This is so funny... the survey responses tell you everything you need to know about the population polled.... Do you wear a mask when flying? Will you go out shopping without a mask?
Should have asked "Do you wear a mask when you are driving around alone in your car?"
Normalizing irrational behavior, of any sort/type, is a bad choice. For my friends/acquaintances who believe in the efficacy of masks/mask mandates (there is none), I might remind them that their embrace of an irrational behavior does, indeed, effective others. That relatively small minority of mask aficionados is one of the primary reasons young kids continued to be masked long after the rest of the country had been liberated.
The article was sadly serving the purpose of the STAT editors. The NEJM article on masking in schools in Boston was, to me, more egregious as I now see it quoted in some of the online medical sites. Sadly, the final paragraph of that study says it all about the motivation of the authors which is not really science but social correction. Adam, glad you needed to have one last say on the STAT article as now I feel like I can be like the old monk and let it go.
Adam, these are genuine questions: would you advise a young woman with Polycythemia Vera and Essential Thrombocytosis to wear or not wear a kN95 ("scrupulously," as one comment here noted) to teach college students in a class where she is required to give personal critiques of their work each session (they do not wear masks)? What if she is also eleven weeks pregnant? What about at the grocery store? I'm very interested in answers, but I also want people here to know that "to mask or not to mask" really is a difficult question for some people, and not because they're idiots!
Hello Adam. I liked your article and agree with most of it. My problem is in parts of British Columbia there is a very high percentage of ethnic population, which remains quite connected to their original country as one would expect. Therefore large numbers continue wearing masks. On the surface, that’s just fine. However, this level of ongoing anxiety propagates anxiety in others and leads to more masking and more demands to mask others and even changed voting patterns. This led to masking while alone in cars, while riding alone on bicycles, etc. Completely anxiety driven stuff that just escalates and escalates. It definitely effected us. It entirely changed how we are forced to interact with neighbors and all regional services. Following vaccination, it has gotten much worse, not better. So, I am now trying to gently NOT accept people masking at this stage. It is time to stop accepting masking as a general attire choice. It has become a security blanket for every age rather than just those under 12.
Wrong, the virus did not cause millions of people to die .Millions were certified dead related to Covid I know because I have spent 40 years as a GP certifying elderly deaths , very very few died of the coronavirus but of neglect and medical malpractice. We were directed to blame many deaths on C19 on fear of loosing out jobs ,as I did for my refusal to go along with the three card switch or give the mRNA of unknown purpose.
My wife and I (60, in excellent health) followed masking protocols until ~6 months ago and are fully vaccinated and boosted. We recently both came down with Covid and were absolutely laid out for nearly three weeks (though not hospitalized). I don’t know if our discontinuation of masking in (indoor) public locations led to our infections but we will once again be wearing N95 masks in public spaces through the flu season.
Good advice. Let people do what is best for them without judgement. Wear a mask. Fine. Stand 10 ft apart. Fine. I'm going to live my life without irrational fear. Constant fear has a negative impact on your health, sorta like hearing sounds at night and each time believing someone is breaking into your house. Hard to get a good night's sleep.
Dr. Cifu, I’m grateful for this post – and while I sympathize with your longing to “let go” of the debate, I thank you for caring enough to be bothered. More doctors should be bothered!
A great deal of social harm is being done by the systematic exaggeration of Covid hazards and promotion of inappropriate and damaging “precautions.” Academic medicine at its upper levels should take a great deal of the blame. So should the self-styled “high-quality” and “progressive” media outlets like Stat, the Globe and the NY Times, which pride themselves on targeting the “educated” and “pro-science” reader. (Whew, that’s a lot of air quotes.)
Bottom line: That person out walking their dog in an N95 mask may be a statistical outlier. But they are also likely to be an Influencer with considerable social and political clout.
Deepening political polarization is probably the worst fruit of that influence. At least one academic declined to participate in Stat’s survey, and another asked Stat not to use their name, because they could not handle the vitriol attached to the debate “between the militant zero-Covid crowd and the It’s-Just-A-Cold crowd,” as one put it. The worst of this comes from experts who continue to insist that mask-wearing is a moral obligation to protect others by not transmitting the virus. Similar claims are made for fourth and fifth booster shots. In both cases the evidence is extremely meager and grows thinner by the day. Yet because these claims are felt to encourage “positive” behavior, both experts and sophisticated journalists close their eyes to the lack of evidence.
