Enough is enough. It’s time to stop wearing masks, or at the very least eliminate mask mandates in all settings.
This is especially urgent for children in schools and universities who suffer the effects of masks for long hours each day, despite being at exceedingly low risk for death or serious illness from COVID-19.
“Seriously people—STOP BUYING MASKS! They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus”
Note that even as COVID evolves into a less dangerous Omicron variant, we are supposed to increase the hysteria level by wearing masks intended for surgeons maintaining a sterile environment over open wounds. We are told this by the same political, medical, and media figures who have been “frequently wrong but never in doubt” about all things COVID-19 over the past two long years. And they spoke with just as much bogus certainty then as they do now.
Amen.
Cloth Masks Don’t Work
Even the CDC now admits what Dr. Anthony Fauci told the world in February 2020: Cloth masks don’t work and there is no reason to wear one:“The typical mask you buy in the drug store is not really effective in keeping out virus, which is small enough to pass through material. It might, however, provide some slight benefit in keep out gross droplets if someone coughs or sneezes on you.
“I do not recommend that you wear a mask, particularly since you are going to a very low risk location.”
Masks Are Filthy
Humans lungs and our respiratory system are designed to inhale nitrogen and oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is literally a waste product, removed from the blood via our lungs. Masks may not trap injurious levels of carbon dioxide against our nose and mouth, but they certainly get filthy very quickly unless changed constantly. They also encourage mouth breathing, which can cause “mask mouth” symptoms including acne, bad breath, tender gums, and lip irritation.Masks Are Dehumanizing
Humans communicate verbally and nonverbally, and masks impede both forms. Masks muffle and distort our words. Our facial expressions are important cues to everyone around us; without those cues, communication and understanding suffer. Infants and toddlers may be most affected, as a lack of facial engagement with parents and loved ones impedes the human connections and attachments formed during childhood.Risk Is Inevitable
Risk is omnipresent and heavily subjective (e.g., COVID-19 risk varies enormously with age and comorbidities). Nobody has a right to force interventions such as masks onto others, just as nobody has a right to a hypothetical germ-free landscape. Exhalation isn’t aggression, short of purposefully attempting to sicken others. People wearing masks arguably shed slightly fewer COVID-19 virus particles than those not, but this doesn’t justify banning the latter from public life. As always, the overwhelming burden of justification for any intervention—including mask mandates—must rest on those proposing it, not those opposing it.Whatever slight benefits masks may provide are a matter for individuals to decide for themselves. People who feel sick with symptoms should stay home. We can all wash our hands frequently and thoroughly. Otherwise, it’s time for Americans to assert themselves against the dubious claims and non-existent legality of government COVID-19 measures.
It’s time to get back to normal life, and that starts with visible human faces.