CNN Medical Analyst Admits Cloth Masks Don’t Work Against COVID
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CNN Medical Analyst Admits Cloth Masks Don’t Work Against COVID

CNN Medical Analyst Admits Cloth Masks Don’t Work Against COVID

I reported that mask mandates would not work, and why, in autumn of 2020.

Slowly, the establishment media is beginning to admit that COVID is here to stay and has started to question some cherished pandemic policies.

On Wednesday, National Public Radio published a piece that admitted cloth face masks don’t work against COVID.  It blames Omicron for being the magical variant that can bypass all mask protection.

“Cloth masks are not going to cut it with omicron,” says Linsey Marr, a researcher at Virginia Tech who studies how viruses transmit in the air.

Omicron is so much more transmissible than coronavirus variants that have come before it. It spreads at least three times faster than delta. One person is infecting at least three others at a time on average, based on data from other countries.

“It’s very contagious,” says Dr. Robert Wachter, chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. “And the kind of encounter that you could have had with prior versions of the virus that would have left you uninfected, there’s now a good chance you will get infected from it.”

I want to point out that there was plenty of evidence that cloth masks were not working in 2020. I used my experience as an environmental health and safety professional to describe all the reasons mask mandates would fail:

The hands are one of the most efficient highways for germs into the body, but how many of us wash our hands (or even put sanitizer) when donning masks? And I can’t tell you how many times I see people with masks that are not covering the nose or chin. And, if you follow the California Office of Governor Guidance, you will be smearing contaminants onto the mask through your meal.

There are numerous other rules for good mask-wearing, including laundering after use. However, how many people actually grab a clean, fresh mask every time they use one? How many people properly launder (i.e., use bleach if washing by hand).

CNN’s medical analyst also admitted masks weren’t working. She and other “experts” are pointing to N95-respiratory protection as the way to go.

“Cloth masks are little more than facial decorations. There’s no place for them in light of Omicron,” [CNN medical analyst Dr. Leanna] Wen told CNN on Monday. “Wear a high-quality mask, at least a three-ply surgical mask.”

While cloth masks may have seemed like a good idea in 2020, they’re not particularly useful in areas of high viral transmission, studies have found. A September 2020 review found that cloth masks may be beneficial for preventing transmission in low-risk public settings but that they offered limited protection in healthcare settings.

However, relying on N95 masking to reduce numbers is doomed to fail like cloth masks…for many of the same reasons. N95 respiratory protection is meant for an occupational setting, with fit-testing done to ensure a good seal.

Additionally, the long-term wearing of N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators (FFR) and similar protections can cause health effects, as reported in a study involving healthcare workers (HCWs) published on a CDC blog.

Hypoventilation is a primary cause of significant discomfort while wearing an N95 FFR (Williams 2010). However, studies done by Roberge et al. (2010) indicated that this hypoventilation did not pose a significant risk to healthcare workers over the course of less than one hour of continuous N95 use.

When HCWs are working longer hours without a break while continuously wearing an N95 FFR, blood CO2 levels may increase past the 1-hour mark, which could have a significant physiological effect on the wearer (Lim et al., 2006)*. Some of the known physiological effects of increased concentrations of CO2 include:

  1. Headache;
  2. Increased pressure inside the skull;
  3. Nervous system changes (e.g., increased pain threshold, reduction in cognition – altered judgement, decreased situational awareness, difficulty coordinating sensory or cognitive, abilities and motor activity, decreased visual acuity, widespread activation of the sympathetic nervous system that can oppose the direct effects of CO2 on the heart and blood vessels);
  4. Increased breathing frequency;
  5. Increased “work of breathing”, which is result of breathing through a filter medium;
  6. Cardiovascular effects (e.g., diminished cardiac contractility, vasodilation of peripheral blood vessels);
  7. Reduced tolerance to lighter workloads.

Just imagine the implications of living a “normal” life while wearing one of these respirators. Failure is inevitable.

However, these news items do offer one helpful bit of data. I predict Omicron will be the excuse the “experts,” media, and the politicians daft enough to believe them will use to jettison all the failed pandemic policies Americans have been forced to endure for two years.

