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-à-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.
Even if masks do prevent the spread of COVID (which, I agree, they probably don't), there is no evidence that they reduce deaths and some speculation that they may INCREASE case fatality rate. An old Med School professor of mine said "there are things that make sense, and there are things that actually work--and they are not always the same." Masking for COVID prevention may be one of them. Have you seen this paper? https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35363218/
Many( if not most) of our “experts” are living in glass houses! Their arrogance, leftish elitist values, lack of grounding in reality , self - anointed intellectual superiority and lack of compassion lead to the inevitable refute of reason and science .
It’s been a consistent problem with people in a situation of power. If you look at many game shows that have been produced in the CoVid era, the hosts and contestants are not masked but the crew who are occasionally on screen are masked.
Early on in the pandemic, several politicians were reported as going on vacation within weeks of the original lockdown being implemented. They went to their cottage while saying that anyone else can’t do that.
Yet people excused it as “they’re doing a stressful job, particularly right now, they deserve a break”. Apparently the virus knows the difference between people going to work and going to the cottage. And if they’re politicians or not.
Vinay-good work, keep it up. Masking is one of those things that have become part and parcel of "modern stupidity". Stupidity is catching in so many ways. Respiratory viruses--depends. But stupidity has it over bacteria and viruses any day. Seems to be just another artifact of institutionalized medicine right now, along with a host of other unexamined practices that are just plain dumb.
A short tale, something that both amused me to no end and pointed up rampant institutionalized idiocy. The setting: our beloved UCSF Parnassus (familiar, yes?), for which I have much respect and considerable cautionary feelings. My wife had an appointment to meet the head of a surgical dept. (department and name withheld to protect the innocent) to get a feel for a prospective surgeon. Arrival: courteous valet service, all men all masked. Crowded sidewalk and entrance, coffee vendor doing bank business to the unmasked. Went into the lobby where a masked guard behind a plexiglass shield muttered something official in greeting and asked us to read a list of 20 questions relative to COVID. We had to be masked up. Once we said "no, no no" to all the questions (which are evidently designed to catch up the less alert, not the infected), we go through to the rest of the lobby. Already down to 75% masked, only 50 feet in. Into the men's room for a visit. Crowded, bad air circulation, 100% no masks, not particularly clean, and...wait for it....forced air hand dryers. (demonstrably the worst device for spread of whatever by air.) Into an elevator (50% masked) to the "xxxsugical floor" All very virtuous people, fully masked. Eventually down the hall to an exam room, head of the dept. (world famous surgeon, very good man) comes in, takes off his mask, and casually mentions we need not worry about it, which was a bloody relief. I did not laugh out loud, but did crack a huge smile.
We also made it to see 3 other surgeons at other institutions. None wore masks. I could barely keep from asking the $64K question that kept popping into my head ("....so, how much Ivermectin do you take?)
A great client of mine once said, describing UCSF and his own experience there, as a cross between the world's greatest doctors and the DMV. And now I totally get it.
Oh, it's not just medical institutions, it's every area of life. Stupid is alive and well.
Will we reclaim our privilege to call Medicine a profession? We used to practice medicine in a politically neutral way. My patients and my colleagues political preferences were not important in the care of a patient. We gave our best to all.
I just left the convention center in Chicago where ASCO is currently going on, I am happy to report only about 15% of attendees were actually masked, my guess is the vast majority know they don’t work and are tried to wearing them.
Love your page & posts. I feel like I became a mini-virologists over the past 2 years. Never imagined this was possible until the madness of LIES that was exposed. Thank you
“The Science” is at this point pure psychopathology. I’ve found the work of Carl Jung, who is often dismissed in “scientific” circles, to have the most explanatory power regarding the bizarre behavior we’ve been seeing. These people are controlled by unconscious forces and are projecting their shadows all over the place, I.e. attributing their own unacknowledged personal shortcomings and wicked tendencies to others. There is a stunning lack of capacity for self-reflection, as these people prefer to point fingers at everyone else rather than reflect, if even for a moment, on their hypocrisy and the tremendous harm they are causing.
Sad that the mask became a simple virtue talisman for the public. Once masking became a political item, the press and leaders had to insist that it was necessary. There were believers, of course, and they remain among us yet. They even accept that Omicron has better capability to evade the mask as if the earlier less infectious variants were stopped by the mask.
We were offered faked MMWR reports of dubious analyses to 'prove' effectiveness. A disgrace to those who knew better, yet no retraction nor apologies. The damage to credibility has been substantial, not a good thing for the honorable in the NIH. All to maintain a political, not scientific narrative.
Many don’t seem to even mind being labeled as a “hypocrite”. Is society disintegrating right before our very eyes? These are the things that make us CIVILIZED.
Most doctors are hypocrites, in general....sorry but this is my observation and experience....sort of like politicians...the "good for me but not for thee" concept...they take the Hippocratic Oath not the Hypocritical Oath....from 2017, "Why Most Medical Students and Doctors are Hypocrites (And How We Can Change)....https://www.motivatemd.com/doctor-self-care/
/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-à-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.
