All over the world people are being instructed to wear face masks. Where and when we should be wearing them, may be different from country to country, but generally in most countries people are being told it will protect us from catching and transmitting the corona virus. But is it true? Are those claims backed by science? Or is it about something else entirely and if so what is it and for what purpose?
When people started walking around with face masks voluntarily it reminded me of scenes from the second series of the handmaid’s tale. The symbolism of being muzzled was all I could think of… But then again this was people’s personal choice, acting out of fear with the ‘better safe then sorry’ attitude. The official advice at the time regarding face masks as protective measure was that it can do more harm then good… But then after a while the economic pressures, controlling the number of people allowed into any shop and the long queue in front of every supermarket lead to a policy U-turn and the idea of wearing a face covering in indoor public spaces was introduced to create a public perception of safety, so they would feel confident to get out and shop again!
So it seems the policy of wearing a face masks has nothing to do with protecting health but as usual to do with the economy!
Now few month after introducing the policy of wearing masks, we are being told a second wave is with us, number of cases are on the rise again and a second lockdown is on the way…
To my mind this proves that the policy of leading public perception into false sense of security by wearing a face mask is not only unless at preventing the spread, but putting lives at risk.
But maybe there is a purpose to this madness! Maybe this is just another twist and turn exercise to get the public to agree to, or better still demand a program of force vaccination so we can get back to ‘normal’…
In the video below Ben Swann presents information and findings from a number of scientific studies (listed below) on how effective wearing a face mask actually is. As it turns out, not only medical masks do not prevent the spread of a virus, but a study from 1995 proves that wearing a cloth mask can put you at greater risk for infection.
UK Government ministers and health advisers about the use of face masks
In the UK up until June 4, government ministers and their advisers considered the evidence for the use of face masks by the general public to be too weak to recommend it. However, they have since performed a U-turn on that official advice by making it mandatory to wear a face covering in indoor public spaces. Here are some of the official statements made until the June 4th.
Scientific studies on how effective wearing a face mask actually is
- 2009: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1921600
- 2010: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/epidemiology-and-infection/article/face-masks-to-prevent-transmission-of-influenza-virus-a-systematic- review/64D368496EBDE0AFCC6639CCC9D8BC05
- 2012: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1750-2659.2011.00307.x
- 2015: https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/4/e006577
- 2016: https://www.cmaj.ca/content/188/8/567
- 2017: https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/65/11/1934/4068747
- 2019: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2749214
- 2020: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jebm.12381
some of these studies compare masks, but some of them are comparing masks to no masks including this study: Continuous Respiratory Personal Protective Equipment Use vs No Respiratory Personal Protective Equipment
The following Covid 19 policy tracker is from The health foundation website
Download the full tracker
20200916 – COVID-19 policy tracker – 02 – Measures to limit spread (5.51 MB)
20200916 – COVID-19 policy tracker – 03 – Health and care (136.12 KB)
20200916 – COVID-19 policy tracker – 04 – R&D (1.79 MB)
20200916 – COVID-19 policy tracker – 05 – Broader policy (159.33 KB)