Like many, I am in need of a new PCP. In late 2023 a mask mandate for health providers was re-instituted here in the Boston area yet patients can choose to not mask. Sigh. OK. In 2024, there are people wearing surgical masks walking outside during the winter all over this city. Whatever. They're "gone" and it's not my fault. So I scheduled a new patient PCP consult at a Functional/Integrative Medicine practice thinking they'll be more reasonable. Nope. The practice (under a corporate healthcare umbrella) was mandating masks for providers but not patients. Hmmm, I thought...this does not make sense.
(Oh yeah, I recall reading somewhere that doctors are begrudgingly wearing masks as it makes their patients feel "safe". Thank you, unscientific Covid response hysteria!)
I advised the Functional Med office manager that I'll wait until the mask mandate is lifted, assuming this will happen after "flu season" ends, as I'd like to be able to communicate effectively with the M.D. I politely pointed out that masks make this difficult, especially for elderly people (which I am not...YET). The manager replied "Oh, it is not temporary" (the mask mandate). She sounded rather smug issuing this statement. I squelched a sarcastic retort and calmly replied that I'll wait.
So now I'm hoping that I can bank on excellent health to avoid having a PCP at all. Bad idea! I'm told I need to worry about RSV! And Covid - forever! And shingles! And hey, despite that scary NYT article about "rare" stroke risk, I can get three "safe and effective" different shots at the same time. Working in healthcare for 40 years, I never heard of such a thing...until 2023.
Bottom line: don't get sick and for the love of God, don't get old.
All media and government organizations are political and thus non-scientific. We must now exercise what liberty we have left and make the most educated decisions possible as individuals.
"A two-week bench trial is underway in San Francisco where federal judge Edward M. Chen is considering a lawsuit filed by Food & Water Watch (FWW) and several other environmentalist groups against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2017. The complaint aims to include a provision banning the addition of fluoride to the nation’s drinking water supply under the Toxic Substances Control Act."
The EPA is charged with diluting the scientific research that formula fed infants in community water fluoridated areas are experiencing neurological injury.
The court is requiring everyone present to wear cloth masks, except when speaking.
Is it ironic that a lawsuit to determine if a government agency will spin science to support agency policy intervention that is potentially harmful is being conducted in a court subject to a government agency policy requiring an ineffective policy?
"Too much science is forcing CDC to request a science do over after CDC’s own scientist and outside experts find N95 respirators don’t work better than masks—and neither do much to protect from COVID."
I live in an area with frequent wildfires. In the summer of 2019, I investigated if outdoor youth sports should mask during practice. WA DOH: "Masks are not approved for children."
1 year later- universal face coverings for everyone.
Mask Guidance Contradictions and Inconsistencies 2019 to 2023
I live in an area of frequent wildfires. In 2019 I investigated if youth in outdoor sports should mask during practices. WA DOH: "Masks are not approved for children." 1 year later "face coverings" were required for all citizens.
Mask Guidance Contradictions and Inconsistencies 2019 to 2023
Retired FM physician here. The only time I wore a mask in the last 4 years was to see my 36 wk preterm first grandchild who was in the NICU for 2 days at our state Mecca in May of 2022. I refused to wear one anywhere else the entire time. I knew they were lying to the public starting in March of 2020. Refused the jabs also. The non science nonsense supported by so called health care “experts” was absolutely shameful. I have never been so disgusted with my profession in my entire life.
I love the balanced approaches you bring to every topic, Dr. Prasad, and have agreed with you on the mask topic, but now am a bit ambivalent on this as my husband was diagnosed with AML, has been through chemo x2 and stem cell transplant. Do you still feel that masks are not effective, even for severely immunocompromised people? (He is on day 62 post transplant and doing very well, but we are following the advice of his hemonc docs to avoid him being exposed which includes wearing the dreaded masks when around people and when outside.) Thoughts?
The masks did absolutely nothing. Neither did the vax. The vax’s side effects are so egregious that they would never had approved the drug unless the beurocrats were paid off. Several countries have reported 30,000 excess deaths due to “unknown reasons”. Rates of cancer, miss carriage etc are up 15-20%. This is just Davos and wef turning a free society into an authoritarian health dictatorship. 90% food subsidies go to processed foods. Instead of cleaning the tank, the globalists give us a sketchy miracle drug that causes many many cases of stomach and gut paralysis.
