I would be interested to hear thoughts on masking in hospitals and doctors offices. Will this continue forever? I know people who have been refused routine health care because they won’t wear a mask and are therefore refused admittance into the waiting room. To those who see no downsides from wearing a mask I beg to differ. The personal interaction is NOT the same. Faces are important!
Every time a health care provider sends me a post-visit survey, I note that masking at the doctor's office inhibits communication. Communication is possibly the most critical part of the interaction between patient and provider. (I don't know if anyone is listening but I keep trying.)
That’s awesome - don’t stop! I always do that too and add that the masks these people are wearing aren’t protecting them anyways. Surgical, cloth, store-bought N95s. To keep insinuating that they ARE is just dishonest and harmful. Doctors aren’t supposed to lie to their patients.
Until people stop the nonsense compliance and say hell no, no more, this will continue for ever. Talking about it is not enough. Civil disobedience is a must. This is unjust, discriminatory, and unwarranted policies and they need to go. Yesterday.
I agree, civil disobedience is a must in the no more masks item. The other thing in many cases is $$ speaks. In our case we pulled our child from a crazy preschool mandating masks 3wks ahead of any county mandate...yes 2-5yr olds...and ours with a speech delay. We said no...pulled him and put him in a preschool that decided once a county mandate came down they would say nothing if you were in their school with no mask...& never enforced....respected the choice of the family...so our child was unmasked all year and his speech flourished. We took our $ elsewhere. We shopped at stores only all winter that didn't say anything if you walked in with no mask...same with restaurants, etc and never set foot in the other places. Many many other friends in our town did the same...hopefully many business owners/preschool directors/church pastors, etc got the picture from a combined pulling of funds...and hopefully will wake up and do it differently come this fall...when cases will rise again.
I also want to know when veterinarians are going to stop mandating contactless pet care! You have to hand your pet off in the parking lot and then wait in your car for them to return. Our vet does allow the owner to come inside for some more intense appointments, but of course you must then be masked.
I think the veterinarians are secretly thrilled that they can have this less chaotic, more efficient system. I really miss having the personal interaction with the vet---to be able to see how they are treating the animal, being able to ask questions and fully discuss any issues that come up.
I’m in Virginia. And my vet doesn’t require masks and you can come in with your pet just like the old days. They also have the car option for people who still want it. Maybe it’s worth looking around for other vet options…..
I agree completely re: veterinarians being secretly thrilled with this seemingly efficient system. Why deal with an anxious pet owner when you can just make them wait in the car? My dogs can't speak for themselves and they are already anxious over the whole ordeal.
I would say this goes for the hospital/doctor’s office visitation policies as well. Less family members to deal with BUT less oversight. Hard to trust.
There are quite a few people caught in clinical hypochondria. Their fear has disabled their critical thinking and fear drives all decision making.
The problem for me is that these people are also very good at social distancing and retreating from any event exposure. This is hurting our society as it prevents herd immunity and indefinitely extends the pandemic. This is obviously dangerous for all that are compromised as their possible exposure is extended.
A reversion has occurred. That is, in earlier days we were told to shun the unvaccinated to try and force vaccination so we could protect each other and attain herd immunity. So now the reverse is true? Time to shun the hypochondriacs?
Great article. I completely agree that others need to set a better example. But instead, Philadelphia reinstates a school mask mandate tomorrow, May 23, 2022!!! How do we stop the people in power from making irrational, nonsensical decisions, not based in science, that are detrimental to the health, education, and social development of our children?
Other than sue them and tell them the burden is on them to prove that it’s made a difference in schools. Back in the yester year of 2019, a school would have had to PROVE something like a mask would be worth the intervention and possible harms BEFORE implementing it. What happened to that? We let them get away with it. Of course the CDC & AAP didn’t help matters. They are the devils in this.
I also can’t imagine this gentleman is wearing an appropriately fit-tested N95. When I was working with patients at the pre-vaccine height of the pandemic I tore mine off to get some ( relatively) fresh, non-sweaty air the second I was alone. If you’re not gasping or sighing with physical relief when you take off your N95, you’re doing it wrong.
Isn’t the OSHA requirements to take it off immediately after exiting a patient’s room? It’s not supposed to be worn that long. Also…I’m gonna guess based on his age and such that he would fail a fit test allowing him to wear a properly fitted mask for hours and hours.
