Recently Adam Cifu, a terrific doctor, wise man, and my colleague asked his audience if healthcare workers should mask forever; He tweeted this, which frankly is what I will be doing, and what I am confident most doctors believe. As you can imagine, he got pushback.
I have never masked except in barrier/reverse barrier situations where the work of being isolated from the patient is an awful pain but the patient is white-cell deficient and therefore needs the work.
Did not mask for COVID -- we all knew that was stupid and ineffective and pretending otherwise was guaranteed to result in a massive lose of credibility for the medical establishment (it did) and a complete loss of credibility for the public health establishment (it did, except among the government types who hope they can force people to do things they do not want to do forever...because they can).
Have argued (and won) in medical staff disputes repeatedly. (Everyone else basically chooses to be compliant and wears them anyway even after acknowledging I am right; they just ignore me then. But better than being compliant and sacrificing not only my integrity but that of the profession.)
The data is compellingly against masking (setting aside the first hour or so from a brand new, professionally fitted N95 mask where the hands NEVER touch the face); it is literally valueless and possibly harmful. This has been known and well studied in real RCTs (they now refuse to do for Covid) for decades with influenza.
This whole thing has been nothing but a political sham and I have always refused to support it. Vinay has been converted over time to acknowledging the idiocy of it all...it has been interesting to watch his evolution. Wish he would completely get there with masks which really started the fraud. But he has largely gotten there otherwise and partway with masks which speaks well.
I nearly quit my AAFP chapter after my masked colleagues argued with me about masking toddlers and then proceeded to call me dangerous. Best to keep them close, however. Our profession has been an embarrassment.
I thank God daily that I opened my DPC practice in 2015. We stopped masking the minute we realized it was pointless theater. I was just exposed (again) to a triple vaxed person completely shocked to have Covid. 🙄 I’ve have Covid once in November 2021. I’m 51 and unvaxed, been exposed numerous times and never reinfected…maskless. People, please stop complying.
Interesting Twitter thread a couple days ago about how WWII has "taught" us that every battle in life now needs to be a battle against Hitler. We aren't satisfied with the typical day-to-day struggles as our ancestors would have been. Hence trying to prevent people from getting the sniffles has also become a battle against Hitler, our society is expected (by some) to be on a war footing against it forever. Interesting thought anyway. All struggles must now be epic struggles.
It's hard to believe that the healthcare industry places more value on useless face coverings than on communication between patient and doctor. I am able to avoid businesses that still require masks (very few these days) but I can't avoid seeing a doctor when I need one. The HC monopoly in our area requires masks in all their facilities. So I wear my cloth mask (99 cents at Target!) and participate in this charade even though it causes me much anger/angst, which in turn doesn't bode well for my blood pressure...
Seems like context is really important here. Shouldn't a part of the question be whether the patient or the nurse/doctor are sick and contagious? Wouldn't it make sense to mask with someone with the flu, but not someone with a broken leg, followup MRI, or a regular physical?
I wish there was a “kickstarter” for a rct for masking. (It’s design would have to be endorsed by someone like you) I’d definitely see it as a good investment for the future of my sanity. I have family members with health concerns and they are so frightened of getting COVID they are still afraid to socialize. It’s depressing.
1) Trudeau probably doesn’t even have covid. He’s just hiding again cause they’re investigating his use of the Emergencies Act. If he DOES have it again, it’s a convenient way for him to normalize getting covid over and over even while being triple vaxxed. PR.
But I agree with you re wtf is he doing still testing for this.
2) The statement that “you’re less likely to be hospitalized with covid if you’re vaxxed” just doesn’t seem to be true. Why do you keep saying it?? Oh. Maybe I know.
3) What do you think about the Together Trial? Darkhorse Podcast did a great episode on it a few weeks back. I appreciate your equating paxlovid shoddy evidence with IVM shoddy evidence -- trying to be fair, I suppose -- BUT as far as I know RCTs are easy to game. RCTs for IVM were gamed, and for Paxlovid I am sure they were as well. Paxlovid’s game would’ve been to try and make the med look even BETTER than it actually is, so the fact that it’s evidence shows similar to IVM tells me it actually works a helluva lot worse than IVM.
4) Back to Trudeau’s Canada. They still require unvaxxed travellers to test for covid TWICE--upon entry to Canada--and isolate 14 days no matter the results. Even citizens. Age 12 and up. You’d be appalled! And for that I am grateful.
Thank you for your (mostly) sane words during this Still-Insane-Time!
We know why there are no RCT for things that don't make anybody - MONEY! Starts with corruption within the NIH by the drug manufacturers. As long as the NIH budget along with royalties to individual government employees are involved with sales of patent protected drugs that cost X to produce but can be sold to the government and taxpayers for 100X, we have system designed for profit not for health. When drug approval boards have huge conflicts of interest in those dugs we have no checks. Whether Congress can stop fighting among themselves long enough to do real oversight this corruption will continue. They might also have to stop taking bribes as well.
I have never masked except in barrier/reverse barrier situations where the work of being isolated from the patient is an awful pain but the patient is white-cell deficient and therefore needs the work.
