by Dr. Simone Gold
Author’s note: The below is the Op-Ed that was accepted to USAToday on June 24. They deleted key phrases/paragraphs for their print paper and then they refused to print it at all online.
It is clear to me as a physician-lawyer that the disinformation about both Covid-19 and the Constitution has caused us to turn a medical issue into a legal crisis.
The scientific usefulness of a mask has been so aggressively overstated, and the foundational importance of the Constitution has been so aggressively understated, that we have normalized people screaming obscenities at each other while hiking.
The Covid virus was supposed to be contained in the kind of lab where people wear astronaut suits and go through triple sealed doors. It is a con of massive proportion to assert that now, having escaped those environs, a bandana will magically do the trick.
After all, size matters.
The pore size of cloth face coverings range from ~ 20-100 microns. The Covid virus is 200-1000x smaller than that, at 0.1 microns. Putting up a chain link fence will not keep out a mosquito. Even the most esteemed medical journals admit their purpose is to calm anxiety. “Expanded masking protocols’ greatest contribution may be to reduce the transmission of anxiety …”
Of course, by knowledge or common sense observation, most Americans already know that masking everyone is superstition. But unlike privately carrying a lucky charm, mandating facial coverings requires the consent of the governed.
Many cultures mandate clothing that appears totally irrational to outsiders. Never have those cultures pretended that there is a scientific basis for their clothing requirement. Their leaders rule, and their citizens accept, that their choice of clothing is due to religious or cultural preference.
Not wearing a mask is not mere “personal choice” like deciding between a head covering or a t-shirt. It is a flashpoint for being a free human being who has consented to be governed but has not consented to be ruled. We do not consent to a masked America, because that is a fundamental change in American society, culture, norms, and rights.
People who are apathetic toward their own liberty cannot eliminate Constitutional rights for those who are not. This is not the first (or last) time that people who believe in superstition are screaming the loudest. The Constitution exists precisely to protect all people during times of mass hysteria.
The mask has become the most visible symbol of #socialconditioning to Americans determined to preserve individual freedom. Thus far most Americans have continued to give their consent to be governed. But you are trying our patience.
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Simone Gold, MD, JD, FABEM, is a board certified emergency physician. She graduated from Chicago Medical School before attending Stanford University Law School to earn her Juris Doctorate degree. She completed her residency in Emergency Medicine at Stony Brook University Hospital in New York. Dr. Gold worked in Washington D.C. for the Surgeon General, as well as for the Chairman of the Labor & Human Resources Committee. She works as an emergency physician on the frontlines whether or not there is a pandemic. Her clinical work serves all Americans: from urban-inner city, to suburban, to the IHS. Her legal work has focused on conflicts between hospitals and insurers. She writes on a number of policy issues relating to law and medicine. She always leads with the facts. Read more at The Gold Opinion.
If you believe you are more virtuous than someone else because you choose to wear a mask…just know that is a personal opinion and is not based on scientific consensus. Based on the data, it is possible that you may be doing more harm to yourself and society by wearing the mask than not.
Our real problem is and epidemic of tyrannical governors and their minions. A nation-wide recall movement of the ‘shutdown governors’ is overdue. Here is a start: https://recallgavin2020.com/
Face Masks Pose Serious Risks To The Healthy
Dr. Russell Blaylock warns that not only do face masks fail to protect the healthy from getting sick, but they also create serious health risks to the wearer. The bottom line is that if you are not sick, you should not wear a face mask.
As businesses reopen, many are requiring shoppers and employees to wear a face mask. With the advent of the so-called COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen a number of medical practices that have little or no scientific support as regards reducing the spread of this infection. One of these measures is the wearing of facial masks.
There is growing evidence that the treatment protocol issued to treating doctors by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), mainly intubation and use of a ventilator (respirator), may have contributed significantly to the high death rate.
“By wearing a mask, the exhaled viruses will not be able to escape and will concentrate in the nasal passages, enter the olfactory nerves and travel into the brain.”
Russell Blaylock, MD
No studies have been done to demonstrate that either a cloth mask or the N95 mask has any effect on transmission of the COVID-19 virus. Any recommendations, therefore, have to be based on studies of influenza virus transmission. And, as you have seen, there is no conclusive evidence of their efficiency in controlling flu virus transmission.
It is also instructive to know that until recently, the CDC did not recommend wearing a face mask or covering of any kind, unless a person was known to be infected, that is, until recently. Non-infected people need not wear a mask. When a person has TB we have them wear a mask, not the entire community of non-infected. The recommendations by the CDC and the WHO are not based on any studies of this virus and have never been used to contain any other virus pandemic or epidemic in history.
Now that we have established that there is no scientific evidence necessitating the wearing of a face mask, are there dangers to wearing a face mask, especially for long periods? Several studies have indeed found significant problems with wearing such a mask. This can vary from headaches, to increased airway resistance, carbon dioxide accumulation, to hypoxia (shortage of oxygen), all the way to serious life-threatening complications.
