I recently reported that progressives and the reporters who love them were already clutching their pearls over a new, “highly mutated” covid variant. A few colleges and Hollywood studio have already reinstated mask mandates.Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) is concerned over these developments, asserting that the return of mask and vaccine mandates is “alarming.”
“It’s alarming that the mandates are kicking in again,” he said. “It’s like, OK, we noticed masks didn’t work, particularly for children. We always knew they didn’t work for kids.”Morris Brown College in Atlanta has reinstated a mask mandate, while Rutgers University in New Jersey continues to enforce both a vaccine mandate and a mask mandate nearly four years after the first COVID-19 case emerged in China.”Masks might have some marginal impact. We can’t deny that fact,” Johnson said. “N-95 masks can have some marginal benefits — but not to deny people freedom.”Johnson was always highly suspicious of the federal vaccine mandate and has advocated for those who have suffered an injury from the COVID-19 vaccines. He has attributed those positions to helping him win reelection last year.The Wisconsin senator has also called on the Biden administration to admit its pandemic policies were a failure.
Early on in the pandemic, I covered why masks were doomed to failure. It is clearly time for a reminder.
[S]uch protection is recommended only after engineering controls, and individual work practices have been ruled out as effective protection. This is because anything that relies on humans 100% for success is doomed for failure.Let’s consider some of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rules for the proper use and care of face masks, such as donning the mask.
- Wash your hands before putting on your mask
- Put it over your nose and mouth and secure it under your chin
- Try to fit it snugly against the sides of your face
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.
Serious people recognize the mask mandates were completely useless, especially as the covid virus is now endemic. Author Ian Miller analyzed the data on mask usage and covid cases, publishing a book with all the data: Unmasked: The Global Failure of Covid Mask Mandates. It is a review of his detailed and extensive research.
This is just one of his many examples:
Mask mandates were destructive to our young.
Lockdowns and mask mandates have stunted babies’ development, a study suggests.Youngsters born during the pandemic were less likely to have said their first words by their first birthday compared to babies born pre-Covid.They were also less likely to be able to wave ‘bye’ or point at objects, researchers in Ireland found.The team say face masks limited children’s ability to read facial expressions or see people’s mouths move — a crucial part of learning to speak.Bans on visiting grandparents and relatives were also blamed for depriving them of vital socializing time.
I would also like to point out that people in Japan who became so used to wearing face masks during the pandemic are signing up for lessons to teach them how to smile again.
This is not 2020. We have over three years of data showing that mask mandates did not “slow the spread.” Like the vaccine, use of those masks should be up to the individual.
I will be taking a hard pass on mask wearing and covid vaccines. I suspect I will not be the only one.
Finally, I will note that a dozen international scientists are now claiming that the new variant is not likely to be a significant health problem . . . because of natural immunity.
A dozen scientists around the world said while it was important to monitor BA.2.86, it was unlikely to cause a devastating wave of severe disease and death given immune defenses built up worldwide from vaccination and prior infection.”It’s still low numbers,” Maria Van Kerkhove, COVID-19 technical lead at the WHO, said in her first interview regarding BA.2.86.That the known cases are not linked suggests it is already circulating more widely, particularly given reduced surveillance worldwide, she said.
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