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Comments

It all makes sense if you realize that masks are a religious symbol. To not wear a mask is to be a blasphemer worthy only of being burned at the stake.

“I predict Omicron will be the excuse the “experts,” media, and the politicians daft enough to believe them will use to jettison all the failed pandemic policies”

You’re an optimist, Leslie.
I think these policies were never intended to address the pandemic, but for reasons of political and social control.

    I agree. Then there is also the persecution and violence Communist Party leaders and the Joseph Goebbels media proudly and openly encouraging against the maskless, the unvaccinated – anyone who refuses to sacrifice themselves or their loved ones to the Wuflu Moloch.

    You don’t turn a self-righteous bloodthirsty mob off by a bureaucratic pronouncements.

Adding to the reams of data already available on this.

Soon to be “ex-CNN Medical Analyst”

I get the nastiest looks from people when I do not wear a mask in NYC. Most of the time these people are wearing a cheap and flimsy mask that is useless. >> As a result I discovered a new method of identifying idiots.

You should see their expression when I point out that their cheap cloth mask is useless and an indication of the level of conformity

The only thing that would work would be to mandate we all wear plastic bags over our heads. That would work. Guaranteed.

Leslie,

Agreed. Omicron is going to destroy the establishment approved Covid narrative. The pivot will be in roughly February, IMO. Why? The test kits. The hypochondriac types who are emotionally invested in Covid panic and need to display their adherence to mandates, lockdowns and masks are likely to be the consumers of the test kits. When the 2x and 3x vax, mask wearing, social distancing, event cancelling, scolding Karen’s test + they are going to be PO. Their self promoting display of virtue will count for nought.

Will this happen overnight? No, but as the numbers of cases in fully vaxed rise, particularly among higher profile figures in media, entertainment and sports it will be too much to ignore. The toes are already in the water for the pivot as this event shows. High profile infections, sports events cancelled among fully vaxed rosters and higher rates of infection and hospitalization among the vaxed will demonstrate that Covid doesn’t care if you are vaccinated.

Based on what I have read and understood, wearing a mask reduced YOUR chance of transmitting a virus. If you wanted to be protected from other people, you needed an N95 mask.
My wife takes biologics to help her, so on our recent trip to France, she wore an N 95 on the airplane.

    Wearing the level mask most people wear does not reduce your chances of spreading the virus to others. Aerosols can travel in either direction through the materials the masks are made of. A mask will block you from spraying people with globules you might release in a cough or a sneeze, leaving it attached to the mask’s insides and eventually seeping through to the outside of the mask and spreading the virus long after you sneezed. How many people immediately change their mask for a new one everytime they cough or sneeze?

    Masks serve two purposes. They calm the fears of the perpetually frightened, and they allow smug paragons of virtue to identify each other. The advanced air filtration systems on airplanes make them safer places than pretty much anywhere else we go except outside.

    CommoChief in reply to surfcitylawyer. | December 27, 2021 at 1:19 pm

    Sort of. As elliesmom stated a surgical mask or a cloth mask substitute prevents globular spread. They do not prevent aerosol transmission. Surgical masks are designed to keep a wound /incision clear of large contaminates during medical care. IOW to prevent a large bit of spittle going into the wound/incision not to prevent aerosol transmission in the OR.

    The further problem is proper use, maintenance and disposal of masks. How many people keep a mask in the console of the vehicle? In a pocket or purse? Were these PPE cleaned or disposed of before another use? Probably not in most cases. A mask is PPE and outside of clinical settings where users are trained in use and those standards are rigidly enforced their utility diminishes to near irrelevance.

    Bottom line is the vast majority of the people who regularly use a mask undermine even the limited mitigation effect of the mask on transmission by improper use, maintenance, disposal and storage. They simply lack the discipline to do it correctly every time which is what is required for it to be even minimally effective. It’s theater.