It is known that the N95 mask, if worn for hours, can reduce blood oxygenation as much as 20%, which can lead to a loss of consciousness, as happened to the hapless fellow driving around alone in his car wearing an N95 mask, causing him to pass out, and to crash his car and sustain injuries. I am sure that we have several cases of elderly individuals or any person with poor lung function passing out and hitting their head.
Unfortunately, no one is telling the frail elderly and those with lung diseases of these dangers when wearing a face mask of any kind—which can cause a severe worsening of lung function.
The importance of these findings is that a drop in oxygen levels (hypoxia) is associated with lessened immunity. In essence, your mask may very well put you at an increased risk of infections.
There is another danger to wearing these masks every day, especially if worn for several hours. When a person is infected with a respiratory virus, they will expel some of the virus with each breath. If they are wearing a mask, especially an N95 mask or other tightly fitting mask, they will be constantly rebreathing the viruses, raising the concentration of the virus in the lungs and the nasal passages. We know that people who have the worst reactions to the coronavirus have the highest concentrations of the virus early on. And this leads to the deadly cytokine storm in a selected number.
One should not attack and insult those who have chosen not to wear a mask, because these studies suggest that is the wise choice.
Dr. Gold is not as wrong as you think: water evaporates to free up virus particles, and the force of breath pushes everything out of the mask –otherwise one could not breathe through it. So I still deem the masks useless –except as an emblem of terror.
The real issue is the lack of provable lethality of the virus, as healthy people don’t die of the virus alone. Meaning the real cause of “Covid deaths” is some other life threatening condition. This whole Covid scare is nothing but a politicized medical fraud.
The majority of people wearing masks have not been trained on how to properly don, handle, or doff PPE. With ordinary use, droplets containing virus may concentrate on the mask. There is a significant probability of an untrained person touching the bio-hazard on their mask and contact spreading it.
Most people now know if they’re at higher risk of death due to the virus, and can reduce the possibility of infection or the dosage by isolating, distancing, washing their hands, and/or wearing a proper mask (given some training). For people without comorbidities, the mortality rate of the virus is low, so if those at risk take said precautions, there’s little reason for healthier people to be required to wear masks.
As a person who is at higher risk, I’m ok with taking responsibility for myself, and wish that my fellow citizens go on to enjoy their lives without unnecessary burdens.
Best Regards,
harald
If any of you self-righteous masked jackasses want to walk around with a germ ridden cloth on your face all, knock yourselves out. Leave the rest of us people who like oxygen and fresh air, out of it. If you’re scared. you can stay inside forever.
Totally AGREE!
Let me understand this
1. The “experts” tell the sheep that wearing a mask protects them – RIGHT!
2. IF according to the “experts” the sheep are protected by wearing a mask THEN whether I wear a mask POSES NO HARM to the sheep since their mask protects them – RIGHT!
3. Therefore – by application of the “experts'” mandate there is NO REASON to mandate anyone who does not want to wear a mask to wear a mask – those who want to wear a mask are protected by wearing their masks.
Alternatively if masks do not protect, then wearing a mask has not scientific basis!
Either way there is no reason for anyone to IMPOSE THEIR FEAR BASED ON IGNORANCE upon anyone else!
It is all about SUBMISSION!
I WLLL NOT SUBMIT!
Makes too much sense to become widespread doctrine….
I’ve seen “ face masks” that were so dirty I would touch it let alone wear it. I don’t want these around me on or off other people!
We shouldn’t be forcing low risk people to wear masks. Let them have the freedom to make the right decision for themselves. However, high risk people should be required to wear masks. The cost to treat a serious case of ChiCom Virus is astronomical not to mention the stress on the hospital system. And this leads to the last point.
We have a lot of high risk people. Modern medicine has allowed many medically frail people to survive which is not the problem here. I do take exception to the 33% of the population who are obese and many of those have comorbidities like high blood pressure or diabetes. They are at high risk for the virus yet these are self-inflicted conditions. I hope that after the virus peters out that a major program to get people in better health happens.
Hey, know it all Ver Auger. Before promoting your uber-BS, take some time out of your busy day and read the report from Denis G. Rancourt, PhD: Masks Don’t Work – A review of science relevant to COVID-19 social policy. He blows holes in your tepid rebuttal to Dr. Simone Gold. Educate yourself before asserting that Dr. Gold takes your advice. Dr. Rancourt blows holes in your statement in much the same way that the Kung Flu will blow through the ineffective masks being worn by sheep like yourself.
This can only happen when the People are unaware of their rights and the limits of the gov’t they Created.
The school system has done a remarkable job of keeping this knowledge from the People, so much so, that even attorney’s don’t know the Constitution!