Did not mask for COVID -- we all knew that was stupid and ineffective and pretending otherwise was guaranteed to result in a massive lose of credibility for the medical establishment (it did) and a complete loss of credibility for the public health establishment (it did, except among the government types who hope they can force people to do things they do not want to do forever...because they can).
Have argued (and won) in medical staff disputes repeatedly. (Everyone else basically chooses to be compliant and wears them anyway even after acknowledging I am right; they just ignore me then. But better than being compliant and sacrificing not only my integrity but that of the profession.)
The data is compellingly against masking (setting aside the first hour or so from a brand new, professionally fitted N95 mask where the hands NEVER touch the face); it is literally valueless and possibly harmful. This has been known and well studied in real RCTs (they now refuse to do for Covid) for decades with influenza.
Here is an excellent piece from today summarizing a just published EU study across many countries that shows not only do masks not work but that they likely cause harm. Worth the read. https://ianmsc.substack.com/p/study-after-study-confirms-masks
This whole thing has been nothing but a political sham and I have always refused to support it. Vinay has been converted over time to acknowledging the idiocy of it all...it has been interesting to watch his evolution. Wish he would completely get there with masks which really started the fraud. But he has largely gotten there otherwise and partway with masks which speaks well.
I nearly quit my AAFP chapter after my masked colleagues argued with me about masking toddlers and then proceeded to call me dangerous. Best to keep them close, however. Our profession has been an embarrassment.
I thank God daily that I opened my DPC practice in 2015. We stopped masking the minute we realized it was pointless theater. I was just exposed (again) to a triple vaxed person completely shocked to have Covid. 🙄 I’ve have Covid once in November 2021. I’m 51 and unvaxed, been exposed numerous times and never reinfected…maskless. People, please stop complying.
Interesting Twitter thread a couple days ago about how WWII has "taught" us that every battle in life now needs to be a battle against Hitler. We aren't satisfied with the typical day-to-day struggles as our ancestors would have been. Hence trying to prevent people from getting the sniffles has also become a battle against Hitler, our society is expected (by some) to be on a war footing against it forever. Interesting thought anyway. All struggles must now be epic struggles.
Just stop! What will “they “do , fire you ?
Yes, most likely. The real question is , who are “they” and why are they being obeyed?
Adam is wise and his patients are fortunate to have him.
It's hard to believe that the healthcare industry places more value on useless face coverings than on communication between patient and doctor. I am able to avoid businesses that still require masks (very few these days) but I can't avoid seeing a doctor when I need one. The HC monopoly in our area requires masks in all their facilities. So I wear my cloth mask (99 cents at Target!) and participate in this charade even though it causes me much anger/angst, which in turn doesn't bode well for my blood pressure...
Seems like context is really important here. Shouldn't a part of the question be whether the patient or the nurse/doctor are sick and contagious? Wouldn't it make sense to mask with someone with the flu, but not someone with a broken leg, followup MRI, or a regular physical?
I wish there was a “kickstarter” for a rct for masking. (It’s design would have to be endorsed by someone like you) I’d definitely see it as a good investment for the future of my sanity. I have family members with health concerns and they are so frightened of getting COVID they are still afraid to socialize. It’s depressing.
1) Trudeau probably doesn’t even have covid. He’s just hiding again cause they’re investigating his use of the Emergencies Act. If he DOES have it again, it’s a convenient way for him to normalize getting covid over and over even while being triple vaxxed. PR.
But I agree with you re wtf is he doing still testing for this.
2) The statement that “you’re less likely to be hospitalized with covid if you’re vaxxed” just doesn’t seem to be true. Why do you keep saying it?? Oh. Maybe I know.
3) What do you think about the Together Trial? Darkhorse Podcast did a great episode on it a few weeks back. I appreciate your equating paxlovid shoddy evidence with IVM shoddy evidence -- trying to be fair, I suppose -- BUT as far as I know RCTs are easy to game. RCTs for IVM were gamed, and for Paxlovid I am sure they were as well. Paxlovid’s game would’ve been to try and make the med look even BETTER than it actually is, so the fact that it’s evidence shows similar to IVM tells me it actually works a helluva lot worse than IVM.
4) Back to Trudeau’s Canada. They still require unvaxxed travellers to test for covid TWICE--upon entry to Canada--and isolate 14 days no matter the results. Even citizens. Age 12 and up. You’d be appalled! And for that I am grateful.
Thank you for your (mostly) sane words during this Still-Insane-Time!
God bless you and Dr. Cifu. that's all ive got. Hello from Canada .
We know why there are no RCT for things that don't make anybody - MONEY! Starts with corruption within the NIH by the drug manufacturers. As long as the NIH budget along with royalties to individual government employees are involved with sales of patent protected drugs that cost X to produce but can be sold to the government and taxpayers for 100X, we have system designed for profit not for health. When drug approval boards have huge conflicts of interest in those dugs we have no checks. Whether Congress can stop fighting among themselves long enough to do real oversight this corruption will continue. They might also have to stop taking bribes as well.