I believe the person Dr. Prasad was referring to in his post is not a doctor of medicine. I think he is a professor or admin at a university. So I'm thinking the issues with his multi-use mask scheme are only a problem for him! lol
I'm going much further than that. I am outright boycotting any business or locale that requires them. I am devoting resources and donating to political groups whos stated aims are dismantling these wretched mandates.
Most likely, people will simply arrange themselves ideologically and - more importantly - geographically. Let the covidians wallow in their own dystopias
"Vaccination, weight and general health are the only modifiable variables (things we can do in our control) so we do better when we get sick. After that, nothing much you can do to your risk of bad outcome when you get COVID."
How on Earth can you say that? As simple a step as raising one's vitamin D level dramatically cuts the probability of hospitalization and death. And even the deeply-flawed Together trial demonstrated a positive effect of Fluvoxamine on outcome. Why ignore these?
For some reason Dr. Prasad doesn’t like the Vitamin D theory. I guess the studies aren’t great. However, I would argue that it doesn’t hurt anything. Vit D is CHEAP and MOST people have inadequate amounts -even people in FL! The benefits of having a good level of Vit D via blood test is important to many health issues - even if you take Covid completely out of it.
Dr. Prasad seems to think we should wait for large, conclusive, double-blind randomized placebo controlled clinical trials to act. If the intervention carries substantial risk, then I would agree. But if you're talking about vitamin D - for which there is zero evidence of harm and substantial evidence of positive effects - then any rational risk/reward analysis would favor taking it.
Indeed the requirement for adequate Vitamin D for health is well established. It is not just to prevent a specific disease such as COVID.
And it actually is considered a hormone because there are multiple ways in which it is required in our bodies.
Prof. Michael Holick of Boston University has devoted his career to studying Vitamin D, first for his Ph.D. and M.D. at the University of Wisconsin and then at Boston University, and has published books for the general public. See his web site:
That's because most miracle pushers are pushing vitamin D as a curative, instead of just one of many vitamin balances necessary for our bodies.
From a Canadian perspective, we have tons of Government of Canada reports that Canadians (as most Nordic countries) are quite deficient in vitamin D. Humans are NOT evolved to live indoors. Also, miracle cure pushers don't distinguish between super-dosing in the short-term as a preventative, compared to LONG-term health. Taking vitamin D for a few weeks isn't going to change anything.
Plus, there are no good studies indicating a causal link between vit-D deficiency and severe outcomes for c19, because frankly, people are simply very rarely tested for vitamin D deficiency, therefore there is really no way to tell other than at a "correlation" level.
If anything, we need policies that people who are hospitalised ALL be tested for ALL vitamin deficiencies.
For 2 years, it appears that the people saying masks are "no big deal" indefinitely are people already established in life...they already utilized necessary FACES/ expressions/ personalities/ charm/ charisma (faces required) to get everything that have and value.
Good point about the inevitability of catching covid (unless you're a hermit). I think what people think is that as long as they have their mask on everything is okay. I see this all the time with my adult students. The majority of them continue to mask, many still wearing cloth or surgical masks. They gather together indoors and talk only a foot or two away from their classmates. I can see the sense in wearing a high-quality mask when popping into a store for a few minutes, but if you're in a classroom for several hours a day, five days a week (most of our students are enrolled in 15–20 hour/week programs), those pesky aerosols are going to get in eventually. Like many have said before, all these efforts merely delay infection, not prevent it. (Wasn't that what the whole "flatten the curve" mantra was about? Spreading infections out over a longer period, no actually stopping infections?)
Well Vinay . . . . you are sometimes fairly slick . . . . . but not that slick. I recommend that you spend an hour reading about -- and thinking about -- the Fallacy of Relative Privation. This might help you adjust (or fine-tune) your crafting of the analogies you decided to use in countering the position of the solitary mask-wearer at his office.
I would be interested to hear thoughts on masking in hospitals and doctors offices. Will this continue forever? I know people who have been refused routine health care because they won’t wear a mask and are therefore refused admittance into the waiting room. To those who see no downsides from wearing a mask I beg to differ. The personal interaction is NOT the same. Faces are important!
Every time a health care provider sends me a post-visit survey, I note that masking at the doctor's office inhibits communication. Communication is possibly the most critical part of the interaction between patient and provider. (I don't know if anyone is listening but I keep trying.)
That’s awesome - don’t stop! I always do that too and add that the masks these people are wearing aren’t protecting them anyways. Surgical, cloth, store-bought N95s. To keep insinuating that they ARE is just dishonest and harmful. Doctors aren’t supposed to lie to their patients.
