June 20, 2020 | Dr. Adam Nally | Arizona |
Why You Shouldn’t Worry About COVID-19 Any Longer – Link To_DOCMUSCLES
“My Governor (@DougDucey), My County Board Supervisor (@ClintLHickman) and My City Mayor (@SkipHall2) have decided to start practicing medicine. Issuing mandatory mask orders when the science doesn’t demonstrate that wearing masks is effective for prevention of viral transmission is equivalent to malpractice. Just because other states are doing it, doesn’t make it right.
Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and the City of Surprise voted for mandatory masks starting today. Which medical school is going to give them honorary degrees in medicine?
It is so nice to know that our public officials either can’t read, or can’t ask physicians if these decisions are actually helpful.
Cloth masks provide only very minimal (20-40%) protection from bacteria and almost no protection (1-2.3%) from viral infections. The two studies that do exist about effectiveness of mask wearing during viral infections to prevent spread demonstrate that adherence is very difficult and that transmission of viral infections is not statistically different between those wearing masks and those not wearing masks (MacIntyre CR et al., Cowling BJ et al.). Because we now know that this virus is similar to influenza in risk for death, general healthy populations should have no need to wear masks. Wearing of a mask actually increases the likely-hood of infection by increased frequency of touching your face. It also perpetuates a climate of risk and fear. It, also, implies that if required, mask should be a covered cost of medical provision at the State and Federal levels. As you can see, even the NIH director over NIAID, Anthony Fauci, MD, the one person in the country with the most experience in pandemic infectious disease, has trouble wearing a mask in public.
Second, there are a number of other medical problems including exacerbation of headache and migraines that occurs with chronic use of both surgical and N95 masks. For those who have COPD, mask wearing can exacerbate hypercapnia (increased carbon dioxide levels causing slowed respiration, confusion and fatigue). Mask wearing can also cause chronic hypoxia (reduced oxygenation) which has been shown to increase risk of cancer growth. In cases where patients with pulmonary fibrosis or impaired lung function wear masks for prolonged periods, syncope or loss of consciousness has been documented.
Therefore, wearing a mask for prolonged periods of time when it is not medically justified is not recommended and in many cases dangerous to your health.
Despite this, and the fact that there is now significant doubt as to asymptomatic transmission of COIVD-19, mandates to wear face masks in public were decreed across Arizona today.
(Links to this and all the science behind my position can be found in my updated article http://docmuscles.com/dontworrycoronavirus/)
Masks Don’t Work: A Review of Science Relevant to COVID-19 Social Policy
Doctors And Nurses: Wearing Masks Can Be Harmful In Several Ways!