Publisher’s Note: We interrupt Christmas in the 2nd Vermont Republic to bring you an update on our MASKS BY CHOICE Op/Ed challenging Vermont governor Phil Scott’s mandatory mask mandate, now updated with new scientific links. (We like your 2VR inspired mask, Governor, despite our different POV on this important public health question.) Vermonters have drafted and are circulating a “Masks By Choice” petition – sign it here and pass it on. And here are links to the Great Barrington Declaration with its call for “Focused Protection,” and the World Doctors’ Alliance open letter to the world. We’ve reviewed, reflected upon, and signed and shared both documents – please consider doing the same. Finally, here is an excellent summary of the scientific questions raised by viruses and masks, in addition to the many many links below. See you Outside!
“If people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.”
– Thomas Jefferson –
I write to all Vermont citizens in support of a COVID-19 “masks by choice” policy rather than a statewide “mandated masks” law such as the one mandated by Governor Phil Scott on July 24th, 2020.
To be clear, as a Vermont citizen of the town of Waitsfield, I fully support the right of any individual to wear a mask at any time, and I support the decision of any Vermont business to mandate mask wearing by customers in their privately-owned shop or store.
I oppose, however, the passage of mandatory ordinance-driven mask wearing by both Vermont’s state government and democratically elected Vermont boards of civil authority, particularly given the tidal wave of media-induced misinformation, pharmaceutical industry fearmongering, and phobia-driven “group think” surrounding the current COVID-19 situation.
Breaking news as of summer 2020. Re: COVID-19, we now know that (click on links) 1) COVID probably arrived in the US many weeks earlier than originally reported; 2) the COVID infection rate may have proved 80 times higher and doubled nearly twice as fast as originally reported; 3) COVID “asymptomatic carriers” (healthy people) seem to rarely transmit the virus to others; and now 4) the US COVID mortality rate appears to be hovering at a very low 0.26 percent; with the 5) global COVID infection mortality rate for individuals under the age of 45 down near 0. Of all fifty states, Vermont has been least impacted by COVID-19, due to our rural demographic, our clean air and water, and our high level of collective social trust, as Vermont environmentalist Bill McKibben asserts in this July 2020 New Yorker article.
Given all this good news, I find it odd that Vermont’s local and state lawmakers are mandating masks by law for all Vermont citizens. I respectfully urge all Vermonters in positions of legislative authority to 1) thoughtfully consider the latest public health data re: COVID-19 (see links above and articles below), and 2) professionally conduct an exhaustive review of the medical and policy literature on the public health, economic and political consequences of mandatory mask wearing.
Otherwise, any vote to pass laws mandating mask wearing in any Vermont town and in the state of Vermont as a whole will be, by necessity, based on fear rather than reason, politics rather than peer-reviewed science, and “virtue signaling” rather than a well-researched respect for the health and wellness of our fellow Vermonters here in our Green Mountain communities.
Why would individual Vermonters make a choice to breathe freely by forgoing a mask? The answer seems obvious, but we live in strange and confusing times. Having personally spoken to many Vermont friends and neighbors about this very question, I’ve learned that Vermonters who decide not to mask up are committed to a wide variety of scientific, medical, philosophical, health-related or spiritual points of view to justify their decision. And make no mistake. Mandatory mask wearing ordinances represents a form of “medical martial law,” particularly if violators – your Vermont friends and neighbors – choose not to wear a mask in the face of such a restrictive ordinance.
Six questions:
1.SCIENCE: What specific scientific studies (peer reviewed, involving randomized control trials with measurable outcomes) conclusively indicate that mandated mask wearing will provide a solution to the COVID-19 situation? (Remembering that the WHO, the CDC, and most all the MSM news outlets are funded by the pharmaceuticals industry and powerful global organizations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation who are NOT neutral objective actors in shaping and managing this “coronavirus pandemic” – witness the daily MSM “news” outlets shrieking about the “sudden spike” in “new cases” of COVID-19 all summer long, even as the COVID mortality rates across the country flatten towards zero – GREAT news, because this means that more humans are contracting the virus, we’re moving closer to natural herd immunity, and thus, the virus is much less deadly than we were told last winter and spring.)
2. ENFORCEMENT: How will mandatory mask wearing laws be enforced by local and state authorities here in Vermont?
3. PUNISHMENT: Will mandatory mask wearing laws subject our fellow Vermont citizens to civil, financial or even criminal penalties for refusing to comply to mandatory mask wearing laws?
