Posted on 05/03/2023 2:27:56 PM PDT by lightman
In another sign of changing attitudes to pandemic policy, infectious disease specialists writing in the Annals of Internal Medicine this month argued against the continuation of universal masking policies for doctors, nurses, and other health care workers.
In the article, the eight authors, who are infectious disease specialists associated with Harvard and Washington University medical schools among others, offer a timeline of the evolving responses to the pandemic. The timeline leaves out the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) initially confusing advice on masking but acknowledges that factors like the development of immunity, the evolution of the virus, and development of pharmaceutical “countermeasures” have fundamentally reshaped the landscape of the pandemic.
“The burden of SARS-CoV-2 has been mitigated over time,” the authors state, “through access to testing, substantial population-level immunity providing durable protection against severe disease, a series of less virulent variants, and widespread availability of medical countermeasures, which in combination have resulted in decreasing infection mortality rates.”
They conclude that “SARS-CoV-2 has transitioned to a more stable phase, during which the choice and intensity of mitigation efforts must be commensurate with the risk and align with management strategies” for other endemic, transmissible diseases.
“Recognizing these changes,” the authors state, “many pandemic interventions have been deimplemented,” but, “Masking requirements and other restrictions remain notable exceptions.”
Some in the medical field, such as Dr. Kalu Ibukunoluwa and co-authors writing in the journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology in January, argue for making universal masking requirements in health care settings permanent, stating that such “universal source control masking … should become the ‘new normal’ for all healthcare institutions.”
However, Dr. Erica Shenoy, an infectious diseases physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, lead author of the study and her co-authors disagree.
While acknowledging that masking may “marginally reduce the risk of transmission” between health care workers and patients (and vice versa), the authors argue that this potential benefit is outweighed by the barriers to communication masking brings to interactions with patients.
According to the specialists, “masking impedes communication, a barrier that is distributed unequally across patient populations,” such as those for whom English is not their first language as well as those who are hard of hearing due to age or other causes.
“The increase in listening effort required when masks are used in clinical encounters is associated with increased cognitive load for patients and clinicians,” the authors contend, citing several studies to support their argument. “Masks obscure facial expression; contribute to feelings of isolation; and negatively impact human connection, trust, and perception of empathy.”
The authors go on to question other pandemic-era strategies, including asymptomatic testing and resource-intensive contact tracing, “which similarly have experienced a shift in their risk-benefit balance over the course of the pandemic.”
A controversial meta-analysis from the highly regarded research institution, The Cochrane Library, published in March found “no clear difference” between masked and unmasked health care workers in preventing transmission of the flu, nor any clear difference in results using N95 masks versus other masks.
According to Sherri Tenpenny, an osteopathic medical doctor who founded the Tenpenny Integrative Medical Center in Ohio, “Masks didn’t protect people from getting sick during the pandemic and they certainly should not be used now. More than 150 comparative studies and articles have been published that show mask ineffectiveness and document how masks harm the health of persons who wear them.”
She went on to tell The Epoch Times in an email that “masking policies for everyone, including health care professionals, should be eliminated because they are not an ‘effective infection prevention strategy.’”
“They don’t prevent infection or transmission,” she said. “They are a belief system, and beliefs are difficult to change. If a person chooses to wear a mask for ‘political correctness’ or as a sign of ‘social signaling,’ it is even more difficult for them to stop. They will cling to the lie that masks are of value, even when they are shown a mountain of evidence to the contrary.”
The CDC continues to cite mask wearing along with other measures such as social distancing and school closures as contributing to the dramatic drop in influenza rates during the pandemic.
deimplemented
I love invented words ... they are so clear and straight forward.
It is a simple matter of the size of things. Viruses are significantly smaller than the opening of fibers in most masks. On the other hand, bacteria does get trapped. Respiration serves a purpose in expelling bad critters from your body. Using a mask just recycles that crap.
>> deimplemented
yeah, the entire COVID lockdown was a snafu — oopsy
It was all about image and power.
It amazes me how many people still wear masks, ESPECIALLY those alone in their vehicles or walking down the damn street, SMH. THIS is mental illness.
Me too. I love cromulent words.
“Cromulent’’. Don’t know what in the world that means.
Heard it on an episode of “The Simpsons’’ once.
Sounded good.
And I see that all the time here in the liberal parts of NH especially near Dartmouth College and the Hospital.
Biden has had it twice. Nuff said...probably along with his entire family.