It's bad enough that the media constantly frame the maintenance of rigid Covid restrictions as science-based, while their relaxation is attributed to emotional frustration, boredom and wishful thinking by an ignorant population eager to be “over it.” What’s worse is that those who object to zero-Covid policies are denounced as selfish monsters who are willing to sacrifice society’s most vulnerable for the sake of mere convenience. This all-too-quickly becomes a political fight: Take off your mask and you’re not only reckless, you’re probably a racist “Trumper” who’s happy to throw the have-nots under the bus.
If increasing numbers of people shut out “public health messaging” of this sort, can anyone be surprised? We are breeding a level of suspicion and resentment of science, medicine and public health that will haunt us for years to come. The era of the Noble Lie – propagation of virtually evidence-free claims about Covid hazards in the interests of Positive Messaging – must end. Highly-placed, politically-connected “experts” have been a huge part of the problem. They need to call a halt and become part of the solution. Thanks again for doing your part.
I appreciate your honesty in the footnote shown below, but wow. You wore goggles for a respiratory virus? And was your N-95 fit tested, and did you wear it appropriately? Do you still consider this a good idea?
"I traveled by air throughout 2020 but I wore an N-95 and goggles."
This post reminds of what John Droz, Jr. said in September of this year:
"It’s fascinating to see how good people can have diametrically opposite views about the same situation, especially when the facts are largely indisputable. Why don’t the facts determine their response? Because the facts are irrelevant to people with certain world views."
This is so funny... the survey responses tell you everything you need to know about the population polled.... Do you wear a mask when flying? Will you go out shopping without a mask?
Should have asked "Do you wear a mask when you are driving around alone in your car?"
Normalizing irrational behavior, of any sort/type, is a bad choice. For my friends/acquaintances who believe in the efficacy of masks/mask mandates (there is none), I might remind them that their embrace of an irrational behavior does, indeed, effective others. That relatively small minority of mask aficionados is one of the primary reasons young kids continued to be masked long after the rest of the country had been liberated.
You wore goggles?
The article was sadly serving the purpose of the STAT editors. The NEJM article on masking in schools in Boston was, to me, more egregious as I now see it quoted in some of the online medical sites. Sadly, the final paragraph of that study says it all about the motivation of the authors which is not really science but social correction. Adam, glad you needed to have one last say on the STAT article as now I feel like I can be like the old monk and let it go.
Agree -- frustrating that this article falsely suggests that there is a “zero Covid” consensus among experts. Great essay, old monk!
That Volvo part made me chuckle!
This is just incredibly sad for the people who were interviewed in the article. I don't know how we help people like this.
Adam, these are genuine questions: would you advise a young woman with Polycythemia Vera and Essential Thrombocytosis to wear or not wear a kN95 ("scrupulously," as one comment here noted) to teach college students in a class where she is required to give personal critiques of their work each session (they do not wear masks)? What if she is also eleven weeks pregnant? What about at the grocery store? I'm very interested in answers, but I also want people here to know that "to mask or not to mask" really is a difficult question for some people, and not because they're idiots!
I agree (as the monk said) that we need to stop carrying things & leave them behind...
BUT many times we NEED to analyze stuff to make sure we are making rational decisions in the future & not just emotionally charged responses...
I just try to make sure that if I get into “looped” thinking that I stop & analyze the reason why, so I can live a life of happiness no matter what!
Hello Adam. I liked your article and agree with most of it. My problem is in parts of British Columbia there is a very high percentage of ethnic population, which remains quite connected to their original country as one would expect. Therefore large numbers continue wearing masks. On the surface, that’s just fine. However, this level of ongoing anxiety propagates anxiety in others and leads to more masking and more demands to mask others and even changed voting patterns. This led to masking while alone in cars, while riding alone on bicycles, etc. Completely anxiety driven stuff that just escalates and escalates. It definitely effected us. It entirely changed how we are forced to interact with neighbors and all regional services. Following vaccination, it has gotten much worse, not better. So, I am now trying to gently NOT accept people masking at this stage. It is time to stop accepting masking as a general attire choice. It has become a security blanket for every age rather than just those under 12.
