The New England Journal Of Medicine Says Face Masks Do Not Work
Reason #3 that Face Masks Hurt Kids
Dear Reader,
The wearing of a face mask to protect against a respiratory virus is an act of grand deceit. It is a behavior that defies research on the topic. Wearing a face mask, as this article (one of many) points to — is unsafe to do and is ineffective.
Until the narrative around mandatory masking has changed, each day by 6am Eastern, I will both post here and send out a science-based reason why no one should wear a face mask.
I ask that you help me circulate these pieces to those around you who you believe could most benefit from them. It is important not to remain silent on this topic. These are important discussions to be having with friends, family members, business owners, healthcare practitioners, public servants, and others in the community.
-Allan
On May 21, 2020, seven weeks after the CDC’s April 3, 2020
face mask recommendations were released, The New England Journal
of Medicine addressed the foolishness of mandatory masking of the general population:1
“We know that wearing a mask outside healthcare facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection. Public health authorities define a significant exposure to Covid-19 as face to face contact within six feet with a patient with symptomatic Covid-19 that is sustained for at least a few minutes (and some say more than 10 minutes or even 20 minutes). The chance of catching Covid-19 from a passing interaction in a public space is therefore minimal. In many cases the desire for widespread masking is a reflexive reaction to anxiety over the pandemic.”
Emphasis has been added in this quote and the following quotes. The same article goes on to theorize when masking may be helpful in hospital environments before going on to warn of the necessity to recognize limitations associated with possible benefits in that environment as well.
“What is clear, however, is that universal masking alone is not a panacea. A mask will not protect providers caring for a patient with active Covid-19 if it is not accompanied by meticulous hand hygiene, eye protection, gloves, and a gown. A mask alone will not prevent healthcare workers with early Covid-19 from contaminating their hands
and spreading the virus to patients and colleagues. Focusing on universal masking alone may, paradoxically,
lead to more transmission of Covid-19 if it diverts attention from implementing more fundamental infection-control measures.”
In couched language, the same authors go on to say, that while a mask may have no “technical” benefit on the spread of disease, the mask may have a psychological benefit, by being a visible reminder to others that people must fearfully avoid each other.
“There may be additional benefits to broad masking policies that extend beyond their technical contribution to reducing pathogen transmission. Masks are visible reminders of an otherwise invisible yet widely prevalent pathogen and may remind people of the importance of social distancing and other infection-control measures.”
The same piece, almost shockingly honest for The New England Journal of Medicine, goes so far as to call the mask being pushed upon billions harmfully and ineffectively “a talisman.”
“It is also clear that masks serve symbolic roles. Masks are not only tools, they are also talismans that may help increase healthcare workers’ perceived sense of safety, wellbeing, and trust in their hospitals. Although such reactions may not be strictly logical, we are all subject to fear
and anxiety, especially during times of crisis. One might argue that fear and anxiety are better countered with data and education than with a marginally beneficial mask,
particularly in light of the worldwide mask shortage, but it is difficult to get clinicians to hear this message in the heat of the current crisis. Expanded masking protocols’ greatest contribution may be to reduce the transmission of anxiety, over and above whatever role they may play in reducing transmission of Covid-19. The potential value of universal masking in giving healthcare workers the confidence to absorb and implement the more foundational infection-prevention practices described above may be its greatest contribution.”
The idea of scientific consensus on the topic of masking has been heavily pushed in politics, media, and society. There is no consensus. Dissent has poked through repeatedly despite the very heavy handed censorship by government and corporations alike.
Just as Jingyi Xiao indicates, in the CDC’s peer-reviewed journal
of epidemiology, Emerging Infection Diseases, masks offer “little if
any protection.”2
Quite logically, seeing such rampant nonsense as the mandatory masking of society, these sober commentators in the same The New England Journal of Medicine article, took it further and offered cautionary words: “Widespread masking is a reflexive reaction to anxiety over the pandemic.” It is not wise. It is not sound. It is not well thought out. It is reflexive, like a blink or a flinch or a shiver.
These are quite critical words and from a well-respected source. Like Xiao, these sober words, too, fell on deaf ears and were largely censored.
Sober researchers were writing about how ineffective masks were to anyone who would listen. Were you listening?
Klompas M, Morris CA, Sinclair J, Pearson M, Shenoy ES. Universal Masking in Hospitals in the Covid-19 Era. New England Journal of Medicine. 2020;382(21). doi:10.1056/nejmp2006372
Xiao J, Shiu EYC, Gao H, et al. Nonpharmaceutical Measures for Pandemic Influenza in Nonhealthcare Settings — Personal Protective and Environmental Measures. Emerging Infectious Diseases. 2020;26(5):967-975. doi:10.3201/eid2605.190994
The bestselling book "Face Masks In One Lesson" by Allan Stevo describes how to never wear a face mask again. The follow-up to the book, "Face Masks Hurt Kids," describes why to never wear a face mask again. We must defeat the awful, narrative around the mandates.
Examples of how face masks hurt kids will be posted to the Lockdown Land Substack each morning by 6am Eastern until the narrative around this ineffective and harmful medical intervention has shifted. Face masks are, in fact, not just harmful to children. Face masks are harmful to everyone. Thank you so much for helping me circulate this research.