I couldn't agree more. It just feels like we're all participating in a charade.
Until people stop the nonsense compliance and say hell no, no more, this will continue for ever. Talking about it is not enough. Civil disobedience is a must. This is unjust, discriminatory, and unwarranted policies and they need to go. Yesterday.
I agree, civil disobedience is a must in the no more masks item. The other thing in many cases is $$ speaks. In our case we pulled our child from a crazy preschool mandating masks 3wks ahead of any county mandate...yes 2-5yr olds...and ours with a speech delay. We said no...pulled him and put him in a preschool that decided once a county mandate came down they would say nothing if you were in their school with no mask...& never enforced....respected the choice of the family...so our child was unmasked all year and his speech flourished. We took our $ elsewhere. We shopped at stores only all winter that didn't say anything if you walked in with no mask...same with restaurants, etc and never set foot in the other places. Many many other friends in our town did the same...hopefully many business owners/preschool directors/church pastors, etc got the picture from a combined pulling of funds...and hopefully will wake up and do it differently come this fall...when cases will rise again.
I also want to know when veterinarians are going to stop mandating contactless pet care! You have to hand your pet off in the parking lot and then wait in your car for them to return. Our vet does allow the owner to come inside for some more intense appointments, but of course you must then be masked.
I think the veterinarians are secretly thrilled that they can have this less chaotic, more efficient system. I really miss having the personal interaction with the vet---to be able to see how they are treating the animal, being able to ask questions and fully discuss any issues that come up.
I’m in Virginia. And my vet doesn’t require masks and you can come in with your pet just like the old days. They also have the car option for people who still want it. Maybe it’s worth looking around for other vet options…..
I agree completely re: veterinarians being secretly thrilled with this seemingly efficient system. Why deal with an anxious pet owner when you can just make them wait in the car? My dogs can't speak for themselves and they are already anxious over the whole ordeal.
I would say this goes for the hospital/doctor’s office visitation policies as well. Less family members to deal with BUT less oversight. Hard to trust.
There are quite a few people caught in clinical hypochondria. Their fear has disabled their critical thinking and fear drives all decision making.
The problem for me is that these people are also very good at social distancing and retreating from any event exposure. This is hurting our society as it prevents herd immunity and indefinitely extends the pandemic. This is obviously dangerous for all that are compromised as their possible exposure is extended.
A reversion has occurred. That is, in earlier days we were told to shun the unvaccinated to try and force vaccination so we could protect each other and attain herd immunity. So now the reverse is true? Time to shun the hypochondriacs?
Honestly, I find all face-diapered people extremely triggering. My mom and her best friend were both neurotic and it made me allergic to safetyism.
Great article. I completely agree that others need to set a better example. But instead, Philadelphia reinstates a school mask mandate tomorrow, May 23, 2022!!! How do we stop the people in power from making irrational, nonsensical decisions, not based in science, that are detrimental to the health, education, and social development of our children?
Other than sue them and tell them the burden is on them to prove that it’s made a difference in schools. Back in the yester year of 2019, a school would have had to PROVE something like a mask would be worth the intervention and possible harms BEFORE implementing it. What happened to that? We let them get away with it. Of course the CDC & AAP didn’t help matters. They are the devils in this.
Wow that sucks.
I also can’t imagine this gentleman is wearing an appropriately fit-tested N95. When I was working with patients at the pre-vaccine height of the pandemic I tore mine off to get some ( relatively) fresh, non-sweaty air the second I was alone. If you’re not gasping or sighing with physical relief when you take off your N95, you’re doing it wrong.
Exactly. 99% of N95 wearers I can see the gaps in their usage. They are not airtight, therefore useless.
And let's not forget that this gentleman also wears the same mask 3 days in a row! That's got to be considerably less than optimum hygiene.
Isn’t the OSHA requirements to take it off immediately after exiting a patient’s room? It’s not supposed to be worn that long. Also…I’m gonna guess based on his age and such that he would fail a fit test allowing him to wear a properly fitted mask for hours and hours.
I believe the person Dr. Prasad was referring to in his post is not a doctor of medicine. I think he is a professor or admin at a university. So I'm thinking the issues with his multi-use mask scheme are only a problem for him! lol
Dr V,
I really think you need to see the forest for the trees
There is a full grown cult of Covid that has established itself
These people are obsessive paranoid hypochondriacs. And they believe in a society that minimises risk above all else
They are also in positions of power. They run universities and staff public health departments, and in some cases rule entire countries
If left unchecked, they will destroy the world.