Great article
The use of a mask has reduced transmission as much as 25% in some studies. That number is significant. You are correct about the small size of the virus but typically when it is spread it is as part of a much larger droplet of mucus or spittle arising from the nose or mouth of an infected person. The masks medical personnel wear are rated N95 or N100 that filter for such transmission. The whole idea of wearing a mask is to protect others by trapping as much your spittle and coughed debris as possible, thereby offering some protection to others. Its the best we can do which in my opinion is better than doing nothing at all. Not as a lawyer, but as an ED doctor I suspect you would wear a mask in a hospital setting. PPE is worn to protect us as well as out patients.
Pleas cite the PEER REVIEWED “studies” that show 25% deduction of transmission, or STFU!
Wrong. People’s mucus and spittle are not airborne traffickers of the virus. Sorry, it’s just not. You are partially correct though. Most of the idea behind these masks being worn everyday on the streets were designed to prevent droplets of mucus and spittle from falling into open wounds of patients in operating rooms. But that won’t help in stopping the transmission of an airborne virus. So, the need for these masks have not been proven, as you say by 25%, that’s laughable. Social distancing maybe, masks not. The masks rated to stop the airborne pathogens still must be fitted to be effective. No one on the streets wearing an N95 mask is having them properly fitted. That’s not to mention people don’t change them, people don’t clean them and people don’t wash their hands before touching them many, many times, in effect making them ineffective. Anyone mandating we wear a mask is just infringing on our rights. All they intend on doing is having each mask wearing individual being a walking example of their control over us and a scare tactic.
Agreed 💯 Lewis
The people who are worried about getting infected can wear the mask.
No it hasn’t. There are no RCTs demonstrating this and dozens that say masks are worthless. Even in an operating room. Yes, believe it or not. “A recent 2014 report states categorically that no clinical trials have ever shown that wearing a mask prevents contamination of surgical sites.” https://www.oralhealthgroup.com/features/face-masks-dont-work-revealing-review/
Thank you Dr Bessermam. It’s been shown that the countries who have not politicized masking and social distancing have done far better than the US has done in beating the virus. Canada, for example, simply followed the advice they were given without succumbing to conspiracy theories and they are in a much better place than we are now. It’s the divisiveness that is the problem. I agree that something is better than nothing, and asking people to do this small service for their fellow humans is quite reasonable.
Bollocks
I am continuously banned from commenting in our local rag because I keep correcting the local “health officer” on semantics ands science.
I agree with her anayalist of wearing the mask. I do not wear one, but was refused entry into Walmart in Marble Falls, TX today because I would not put one on.
Dr. Simone Gold asserts the following: “The pore size of cloth face coverings range from ~ 20-100 microns. The Covid virus is 200-1000x smaller than that, at 0.1 microns.” She then falsely concludes that, because the pores in face coverings are 200 to 1000 times larger than a naked Covid virus, therefore face coverings cannot substantially reduce the risk of Covid-19 infection. Her error is this: no virus “travels” alone as a solitary naked virus. People are infected by inhaling respiratory droplets of mucus, which are expelled into the air whenever a sick person coughs. Respiratory droplets loaded with many thousands or millions of virus particles are inhaled and cause infection of bystanders. Respiratory droplets can easily measure 20 microns or more, a dimension within the range she gives for the pore size of a mask. These droplets are wet and sticky mucus balls which adhere to cloth, and are absorbed by it, thus reducing the likelihood of these virus-loaded mucus balls from reaching the lungs, where viral pneumonia causes the major risk of death by Covid-19.
Dr. Simone Gold, you are wrong, wrong, wrong to tell people that masks do not reduce the risk of infection by Covid-19. Please retract your false, damaging and erroneous advice!
You are assuming that everyone is infected.
Most people are not and less than 0.0032% die from it anyway
Enough of the fear and control
So why are you in this professional capacity not getting the word out on these facts?? Why are you letting the mainstream media and those government officials call the shots?? This information needs to become known to one and all!!!!!
BS! I will live as a free America, or if necessary, die as one, but I will not have the essence of my life dictated by spurious decisions to limit my freedom. I can make my own decisions.
Typical MD. Very good at memorization and following recommendations from on high but totally incapable of thinking for yourself.
How can someone who is worried about getting infected by these “mucus balls” have a problem if he’s wearing a mask?
An asymptomatic person is spewing mucous balls? Nope. If someone is symptomatic and out coughing on others, that’s a whole other story. They should be at home. But for all of the healthy people wishing to walk around freely without the mask police sneering at us, please help me to understand how the nature of my potential asymptomatic status is also causing. me to spew mucous and sneeze on others. It’s not. In fact, if I’m asymptomatic, the worst I’m doing is breathing virus particles out in my breath, all of which are completely likely to proceed right through my mask (if I was wearing one) with ease.
So what you’re saying is the virus gets stuck to and absorbed by the mask where the person wearing it breathes it in more and more. Because it’s just sitting there. No way to exhale it. Concentrated COVID on the mask that you eventually take off with untrained hands and lay it on the bathroom cabinet to pick it up and put it on again as you leave the house without washing your hands before grabbing your purse and keys and breathe the concentrated COVID over and over. . .