I only wore masks when I was required (coerced) to. The day the public library where I worked stopped requiring it, I stopped wearing it. I was one of only a couple of people maskless. I have coworkers who told me they knew it was irrational, but they felt ashamed of taking the mask off. I’m sure there were others who hoped/expected me to wear it again when I saw everyone else was. There are people I work with who still wear a mask, often only when they work with the public. But honestly the people who never work with the public are most likely to mask.
Groupthink run amok. The Covid response showed us that most people would rather be part of the group and accepted/approved of than not be part of the group and shunned/shamed.
Here is something I noticed: if someone came in the library without a mask, male employees (who are like 1 percent of the library) would tell them politely that masks were required. Female employees (except me, I never said anything) would completely lose their shit. All those peace/love/acceptance types. Go figure.
Oh Vinay, a click bait article? Even seeing it as such, here I am caught in the engagement trap. I prefer your educational and thought-provoking articles. Podcasts and articles by you and others are what allowed me to make the logical decision to stop masking as soon as our local authorities pulled the requirements.
Never. Not even when mandated except in a physician's office. And pointed out the hypocrisy of the staff unmasking when out of patient view (Eg, lunch rooms).
Can you recommend a good systematic review or meta-analysis you find informative that provides the historical background and research of evidence for mask usage in healthcare settings and public health in general? It would be helpful to know the level of evidence as well. I would simply add an important point to keep in mind for all of us: Where there is little or no evidence to answer a question it is NOT dispositive. It simply means we do not have enough evidence to say one way or another. Whether that applies here I am not sure which is why I would like to learn more about what evidence does exist. Given how much discussion and debate this topic has spurred in recent years we clearly would benefit from studies to help us all navigate this tricky and confusing but important question especially as we move forward in a world with a rapidly growing population where more airborne diseases may develop. If a trial is already in progress that would be helpful to know and follow. No trial is perfect but it seems like we need more data.
It's interesting that you immediately attack and insult me. First line of defence is to attack without presenting proper evidence. Going right back to McCarthyist agendas?
answer for. I was an ER doc in Canada during SARS COV 1. Most of my colleagues masked… for all patients… there was much fear and uncertainty… just like the early days with the most recent iteration.
I didn’t mask, but am not too risk averse (for me).
In the pre-vaccine portion of this pandemic, where it was still widely believed that there were no asymptomatic cases, and that eventually vaccines would result in herd immunity… given the absence of evidence… I can totally understand taking all possible precautions (even those for which evidence was lacking). It was a terrifying time, all health care providers overwhelmed and rightly fearful.
The last thing I would do is tell an RT to not mask. I might even have strongly encouraged it. Had I been still in practice in an ER overwhelmed with critically ill COVID patients, I may well have worn a mask as well.
My position is that masking in either condition should have been studied. As it stands we simply do not know. Different people have different opinions, often informed by little or nothing of value.
Those that assert with certainty (in the absence of good RCT’s), either way, are, in my view being disingenuous.
That we still do not know… with precision, either in specific hospital settings, or mask mandates in wider society, speaks to the utter failure of the public health agencies… across the globe.
Which leaves society where it is. Divided, saying we know things we do not know, and with few actually listening to the fears or beliefs of others.
I hope this reply goes some way to clarify my position (and uncertainty).
Like many, I am in need of a new PCP. In late 2023 a mask mandate for health providers was re-instituted here in the Boston area yet patients can choose to not mask. Sigh. OK. In 2024, there are people wearing surgical masks walking outside during the winter all over this city. Whatever. They're "gone" and it's not my fault. So I scheduled a new patient PCP consult at a Functional/Integrative Medicine practice thinking they'll be more reasonable. Nope. The practice (under a corporate healthcare umbrella) was mandating masks for providers but not patients. Hmmm, I thought...this does not make sense.
(Oh yeah, I recall reading somewhere that doctors are begrudgingly wearing masks as it makes their patients feel "safe". Thank you, unscientific Covid response hysteria!)