When facing hazards, the N-95 mask could be used, but only after ensuring proper seal and negative pressure by following a three-step procedure. Then after a half hour he had to leave the area and reestablish the seal with a new mask. Masks could only prevent receiving and never prevent spreading biological agents
Anyone who wears one now is signaling their political identity.
From: Retain Mike Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2021 3:26 PM To: keri.lopez@redmondschools.org Subject: Mask Mandate
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) proclaimed its latest policy about masks and our governor mandated wearing by children as school began.
However, the best science the CDC could provide was uncontrolled studies highlighting first such groups as 139 hairdresser clients, 382 sailors on the U.S.S. Roosevelt, 124 Beijing households, and 839 Thailand residents subject to contact tracing. All results came from observation followed by personal judgement, and none resulted from the mathematical disciplines used to rigorously evaluate complex environments.
In the same article the CDC disparaged the 2020 randomized controlled trial (RCT) in Denmark involving 4,862 participants, which found no benefit to wearing masks to prevent infection. The disciplines of a RCT divides participants into different groups on a randomized basis. Random assignment means that factors not specifically controlled can cancel each other out by appearing equally in both groups. One group receives the treatment (which in this case was the mask) and the other group does not. Researchers can isolate the one variable and are not able to introduce biases to produce a preferred outcome.
RCT’s are considered the highest standard for this type of research. Therefore, the most reasonable approach for the CDC would have been to consider this study as a benchmark against which others would be evaluated, including studies from other countries which found masks ineffective and even harmful.
The above represents an especially valid approach, since the first four combined citations from their May scientific brief had less than half the participants of the Danish study. The proposed approach is especially valid also because the CDC dismissed the study for involving only .001 of Denmark’s population. At the same time polls predicting the decisions of 150,000,000 voters in a national election were determined by less than 1,500 participants or less than .00001.
Do Masks Work?
https://www.city-journal.org/do-masks-work-a-review-of-the-evidence?wallit_nosession=1
Effectiveness of Adding a Mask Recommendation to Other Public Health Measures to Prevent SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Danish Mask Wearers: A Randomized Controlled Trial
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33205991/
Science Brief: Community Use of Cloth Masks to Control the Spread of SARS-CoV-2
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/masking-science-sars-cov2.htm
Absence of Apparent Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from Two Stylists After Exposure at a Hair Salon with a Universal Face Covering Policy — Springfield, Missouri, May 2020
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6928e2.htm
Surgeon Shows CDC Top Evidence On Why Wearing Masks Work
https://freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/3988508/posts
Face masks for children: Both ineffective and dangerous
https://www.wnd.com/2021/09/face-masks-children-ineffective-dangerous/
All the tragic potential harms of face masks
https://www.wnd.com/2021/09/tragic-potential-harms-face-masks/ International research suggests masks better at causing 'long COVID' than stopping virus https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/coronavirus/international-research-suggests-masks-better-causing-long-covid
i love when the surgeon general was teaching us to make cloth masks...that would be....worthless cloth masks.
“According to the specialists, “masking impedes communication, a barrier that is distributed unequally across patient populations,” such as those for whom English is not their first language as well as those who are hard of hearing due to age or other causes.”
Just had to include some virtue-signaling “concern”. It’s plenty harmful enough to the general population to warrant abandoning the practice.
Many parasite little Nazis in all sectors of society continue to demand harass and dictate
He/she actually said that? Sorry I don't recall.
Maskebation is highly addictive.
Masks in health care settings can still be good for what they were designed to do which prevent fluid spattering into the nose and mouth. That is about all they are good for - not preventing airborne disease.
from the article:
“
According to the specialists, “masking impedes communication, a barrier that is distributed unequally across patient populations,” such as those for whom English is not their first language as well as those who are hard of hearing due to age or other causes.
“The increase in listening effort required when masks are used in clinical encounters is associated with increased cognitive load for patients and clinicians,” the authors contend, citing several studies to support their argument. “Masks obscure facial expression; contribute to feelings of isolation; and negatively impact human connection, trust, and perception of empathy.”
“
Masks made it a living h3ll for me; I’m severely hearing disabled and don’t know sign language...
I hope the hospitals and doctors offices ditch the masks; they should only be used by the folks working in the operating rooms.
In southcentral PA most hospitals ditched the masks this week (or last week) except for ER, oncology, and really high-risk areas.
Yep. And money. While masks aren’t that expensive (I don’t think; I don’t buy them), the volume of them being sold, especially in 2020 and 2021, was probably generating a pretty penny for some of the unsavory people driving the whole Covid bus.
So I should be allowed to enter Swedish Hospital in Seattle and not be required to wear a mask?
Reality check: I don’t think so.
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