Even if masks do prevent the spread of COVID (which, I agree, they probably don't), there is no evidence that they reduce deaths and some speculation that they may INCREASE case fatality rate. An old Med School professor of mine said "there are things that make sense, and there are things that actually work--and they are not always the same." Masking for COVID prevention may be one of them. Have you seen this paper? https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35363218/
Many( if not most) of our “experts” are living in glass houses! Their arrogance, leftish elitist values, lack of grounding in reality , self - anointed intellectual superiority and lack of compassion lead to the inevitable refute of reason and science .
It’s been a consistent problem with people in a situation of power. If you look at many game shows that have been produced in the CoVid era, the hosts and contestants are not masked but the crew who are occasionally on screen are masked.
Early on in the pandemic, several politicians were reported as going on vacation within weeks of the original lockdown being implemented. They went to their cottage while saying that anyone else can’t do that.
Yet people excused it as “they’re doing a stressful job, particularly right now, they deserve a break”. Apparently the virus knows the difference between people going to work and going to the cottage. And if they’re politicians or not.
Vinay-good work, keep it up. Masking is one of those things that have become part and parcel of "modern stupidity". Stupidity is catching in so many ways. Respiratory viruses--depends. But stupidity has it over bacteria and viruses any day. Seems to be just another artifact of institutionalized medicine right now, along with a host of other unexamined practices that are just plain dumb.
A short tale, something that both amused me to no end and pointed up rampant institutionalized idiocy. The setting: our beloved UCSF Parnassus (familiar, yes?), for which I have much respect and considerable cautionary feelings. My wife had an appointment to meet the head of a surgical dept. (department and name withheld to protect the innocent) to get a feel for a prospective surgeon. Arrival: courteous valet service, all men all masked. Crowded sidewalk and entrance, coffee vendor doing bank business to the unmasked. Went into the lobby where a masked guard behind a plexiglass shield muttered something official in greeting and asked us to read a list of 20 questions relative to COVID. We had to be masked up. Once we said "no, no no" to all the questions (which are evidently designed to catch up the less alert, not the infected), we go through to the rest of the lobby. Already down to 75% masked, only 50 feet in. Into the men's room for a visit. Crowded, bad air circulation, 100% no masks, not particularly clean, and...wait for it....forced air hand dryers. (demonstrably the worst device for spread of whatever by air.) Into an elevator (50% masked) to the "xxxsugical floor" All very virtuous people, fully masked. Eventually down the hall to an exam room, head of the dept. (world famous surgeon, very good man) comes in, takes off his mask, and casually mentions we need not worry about it, which was a bloody relief. I did not laugh out loud, but did crack a huge smile.
We also made it to see 3 other surgeons at other institutions. None wore masks. I could barely keep from asking the $64K question that kept popping into my head ("....so, how much Ivermectin do you take?)
A great client of mine once said, describing UCSF and his own experience there, as a cross between the world's greatest doctors and the DMV. And now I totally get it.
Oh, it's not just medical institutions, it's every area of life. Stupid is alive and well.
Will we reclaim our privilege to call Medicine a profession? We used to practice medicine in a politically neutral way. My patients and my colleagues political preferences were not important in the care of a patient. We gave our best to all.
I just left the convention center in Chicago where ASCO is currently going on, I am happy to report only about 15% of attendees were actually masked, my guess is the vast majority know they don’t work and are tried to wearing them.
wish I could remember what authority got caught on a hot mic commenting to their cohorts that "masks are just political theatre" back in 2020
The damage to the credibility of the whole healthcare industry is monumental. Trust is such a fragile thing.
Love your page & posts. I feel like I became a mini-virologists over the past 2 years. Never imagined this was possible until the madness of LIES that was exposed. Thank you
“The Science” is at this point pure psychopathology. I’ve found the work of Carl Jung, who is often dismissed in “scientific” circles, to have the most explanatory power regarding the bizarre behavior we’ve been seeing. These people are controlled by unconscious forces and are projecting their shadows all over the place, I.e. attributing their own unacknowledged personal shortcomings and wicked tendencies to others. There is a stunning lack of capacity for self-reflection, as these people prefer to point fingers at everyone else rather than reflect, if even for a moment, on their hypocrisy and the tremendous harm they are causing.
Sad that the mask became a simple virtue talisman for the public. Once masking became a political item, the press and leaders had to insist that it was necessary. There were believers, of course, and they remain among us yet. They even accept that Omicron has better capability to evade the mask as if the earlier less infectious variants were stopped by the mask.
We were offered faked MMWR reports of dubious analyses to 'prove' effectiveness. A disgrace to those who knew better, yet no retraction nor apologies. The damage to credibility has been substantial, not a good thing for the honorable in the NIH. All to maintain a political, not scientific narrative.
Many don’t seem to even mind being labeled as a “hypocrite”. Is society disintegrating right before our very eyes? These are the things that make us CIVILIZED.
Most doctors are hypocrites, in general....sorry but this is my observation and experience....sort of like politicians...the "good for me but not for thee" concept...they take the Hippocratic Oath not the Hypocritical Oath....from 2017, "Why Most Medical Students and Doctors are Hypocrites (And How We Can Change)....https://www.motivatemd.com/doctor-self-care/
Amen!