Pro-Masking Doctors Are Often Hypocrites
It's time to make your own choices without proselytizing others
Right now, the national cancer doctors conference (ASCO) is raging, and there is a mix of masked and unmasked pictures. But, wait for it. Once the pictures of the dinners, bars, and night activities come out, it will be a sea of *mostly* unmasked faces. Here is last nights Presidential dinner for starters (Whoops! No masks!)
Remember the emergency medicine doctors conference a few weeks ago. Here are some photos. At the same time, many doctors in this specialty organization turned to social media to continue to proselytize about masking, including toddlers. A bizarre recommendation that is based on no credible evidence, and contradicted by the World Health Organization.
Here is the hypocrisy. If you truly think we should try to slow the spread of the virus, the only option is not to have the conference. After all, these conferences are not necessary. They can be replaced with virtual ones— as occurred the last 2 years. Even an n95 mask mandate at the conference won’t stop thousands from partying at night, unmasked. If you think slowing spread is important, then the only answer is to abort the meeting.
Yet, it is clear, no one wants to do that. People are attending. Some choose to quietly attend, and go about their business, but others want to create a climate of shaming those who choose not to mask. This is also bizarre because everyone knows that no one will be masking during dinners and evening gathers, and these gatherings dominate the conference. In short, the shaming is purely for a visible form of theater that won’t do anything for viral spread.
I personally cannot imagine being so arrogant to shame others into masking, while continuing to attend a conference that will surely spread the virus. Either you don’t attend and push for it to be cancelled, or you do attend, and then remain silent. Being cool with the conference— because you have a poster— but wanting to guilt others into wearing a cloth mask at the venue, but not at the Presidential dinner, is a strange form of hypocrisy.
/rant on/
I am a microbiologist as well as a hematologist. We have known for decades that masks, even N95's beyond the first hour after a professional fitting of a new mask, are not just virtually worthless but are actually worthless. Other than articles that work hard to cherry pick data so they can LIE (like the oft-quoted and now debunked MMWR article on school masking) most doctors must know this has no value. Surely anyone that has had to deal with me knows this.
So it is worse than hypocrisy. It is just political correctness/virtue signalling for its own sake. And that is humiliating to the profession. Even skirting the edges ("well, they might work somehow, sometime, maybe so we won't say anything") is nonsensical. The decent literature is clear and virtually ALL of the actual data is clear -- masking has no value.
I have never worn a mask (yep, not anywhere) nor have I required patients to wear any in my facilities. I refuse to lie because some lying politician (medical or not) told me I should/must. If my practice and care is not enough of a virtue signal for you, then please find some less-good practitioner that dons the facial diaper and I wish you well.
I have been writing to these stacks for a long time, but sometimes I just get really irritated at how ridiculous this has all become. Why does anyone take it? I fail to understand why the tens (hundreds?) of millions of patients and the hundreds of thousands of doctors that know this is just garbage sit back and let it happen. If anyone knows the answer, I would love to hear it.
/rant off/
And thanks, Vinay, for posting these pieces even though you know I think you should be more forceful vis-Ã -vis the lack of value of NPIs (especially masking) for a respiratory virus.
Please keep up the good work. I fear masking, school closures and more virtual learning at blue state schools and colleges in the fall/ winter. We cannot continue the hypocracy. We need diversity, equity and inclusion in the virome/ microbiome! We need exposure.