I advised the Functional Med office manager that I'll wait until the mask mandate is lifted, assuming this will happen after "flu season" ends, as I'd like to be able to communicate effectively with the M.D. I politely pointed out that masks make this difficult, especially for elderly people (which I am not...YET). The manager replied "Oh, it is not temporary" (the mask mandate). She sounded rather smug issuing this statement. I squelched a sarcastic retort and calmly replied that I'll wait.
So now I'm hoping that I can bank on excellent health to avoid having a PCP at all. Bad idea! I'm told I need to worry about RSV! And Covid - forever! And shingles! And hey, despite that scary NYT article about "rare" stroke risk, I can get three "safe and effective" different shots at the same time. Working in healthcare for 40 years, I never heard of such a thing...until 2023.
Bottom line: don't get sick and for the love of God, don't get old.
So in 2009, I got bacterial meningitis. First thing they did in the ER was to mask me, and they put on masks to treat me. Was it wrong then?
All media and government organizations are political and thus non-scientific. We must now exercise what liberty we have left and make the most educated decisions possible as individuals.
San Francisco's SF Gate published this gem, inaccurately comparing urination to the aerosolized viral transmission of Covid, and that using a mask is analogous to wearing pants to protect yourself and others from random urinary incontinence. https://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Still-unclear-on-the-value-of-masks-Let-the-pee-15238760.php .
San Francisco is also the location of the Fluoride Trial,
https://dallasexpress.com/health/health-effects-of-fluoride-under-judicial-review/
"A two-week bench trial is underway in San Francisco where federal judge Edward M. Chen is considering a lawsuit filed by Food & Water Watch (FWW) and several other environmentalist groups against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2017. The complaint aims to include a provision banning the addition of fluoride to the nation’s drinking water supply under the Toxic Substances Control Act."
The EPA is charged with diluting the scientific research that formula fed infants in community water fluoridated areas are experiencing neurological injury.
The court is requiring everyone present to wear cloth masks, except when speaking.
Is it ironic that a lawsuit to determine if a government agency will spin science to support agency policy intervention that is potentially harmful is being conducted in a court subject to a government agency policy requiring an ineffective policy?
CDC's own research doesn't support masking. https://disinformationchronicle.substack.com/p/investigation-cdc-upset-their-own
"Too much science is forcing CDC to request a science do over after CDC’s own scientist and outside experts find N95 respirators don’t work better than masks—and neither do much to protect from COVID."
I live in an area with frequent wildfires. In the summer of 2019, I investigated if outdoor youth sports should mask during practice. WA DOH: "Masks are not approved for children."
1 year later- universal face coverings for everyone.
Mask Guidance Contradictions and Inconsistencies 2019 to 2023
https://karlkanthak.substack.com/p/is-public-health-creating-and-fostering
I live in an area of frequent wildfires. In 2019 I investigated if youth in outdoor sports should mask during practices. WA DOH: "Masks are not approved for children." 1 year later "face coverings" were required for all citizens.
Mask Guidance Contradictions and Inconsistencies 2019 to 2023
https://karlkanthak.substack.com/p/is-public-health-creating-and-fostering
Retired FM physician here. The only time I wore a mask in the last 4 years was to see my 36 wk preterm first grandchild who was in the NICU for 2 days at our state Mecca in May of 2022. I refused to wear one anywhere else the entire time. I knew they were lying to the public starting in March of 2020. Refused the jabs also. The non science nonsense supported by so called health care “experts” was absolutely shameful. I have never been so disgusted with my profession in my entire life.
I love the balanced approaches you bring to every topic, Dr. Prasad, and have agreed with you on the mask topic, but now am a bit ambivalent on this as my husband was diagnosed with AML, has been through chemo x2 and stem cell transplant. Do you still feel that masks are not effective, even for severely immunocompromised people? (He is on day 62 post transplant and doing very well, but we are following the advice of his hemonc docs to avoid him being exposed which includes wearing the dreaded masks when around people and when outside.) Thoughts?