    Colonel Travis in reply to surfcitylawyer. | December 27, 2021 at 4:03 pm

    Instead of going by what you read, go by reality. We’ve had 2 years of this nonsense. Masks do zero to stop community spread. The evidence is there in every single country on the planet. There are a number of reasons masks do not work. Few people bother to put any thought into it and just do what they’re told out of fear.

    mbecker908 in reply to surfcitylawyer. | December 27, 2021 at 4:10 pm

    First let me note that your first sentence/paragraph is total BS and wouldn’t withstand even bachelor’s level science is one is capable of rational thought.

    Second, I stopped wearing a mask in May. Of 2020. I refuse to go anywhere that requires one. If anybody wants to scold me about it, if they get within six feet of me they’ll find out why I carry pepper gel. Touch me and you’ll find out why I carry a Walther PPQ45.

    At our house we are DONE complying and being cowed by the anti-religious fanatics who think the FauciFlu was ever anything more than a convenient excuse to steal an election.

      Milhouse in reply to mbecker908. | December 27, 2021 at 10:55 pm

      The NYC public transport system requires masks. So do Uber, Lyft, and all the other car services. Since I have no car, I depend on some combination of these to get around, so I always carry a mask with me. Also some stores require them, or at least ask nicely enough that I’m inclined to do as they ask. I always wear one when entering any Chinese store, because masks are part of their culture, they’ve been wearing them in public for years, so when they ask they mean it, and it would be rude to enter their stores without one. And my local synagogue put up a sign requiring anyone not vaccinated to wear a mask; as a result I try to avoid attending there, but when I have to I wear the damn face diaper, under protest.

        CommoChief in reply to Milhouse. | December 28, 2021 at 10:44 am

        The masks almost entirely theater. That said if a local business has a sign asking me to wear one then I will. It’s their place so I follow their rules just as I would expect visitors to my property. The scolding Karen’s in public spaces are a different matter entirely.

          randian in reply to CommoChief. | December 28, 2021 at 12:25 pm

          That said if a local business has a sign asking me to wear one then I will

          Why? I can’t think of any local business that doesn’t have an easily substituted competitor. All a mask sign gets them is an invisible loss of revenue as my business gets conducted elsewhere.

          CommoChief in reply to CommoChief. | December 28, 2021 at 1:28 pm

          Why follow the requests and rules of the ownership of that place? Because it’s their place and they get to set the rules and conditions for their premises. Substitution to a competitor that doesn’t have a mask requirement is an option but less so in rural areas with fewer businesses. I do that as well when that competitor exists, sometimes they don’t or are impractical; it’s a 30 minute drive to town limits for me and 90+ minutes on the interstate to a city.

          Masks are not a problem now. The only places with mask edicts are the hospital and Wal-Mart. Probably the assisted living places as well. All the locally owned businesses have long ago abandoned the mask. I substitute Amazon for Wal-Mart if the local shops don’t have an item I want.

      SuddenlyHappyToBeHere in reply to mbecker908. | December 28, 2021 at 8:24 am

      ” … if they get within six feet of me they’ll find out why I carry pepper gel. Touch me and you’ll find out why I carry a Walther PPQ45.”

      What a charming fellow you seem to be. Your neighbors, assuming you have any, must really enjoy you.

    That is pretty much what Dr Fauci said on 60 Minutes after the SARS outbreak.

Waiting for this next… “apply duct tape firmly to nose and mouth” That will successfully stop transmission.

N95 masks — $1 to $3 each.
Got a beard? Just throw your cash into the loo and save the gasoline.

Compliance theatre.

I’m grateful for this experience. I never understood how Hitler was able to bludgeon so many people into submission. Now I know.

It’s wicked scary how easy it was for them.

This was just a practice run for the real thing.

    henrybowman in reply to Andy. | December 27, 2021 at 3:07 pm

    I mean, the concept: “German Karens.”
    That’s a two-word explanation of the entire Nazi Party.

Omicron has such a high Rzero value that there’s little point in trying to reduce it (except by isolation). Once it’s over 1.0, the variant spreads regardless. If you reduce it from 1.2 to 1.1 it won’t matter.