4. DURATION: For how long will this Vermont mandatory mask wearing ordinance be enforced and under what public health policy reasoning?
5. END DATE: How will we in Vermont collectively determine when we can remove our masks, by law?
6. LEGAL BLOWBACK: Will Vermont towns and the state of Vermont in toto be subject to legal action if someone wearing a mandated mask gets injured or injures others, and said mask is found to be involved?
Big picture. It should be noted that, until summer 2020, every major US health organization, as well as the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), all definitively stated that wearing masks has no impact in altering potential viral transmission between humans, because aerosolized viral particles are much too small (measured in microns) to be blocked by any sort of face covering – “like using a chain link fence to stop a mosquito,” in the words of Dr. Rashid Buttar.
Even more troubling, the regular wearing of facemasks brings health harm to otherwise healthy humans. How so? Myriad ways. Breath by breath, masks can decrease our oxygen intake and recycle CO2 instead of expelling this waste gas away from our noses and mouths, thus increasing our cortisol levels (stress, anxiety and fear), and decreasing the effectiveness of our bodies’ immune systems, not to mention the psychological harm that accompanies not being able to see, read and experience our fellow humans face to face, even at a distance. In short, masks dramatically decrease our highly evolved ability to read each other’s facial, social and emotional cues at a time when we most need access to each other’s faces, arms, and hearts. We’ve all experienced these traumatizing physical, social and psychological effects. Just ask anyone in Vermont. Mandating mask wearing by law contributes to this traumatic situation.
Considering all these negative consequences, for Vermont’s local or state government officials to mandate mask wearing through town or state ordinance commits a double public disservice – compromising the health and wellness of otherwise healthy Vermont citizens, while offering false assurances premised on politicized science to our entire Vermont community under the guise of “caution.”
I urge every elected Vermont official to take the time to thoughtfully research and carefully consider the consequences of a “masks by mandate” decision consider returning to “masks by choice” guidelines.
Respectfully,
Rob Williams, Ph.D.
PS: Here are several readable and informative summaries re: COVID, masks, health and beyond.
Updated Links:
Mask Whistleblowers Tell All – Autumn 2020 Interview
Government-trained OSHA mask experts Tammy Clark and Kristen Meghan join Del Bigtree and “The High Wire” in-studio to break down vital information on masks, PPE, and COVID-19. Every Human on this planet wearing a mask needs to hear this riveting discussion.
Click: https://thehighwire.com/videos/mask-whistleblowers-tell-all/
COVID Masks Are A Crime Against Humanity And Child Abuse, by Dr. Margarite Griesz-Brisson MD, PhD, Consultant Neurologist and Neurophysiologist with a PhD in Pharmacology, as translated from German to English by Vermont CABIN TALK’s Claudia Stauber.
CDC 2020 Study on Viruses and Masks
Study on CDC website, which reviewed ten different randomized clinical trials, world-wide, reviewing highly infectious respiratory virus transmission which found “no significant reduction” in “transmission with the use of face masks.” Nonpharmaceutical Measures for Pandemic Influenza in Nonhealthcare Settings—Personal Protective and Environmental Measures, Jingyi Xiao1, Eunice Y. C. Shiu1, Huizhi Gao, Jessica Y. Wong, Min W. Fong, Sukhyun Ryu, and Benjamin J. Cowling (Volume 26, Number 5, May of 2020).