Wrong, the virus did not cause millions of people to die .Millions were certified dead related to Covid I know because I have spent 40 years as a GP certifying elderly deaths , very very few died of the coronavirus but of neglect and medical malpractice. We were directed to blame many deaths on C19 on fear of loosing out jobs ,as I did for my refusal to go along with the three card switch or give the mRNA of unknown purpose.
My wife and I (60, in excellent health) followed masking protocols until ~6 months ago and are fully vaccinated and boosted. We recently both came down with Covid and were absolutely laid out for nearly three weeks (though not hospitalized). I don’t know if our discontinuation of masking in (indoor) public locations led to our infections but we will once again be wearing N95 masks in public spaces through the flu season.
Good advice. Let people do what is best for them without judgement. Wear a mask. Fine. Stand 10 ft apart. Fine. I'm going to live my life without irrational fear. Constant fear has a negative impact on your health, sorta like hearing sounds at night and each time believing someone is breaking into your house. Hard to get a good night's sleep.
Dr. Cifu, I’m grateful for this post – and while I sympathize with your longing to “let go” of the debate, I thank you for caring enough to be bothered. More doctors should be bothered!
A great deal of social harm is being done by the systematic exaggeration of Covid hazards and promotion of inappropriate and damaging “precautions.” Academic medicine at its upper levels should take a great deal of the blame. So should the self-styled “high-quality” and “progressive” media outlets like Stat, the Globe and the NY Times, which pride themselves on targeting the “educated” and “pro-science” reader. (Whew, that’s a lot of air quotes.)
Bottom line: That person out walking their dog in an N95 mask may be a statistical outlier. But they are also likely to be an Influencer with considerable social and political clout.
Deepening political polarization is probably the worst fruit of that influence. At least one academic declined to participate in Stat’s survey, and another asked Stat not to use their name, because they could not handle the vitriol attached to the debate “between the militant zero-Covid crowd and the It’s-Just-A-Cold crowd,” as one put it. The worst of this comes from experts who continue to insist that mask-wearing is a moral obligation to protect others by not transmitting the virus. Similar claims are made for fourth and fifth booster shots. In both cases the evidence is extremely meager and grows thinner by the day. Yet because these claims are felt to encourage “positive” behavior, both experts and sophisticated journalists close their eyes to the lack of evidence.
It's bad enough that the media constantly frame the maintenance of rigid Covid restrictions as science-based, while their relaxation is attributed to emotional frustration, boredom and wishful thinking by an ignorant population eager to be “over it.” What’s worse is that those who object to zero-Covid policies are denounced as selfish monsters who are willing to sacrifice society’s most vulnerable for the sake of mere convenience. This all-too-quickly becomes a political fight: Take off your mask and you’re not only reckless, you’re probably a racist “Trumper” who’s happy to throw the have-nots under the bus.
If increasing numbers of people shut out “public health messaging” of this sort, can anyone be surprised? We are breeding a level of suspicion and resentment of science, medicine and public health that will haunt us for years to come. The era of the Noble Lie – propagation of virtually evidence-free claims about Covid hazards in the interests of Positive Messaging – must end. Highly-placed, politically-connected “experts” have been a huge part of the problem. They need to call a halt and become part of the solution. Thanks again for doing your part.
I appreciate your honesty in the footnote shown below, but wow. You wore goggles for a respiratory virus? And was your N-95 fit tested, and did you wear it appropriately? Do you still consider this a good idea?
"I traveled by air throughout 2020 but I wore an N-95 and goggles."
This post reminds of what John Droz, Jr. said in September of this year:
"It’s fascinating to see how good people can have diametrically opposite views about the same situation, especially when the facts are largely indisputable. Why don’t the facts determine their response? Because the facts are irrelevant to people with certain world views."
Ain't that the truth!