An Australian study of farts in operating rooms showed that underwear is effective in eliminating growths in surrounding petri dishes. A nurse had asked the question.

try to locate just pre-COVID the actual diameter of the virus (you’ll find it’s 0.4 microns). then find the diameter of the smallest pore (opening) in an excellent mask (it’s 80 microns) and a third-grader will point out that you’re dealing with 200 virus particles going across just one opening in a straight line at the same time.

try wearing an N95 with hemochromatosis, pheochromocytoma AND restrictive lung disease.
screw ’em all.

    henrybowman in reply to dmacleo. | December 27, 2021 at 3:12 pm

    If I were serious about masking (which I am not), I’d play with a portable CPAP with extra intake filtering. Let the machine do the heavy breathing for me. (It’s a blessing to be able to cover my entire head with another pillow to block daylight, or the grinding of our dog chewing her nylabone.)

      dmacleo in reply to henrybowman. | December 27, 2021 at 3:44 pm

      LOL broken shoulders and knees …may not be able to haul one around LOL
      if place all up in their own ass about masking I fart and walk out.

No Shit Sherlock!

Pasadena Peabody | December 27, 2021 at 4:14 pm

Masks must be made of wool, then whenever when Fauci says something, pull the wool over your eyes.

If this ‘global pandemic’ has taught us anything, it should have taught us that whenever a news story contains the phrase, ‘experts say…’ it’s incumbent upon the reader to disregard everything that follows.

Also, we’ve learned that ‘virology’ and ‘epidemiology’ are to medical science what numerology is to math.

This is my take on masks… from my personal wayback.. if you want to see..

https://i.postimg.cc/DwWSx6zP/virus-mask-pro.jpg

Seriously,, a couple things still floor me..
Most people do not know the difference between a mask and a respirator.

Second.. many people have masks with exhale valves.. Stupid on stupid.

If the control freaks in the government, medical etc get their way, we will be wearing masks well into the 22nd century.

Char Char Binks | December 27, 2021 at 6:44 pm

The more Boomers who die from Covid, the happier I’ll be.

    CommoChief in reply to Char Char Binks. | December 27, 2021 at 9:10 pm

    By boomers I suppose you are referring to the draft dodgers turned yuppie who sold out main street America in favor of offshore manufacturing, bigger govt, more federal debt for ineffective programs, a return to tribalism and a trial run at fascism, all to gain a faster and bigger cut from Wall St and international investors at the expense of devastating small business and the narrowing of the middle class?

    It’s not really appropriate to wish death on anyone but if those are the particular boomers you are describing aka establishment political, govt and corporate leaders of all stripes then maybe I can let it go, though it’s really not a good habit to get into. Hate is ultimately self destructive.

      Char Char Binks in reply to CommoChief. | December 28, 2021 at 10:59 am

      I mean those willing to subject kindergarteners to medical experimentation in their quest to become immortal. I’m sure there is a great overlap with those you mentioned.

      I also wish a painful Covid death on anyone of any age who joins in this madness.

Took them a while to work that out, didn’t it?
In the UK the PM’s “Behavioural Insights Team”, the Government’s psychological warfare department to be used against its own population – Goebbles could have learned a bit from these rogues – admitted that over a year ago but stated that it mandated mask-wearing to make sure the population remained suitably terrified about the possibility of catching a disease little or no more dangerous than normal winter flu.
In fact the real reason was to ensure that all the usual pigs with their snouts in the trough benefitted from truly astronomical Government bungs – the disastrously “Test and Trace” scheme alone cost 37 BILLION GPB – that’s 49,679,900,000.00 US dollars, more than the quarterly turnover of Microsoft – for little more than a smartphone app linked to a back end database and some contracts for test processing.
And that’s not the half of it, check out “Independent SAGE” and “Susan Michie” on the Internet for a look at some real totalitarians.

I don’t always get forced to wear a mask in order to perform at a cello recital. But when I do, I purposely wear sparkly, non-medical grade masks in rich jewel colors, which look better with black outfits than surgical masks or black, Antifa-style masks.

And then I play the F Sharp Major Scale: “Father Christmas Gets Drunk At Every Birthday”. My musical Interpretation of FJB / FAF. Cheers!