The strength of a sneeze is often equated to the strength of a garden hose. A mask ain’t stoping that
The masks did absolutely nothing. Neither did the vax. The vax’s side effects are so egregious that they would never had approved the drug unless the beurocrats were paid off. Several countries have reported 30,000 excess deaths due to “unknown reasons”. Rates of cancer, miss carriage etc are up 15-20%. This is just Davos and wef turning a free society into an authoritarian health dictatorship. 90% food subsidies go to processed foods. Instead of cleaning the tank, the globalists give us a sketchy miracle drug that causes many many cases of stomach and gut paralysis.
Fairview Health in Minnesota has re-instituted a mask policy. They've set out boxes of the same paper masks, with no rationale.
I only wore masks when I was required (coerced) to. The day the public library where I worked stopped requiring it, I stopped wearing it. I was one of only a couple of people maskless. I have coworkers who told me they knew it was irrational, but they felt ashamed of taking the mask off. I’m sure there were others who hoped/expected me to wear it again when I saw everyone else was. There are people I work with who still wear a mask, often only when they work with the public. But honestly the people who never work with the public are most likely to mask.
Groupthink run amok. The Covid response showed us that most people would rather be part of the group and accepted/approved of than not be part of the group and shunned/shamed.
Here is something I noticed: if someone came in the library without a mask, male employees (who are like 1 percent of the library) would tell them politely that masks were required. Female employees (except me, I never said anything) would completely lose their shit. All those peace/love/acceptance types. Go figure.
Oh Vinay, a click bait article? Even seeing it as such, here I am caught in the engagement trap. I prefer your educational and thought-provoking articles. Podcasts and articles by you and others are what allowed me to make the logical decision to stop masking as soon as our local authorities pulled the requirements.
Never. Not even when mandated except in a physician's office. And pointed out the hypocrisy of the staff unmasking when out of patient view (Eg, lunch rooms).
Can you recommend a good systematic review or meta-analysis you find informative that provides the historical background and research of evidence for mask usage in healthcare settings and public health in general? It would be helpful to know the level of evidence as well. I would simply add an important point to keep in mind for all of us: Where there is little or no evidence to answer a question it is NOT dispositive. It simply means we do not have enough evidence to say one way or another. Whether that applies here I am not sure which is why I would like to learn more about what evidence does exist. Given how much discussion and debate this topic has spurred in recent years we clearly would benefit from studies to help us all navigate this tricky and confusing but important question especially as we move forward in a world with a rapidly growing population where more airborne diseases may develop. If a trial is already in progress that would be helpful to know and follow. No trial is perfect but it seems like we need more data.
It's interesting that you immediately attack and insult me. First line of defence is to attack without presenting proper evidence. Going right back to McCarthyist agendas?
Why don’t you talk about the California’s new guidelines? At least it’s new. Is harm reduction a thing?
I’m going to mask up at the airport on a trip to Hawaii to avoid getting any ILI and ruin my vacay.
Hi Glen. That’s a good question.
One I don’t have a firm
answer for. I was an ER doc in Canada during SARS COV 1. Most of my colleagues masked… for all patients… there was much fear and uncertainty… just like the early days with the most recent iteration.
I didn’t mask, but am not too risk averse (for me).
In the pre-vaccine portion of this pandemic, where it was still widely believed that there were no asymptomatic cases, and that eventually vaccines would result in herd immunity… given the absence of evidence… I can totally understand taking all possible precautions (even those for which evidence was lacking). It was a terrifying time, all health care providers overwhelmed and rightly fearful.
The last thing I would do is tell an RT to not mask. I might even have strongly encouraged it. Had I been still in practice in an ER overwhelmed with critically ill COVID patients, I may well have worn a mask as well.
My position is that masking in either condition should have been studied. As it stands we simply do not know. Different people have different opinions, often informed by little or nothing of value.
Those that assert with certainty (in the absence of good RCT’s), either way, are, in my view being disingenuous.
That we still do not know… with precision, either in specific hospital settings, or mask mandates in wider society, speaks to the utter failure of the public health agencies… across the globe.
Which leaves society where it is. Divided, saying we know things we do not know, and with few actually listening to the fears or beliefs of others.
I hope this reply goes some way to clarify my position (and uncertainty).
Steve