CLICK: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/5/19-0994_article
WHO 2020 Study On Viruses and Masks
World Health Organization states there “is no evidence wearing a mask by a healthy person in a community setting can prevent infection with respiratory viruses, including COVID-19” and further concludes “universal community masking” is ineffective at preventing “infection from respiratory viruses, including COVID-19.” The WHO recommended against wearing medical masks as they “may create a false sense of security” against COVID-19, while it further went out of its way to reiterate that there is “no evidence available on a [mask’s] usefulness to protect non-sick persons.” Advice on the Use of Masks in the Context of COVID-19 – Guidance, World Health Organization (April 6, 2020)
British Medical Journal 2020 Study
British Medical Journal notes that cloth face masks may INCREASE spread of virus: “This study is the first RCT of cloth masks, and the results caution against the use of cloth masks. This is an important finding to inform occupational health and safety. Moisture retention, reuse of cloth masks and poor filtration may result in increased risk of infection.” A cluster randomised trial of cloth masks compared with medical masks in healthcare workers – C Raina MacIntyre1, Holly Seale1, Tham Chi Dung2, Nguyen Tran Hien2, Phan Thi Nga2, Abrar Ahmad Chughtai1, Bayzidur Rahman1, Dominic E Dwyer3, Quanyi Wang4
CLICK: https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/4/e006577
Mask Wearing And Viral Immunity
The immunity of the mask wearer – and his or her subsequent ability to fight off COVID-19 or any other harmful infection – is actually harmed by wearing a mask. The drop in oxygen levels (hypoxia) noted in many studies is directly associated with an impairment in immunity. In terms of the biological effects, what the studies have shown is that the lowered rate of oxygen (hypoxia) in turn inhibits the production of the type of primary immune cells that our bodies use to fight viral infections (known as the CD4+ T-lymphocyte). Functionally speaking, what happens inside our bodies is that the decrease in oxygen causes a spike in the level of a compound called hypoxia-inducible-factor-1 (HIF-1). Once that compound spikes, it in turn inhibits the production of T-lymphocytes we need for our bodies to fight off invaders and infections. Yet worse, the lack of oxygen stimulates a powerful inhibitor of the immune system (a cell called the Tregs), which in turn makes one’s body ripe for contracting a COVID-19 infection and experiencing said illness more severely: “This sets the stage for contracting any infection, including COVID-19, and making the consequences of that infection much graver. In essence, your mask may very well put you at an increased risk of infections and if so, having a much worse outcome.” Russell Blaylock, Id. (quoting Shehade H et al. Cutting edge: Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-1 negatively regulates Th1 function. J Immunol 2015;195:1372-1376. See also: Westendorf AM et al. Hypoxia enhances immunosuppression by inhibiting CD4+ effector T cell function and promoting Treg activity. Cell Physiol Biochem 2017;41:1271-84. See further: Sceneay J et al. Hypoxia-driven immunosuppression contributes to the pre-metastatic niche. Oncoimmunology 2013;2:1 e22355.
Swiss Policy Research: Suppressed Danish Mask Study Indicating No Conclusive Link Between Mask Wearing and Viral Transmission
CLICK: https://swprs.org/the-suppressed-danish-mask-study/
Is Your Mask Giving You Lung Cancer?
CLICK: Hazardous Materials expert Guy Crittenden.
A LIST of affordable proven COVID cures (beyond a daily health regimen of healthy food, regular exercise, nightly rest, daily meditation, and meaningful work / relationships with family and friends).
CLICK: http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v16n37.shtml
Neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, M.D.; “Face Masks Pose Serious Risks To The Healthy”
Dr. Alan Palmer; “The Risks Vs. The Benefits Of Face Masks”
Denis G. Rancourt, Ph.D.; Masks Don’t Work – A Review Of Science Relevant To COVID-19 Social Policy”
John Hardie, BDS, MSc, PhD, FRCDC; “Why Face Masks Don’t Work: A Revealing Review”
Lisa M. Brousseau ScD and Margaret Sietsema, PhD; “Masks-For-All for COVID-19 Is Not Based On Sound Data”
Colleen Huber, NM; “Masks Are Neither Effective Nor Safe – A Summary Of The Science”
Click: https://www.primarydoctor.org/masks-not-effect
Ben Swann, “Why Face Masks Don’t Work, According to Science”
Click on Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8upEg-bEJ8
Click on Part 2: http://youtu.be/jy_7a8GNN4Q
Association of American Physicians and Surgeons on Ineffectiveness of Face Masks re: Viruses
Allison R. Lucas, “What Happens When The CDC Uses Crude Science To Support Public Policy”
Click: https://jennifermargulis.net/cdc-mask-wearing-policy-not-supported-by-science/
Lisa M Brousseau, ScD and Margaret Sietsema, PhD, “Masks For All For COVID-19 Not Based On Sound Data”
The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, “Masking Lack Of Evidence With Politics”
Click: https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/masking-lack-of-evidence-with-politics/
Denis Rancourt, COVID 15 Minute “Deep Dive” (including science around masks and viruses)
- All
- Agriculture
- Arts & Culture
- Book Reviews
- Civil Liberties
- Decentralism & The Vermont Tradition
- Education
- Empire and Overshoot
- Environment
- Featured Content
- Features
- Film Reviews
- Finance & Money
- Food
- Fuel & Energy
- Global Problems, Local Solutions
- Homestead Security
- Information & Media
- Interviews
- Military
- Most Likely to Secede
- Music Reviews
- Politics
- Resilience & Community
- Sovereignty & Secession
- Uncategorized
- Vermont Commons
You must be logged in to post a comment.