one wearing a mask on the plane. I remember getting looks from people in the Barcelona airport. I had spent several months in Japan before so I was used to mask wearing and couldn’t understand why people in Europe found it controversial.
It’s hard for me to even comprehend how I could be so naïve back then. I already knew politicians were corrupt, corporate media were owned by a handful of billionaire tycoons, and corporations’ entire raison d’être was profit. Yet, when it came to public health, I didn’t connect the dots. I simply believed what I was told. My lack of skepticism at the time seems so incredibly childish in retrospect.
The red pill for me was hydroxychloroquine and the worldwide coordinated lies about its supposed dangers. I knew from personal experience that it was over the counter medicine and about as dangerous as aspirin. That’s when I started reading scientific publications instead of following The Science™️. It didn’t take me long to completely stop wearing masks…
As it turns out, facts on masks were clearly established long before COVID-19. It was common knowledge in the medical community before the narrative started to magically shift. Fauci’s initial stance on masks was not only uncontroversial, it was common sense. And some newer studies have since then corroborated what we already knew. Here’s a compendium of some of the most compelling evidence.
The scientific literature
Wearing a mask throughout the day is detrimental to your health, and it’s even worse for children: Inhaled CO2 concentration while wearing face masks: a pilot study using capnography.
Shortly after wearing surgical masks, the inhaled air CO2 approached the highest acceptable exposure threshold recommended for workers, while concerningly high concentrations were recorded in virtually all individuals when wearing FFP2 masks. The CO2 concentration was significantly higher among minors and the subjects with high respiratory rate.
Masking children didn’t do anything, and the CDC lied about it: Revisiting Pediatric COVID-19 Cases in Counties With and Without School Mask Requirements.
Replicating the CDC study shows similar results; however, incorporating a larger sample and longer period showed no significant relationship between mask mandates and case rates. […] We failed to establish a relationship between school masking and pediatric cases using the same methods but a larger, more nationally diverse population over a longer interval.
Mask mandates caused more deaths, not less: A mechanism by which facemasks contribute to the COVID-19 case fatality rate.
Counties with mask mandate had significantly higher case fatality rates than counties without mask mandate, with a risk ratio of 1.85 (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.51–2.10) for COVID-19-related deaths.
Another salient point is that COVID-19-related long-term effects and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children may all be a direct cause of the “Foegen effect.” Virus entry into the alveoli and blood without being restricted to the upper respiratory tract and bronchi and can cause damage by initiating an (auto) immune reaction in most organs.
This study revealed that wearing facemasks might impose a great risk on individuals, which would not be mitigated by a reduction in the infection rate. The use of facemasks, therefore, might be unfit, if not contraindicated, as an epidemiologic intervention against COVID-19.
The quote above says “might impose” but there is no doubt wearing cloth masks—the type of mask we were told to wear in 2020-2021—makes you sick: A cluster randomised trial of cloth masks compared with medical masks in healthcare workers.
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.
Here are some older studies that show masks don’t work.
Facemask as the sole intervention in the community is not associated with reducing respiratory infection. Given the studies used medical masks, cloth masks' efficacy is expected to be even lower; a randomized cluster trial showed that respiratory infection is higher among health care personnel using cloth masks than using medical masks.
Although mechanistic studies support the potential effect of hand hygiene or face masks, evidence from 14 randomized controlled trials of these measures did not support a substantial effect on transmission.
N95 Respirators vs Medical Masks for Preventing Influenza Among Health Care Personnel
Among outpatient health care personnel, N95 respirators vs medical masks as worn by participants in this trial resulted in no significant difference in the incidence of laboratory-confirmed influenza.
What about surgical masks?
This one is not a study, it’s an article written by a surgeon: A classic fallacious argument: "If masks don't work, then why do surgeons wear them?"
The CoVID-19 pandemic is about viral transmission. Surgical and cloth masks do nothing to prevent viral transmission. We should all realize by now that face masks have never been shown to prevent or protect against viral transmission. Which is exactly why they have never been recommended for use during the seasonal flu outbreak, epidemics, or previous pandemics.
Surgeons work in sterile surgical suites equipped with heavy duty air exchange systems that maintain positive pressures, exchange and filter the room air at a very high level, and increase the oxygen content of the room air. These conditions limit the negative effects of masks on the surgeon […] yet despite these extreme climate control conditions, clinical studies demonstrate the negative effects […] of surgical masks on surgeon physiology and performance.
What about “The Bangladesh Mask Study”?
In late 2021, articles with titles like “Massive randomized study is proof that surgical masks limit coronavirus spread, authors say” started popping up in the media.
You have to wonder why the corporate media would ignore all of the scientific evidence I outlined above to instead focus entirely on a single study and misrepresent its questionable findings. It is irrational and irresponsible at best.
How could this happen?
I have my own opinion on why we were forced to wear masks through mandates and why we were misled to believe they were “safe and effective” but there is no way for me to know for sure with the information I have found.
What he evidence I’ve outlined above shows unequivocally is that wearing a mask will not protect you from viral transmission but will make you sick. Nothing more.
I get why reading this might be unsettling. It means you can’t just trust anyone in a white coat anymore. It also means you have to read—not “follow”—the science. But, on the flip side, this is good news! You and your children can breath freely again, without fear… So go out and take a long deep breath of fresh air. It’s one of the best things you can do for your health.