The Very Welcome Inevitable Failure of the Drive to turn the USA into a "Masking Culture"
Let's be a little bit optimistic, shall we?
I’m sure some of you are tired of talking about masks.
I am too. But the fact is, I work in healthcare, and in all US hospitals, healthcare, and dental clinics – the CDC’s current rules are still in effect – masks are effectively mandatory as per CDC guidelines. When you’re visiting a healthcare clinic to see your doctor, sure, at worst it’s an annoyance.
But - intermittent masking is STILL mandated at schools across the US (when children are identified as being in “close contact” with a COVID-positive child), and as of this writing, still required of all of the low-income, overwhelmingly minority children in the US Federal Government’s Head Start Program.
Masks are also still required in all clinics and hospitals, such as nursing homes (my major pet peeve, to put it mildly), and of course in pediatricians’ offices.
In a recent American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) video they tried to reassure parents about this - and judging by a good number of reactions on Twitter and elsewhere – it was an embarrassing failure, with the video being roundly “ratio’d” and criticized as “creepy” and “cringey” by parents and others.
The savage treatment that the AAP has been getting shouldn’t be surprise.
First, they’ve become a hopelessly political organization, on both the question of school closures, masks, and otherwise. Regarding the question of school closures, the AAP famously came out publicly against school closures in late June of 2020.
Then, former president Donald Trump came out publicly for re-opening schools, citing AAP’s statement in support. Barely two weeks after that, the AAP reversed it’s position. To this date, it’s not particularly clear what (if any) data motivated the AAP to reverse it’s position…. other than to be publicly “against Trump,” of course.
With masks, the AAP has steadfastly stuck to recommendations for masking healthy, asymptomatic children as young as two years old, despite a consistent lack of evidence showing the benefits outweigh the harms – worse, the AAP has taken the official position that there is “no studies to support (the) concern” that masking harms the development of children – a highly disingenuous position at best.
(The absurdity of this, of course, is highlighted by this simple thought experiment: ask yourself, if, in 2019 or earlier, a researcher approached a university Institutional Review Board, or IRB1, with a proposed research program of masking grade school children for hours a day, months at a time, to see if it “had any effects on development” - just think about the likely response - the IRB would be horrified).
Parents, with the at this point all-but-crystal-clear harms of yearlong (or more) school closures that have been wreaked upon children by panicked administrators and never-let-a-good-crisis-go-to-waste union operatives -are rightly extremely suspicious of seeing any more hindrances placed on their children’s educations. Because of this - mask mandates (or as I like to call it, forced masking of children) seem very and increasingly unlikely to come back in the overwhelming majority of school districts in the USA.
Masks, amongst parents, are becoming extremely unpopular.
Parents have had enough, and they have gotten extremely noisy with groups like Urgency of Normal and Reopen California Schools getting increasingly well-funded and active across the country.
Just like in 1918, There is Virtually No Evidence Mass Community Masking has Significantly Helped
“History Doesn't Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes” – Mark Twain
During the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, like now, there was a mass public outcry, a yen to do something – and given that unlike in the case of COVID, there was visible evidence of the bodies piling up (my late grandmother used to tell me about the funeral processions that used to go on outside that she would watch from the breakfast nook of their kitchen) – there was no need for a media to cheerlead some kind of public health response.
In the case of 1918, mask battles raged much like they did today. There were laws passed, including fines and threats of (brief) jail, there were exhortations for community-mindedness and ‘caring.’
And then there was the noncompliance. People started ignoring it, while (I’m sure!) certain others held on to their masks with dear life – “I will mask and never get sick again, it’s worth it!”
There were, of course, some differences between the masks of 1918 and the masks of today – to begin with, during the Spanish Flu pandemic, there were no N95 masks or procedure masks like we have today (main reason being that polypropylene – or woven plastic – had not been invented yet), and so masks were made entirely of either gauze or simple fabric.
But otherwise, things ended after the Spanish Flu pandemic much like they’re ending today. Eventually, people realized that aside from the (eventual) introduction of vaccination, there wasn’t much else – despite all of the frantic masking, business closures, quarantines and whatnot, the “area under the curve” wasn’t substantially different with or without all of that. People died.
Mask Wars - The Bangladesh Study “The Debate is Over”
I don’t need to necessarily go through the whole history of masking over the last 2.5 years in the USA. Early on in the pandemic when the US population was effectively terrified by the media reports of COVID infection fatality ratios (IFRs) from China, we were desperate to be told what to do by ‘the experts.’ First, we were told not to mask. Then we were told we should wear cloth masks. Then we were told to mask until we were vaxxed. Then the masks came off. Then they went back on again.
After awhile, people started to ask questions. It wasn’t as if there were any substantial differences between places that masked and placed that didn’t:
Moreover, it seemed like the only arguments for mask mandates were based on
Anecdotes “I haven’t stopped wearing a mask for over a year and I’ve never gotten sick,”)
Specious correlations (“there’s been no flu season over the last year - must have been because of masks” - ignoring the fact that flu disappeared in areas that didn’t mask either)
Specious logic (“would you want your surgeon to not wear a mask during surgery”?)
Even the venerable Cochrane review was never swayed by the mask craze (from 2021):
Medical or surgical masks
Seven studies took place in the community, and two studies in healthcare workers. Compared with wearing no mask, wearing a mask may make little to no difference in how many people caught a flu-like illness (9 studies; 3507 people); and probably makes no difference in how many people have flu confirmed by a laboratory test (6 studies; 3005 people). Unwanted effects were rarely reported, but included discomfort.
N95/P2 respirators
Four studies were in healthcare workers, and one small study was in the community. Compared with wearing medical or surgical masks, wearing N95/P2 respirators probably makes little to no difference in how many people have confirmed flu (5 studies; 8407 people); and may make little to no difference in how many people catch a flu-like illness (5 studies; 8407 people) or respiratory illness (3 studies; 7799 people). Unwanted effects were not well reported; discomfort was mentioned.
So in September 2021, the famed “Bangladesh Study” came out, and I recall it was ballyhooed with almost shockingly elevated rhetoric. “This really should be the end of the debate,” they said. There’s no question, masks work!
Well….
Basically the Bangladesh study edifice at this point has fallen apart.
Small overall effect, hopelessly contaminated by ascertainment bias, which (given the fact it was a study of voluntary mask useage anyways) makes this study utterly useless as a basis for any further mask mandates going forward.
And so we’re back to where we started.
Masks are rituals. Like raindancing, or magic amulets. Do people have the right to wear them if they wish? Sure. But when it comes to forcing this religion on others - that’s where I draw the line.
The fact that the forced fealty to the mask religion has lasted so long, and particularly because it’s been targeted at the most vulnerable and defenseless amongst us - that’s where I draw the line.
I despise bullies.
And you know - I’ve heard it said, “it’s just a mask - so what’s your problem?” Well…
IRBs are independent ethics committees set up at colleges and schools to review experiments on humans and animals to make sure that they are not treated inhumanely or harmed as part of the conduct of scientific experiments. The impetus for creating them, famously, are horrific experiments the Nazi doctors did on concentration camp prisoners.