THAT is what we are dealing with.
Civil disobedience is a must. This policy was never warranted, it is based on #misinformation, and needs to happen #NeverAgain
I'm going much further than that. I am outright boycotting any business or locale that requires them. I am devoting resources and donating to political groups whos stated aims are dismantling these wretched mandates.
Most likely, people will simply arrange themselves ideologically and - more importantly - geographically. Let the covidians wallow in their own dystopias
Indeed, except in Canada, it's been two years of 95% of businesses entirely masked and even now, it's still half the population masking.
Canadians as a whole are just way too conformist, and a few people boycotting is not enough here :(
"Vaccination, weight and general health are the only modifiable variables (things we can do in our control) so we do better when we get sick. After that, nothing much you can do to your risk of bad outcome when you get COVID."
How on Earth can you say that? As simple a step as raising one's vitamin D level dramatically cuts the probability of hospitalization and death. And even the deeply-flawed Together trial demonstrated a positive effect of Fluvoxamine on outcome. Why ignore these?
"general health" encompasses all vitamin optimum levels.
Agree completely with you about vitamin D. It's necessary for many reasons, minimizing illness to bone health.
For some reason Dr. Prasad doesn’t like the Vitamin D theory. I guess the studies aren’t great. However, I would argue that it doesn’t hurt anything. Vit D is CHEAP and MOST people have inadequate amounts -even people in FL! The benefits of having a good level of Vit D via blood test is important to many health issues - even if you take Covid completely out of it.
Dr. Prasad seems to think we should wait for large, conclusive, double-blind randomized placebo controlled clinical trials to act. If the intervention carries substantial risk, then I would agree. But if you're talking about vitamin D - for which there is zero evidence of harm and substantial evidence of positive effects - then any rational risk/reward analysis would favor taking it.
Indeed the requirement for adequate Vitamin D for health is well established. It is not just to prevent a specific disease such as COVID.
And it actually is considered a hormone because there are multiple ways in which it is required in our bodies.
Prof. Michael Holick of Boston University has devoted his career to studying Vitamin D, first for his Ph.D. and M.D. at the University of Wisconsin and then at Boston University, and has published books for the general public. See his web site:
https://www.bumc.bu.edu/busm/profile/michael-holick/ and
http://drholick.com/
That's because most miracle pushers are pushing vitamin D as a curative, instead of just one of many vitamin balances necessary for our bodies.
From a Canadian perspective, we have tons of Government of Canada reports that Canadians (as most Nordic countries) are quite deficient in vitamin D. Humans are NOT evolved to live indoors. Also, miracle cure pushers don't distinguish between super-dosing in the short-term as a preventative, compared to LONG-term health. Taking vitamin D for a few weeks isn't going to change anything.
Plus, there are no good studies indicating a causal link between vit-D deficiency and severe outcomes for c19, because frankly, people are simply very rarely tested for vitamin D deficiency, therefore there is really no way to tell other than at a "correlation" level.
If anything, we need policies that people who are hospitalised ALL be tested for ALL vitamin deficiencies.
Without proper data, no conclusions can be drawn.
Very good points!
For 2 years, it appears that the people saying masks are "no big deal" indefinitely are people already established in life...they already utilized necessary FACES/ expressions/ personalities/ charm/ charisma (faces required) to get everything that have and value.
Excellent point!
Good point about the inevitability of catching covid (unless you're a hermit). I think what people think is that as long as they have their mask on everything is okay. I see this all the time with my adult students. The majority of them continue to mask, many still wearing cloth or surgical masks. They gather together indoors and talk only a foot or two away from their classmates. I can see the sense in wearing a high-quality mask when popping into a store for a few minutes, but if you're in a classroom for several hours a day, five days a week (most of our students are enrolled in 15–20 hour/week programs), those pesky aerosols are going to get in eventually. Like many have said before, all these efforts merely delay infection, not prevent it. (Wasn't that what the whole "flatten the curve" mantra was about? Spreading infections out over a longer period, no actually stopping infections?)
Truth.
Nice piece. I completely agree, we need to resume our normal lives.
Well Vinay . . . . you are sometimes fairly slick . . . . . but not that slick. I recommend that you spend an hour reading about -- and thinking about -- the Fallacy of Relative Privation. This might help you adjust (or fine-tune) your crafting of the analogies you decided to use in countering the position of the solitary mask-wearer at his office.