Dr. Gary Sidley, a former NHS Consultant Psychologist and co-founder of Smile Free, has a piece in the Critic today criticising the persistence of widespread masking in healthcare settings and summarising the evidence for why masks are a bad idea.
Over recent weeks there has been a marked reduction in the number of people wearing face coverings in retail settings, hospitality venues and on public transport. Given the ineffectiveness of masks in reducing viral transmission, together with the multiple harms associated with them, this transition is both rational and welcome. Paradoxically, the prominent exceptions to this return to a mask-free society are NHS facilities and venues allied to health. Widespread masking of both staff and patrons persists in all hospitals, health centres and GP practices, and most dentists, opticians and pharmacies.
A sphere of society where one might reasonably expect a reliance upon evidence-based practice, is now the outlier in persisting with the unscientific and pervasively damaging mass-masking phenomenon. More troublingly, healthcare’s insistence that staff and visitors continue to wear masks constitutes additional risks to the wellbeing of the people who use these services. Some of the general harms of face coverings are likely to be particularly problematic in these settings, including:
Impaired communication
Clear communication is a central requirement for effective healthcare. By muffling speech and hiding non-verbal signals, masks significantly impede the efficiency of information sharing, potentially impairing the professional’s understanding of the clinical problem and the patient’s understanding of the recommended therapeutic intervention. Those with hearing impairment (estimated to be about one-in-six of the UK population), who often rely on lip-reading, will suffer the most. Given that the elderly population are frequent users of health services, those impacted by this mask-induced communication problem will be even higher in these settings. And the consequences of muffled speech in hospitals can sometimes be catastrophic.
Increased risk of falls in the elderly
By blocking parts of the lower peripheral visual field, and causing spectacles to steam up, masks will increase the risk of falls in older people with ongoing mobility difficulties. Injuries, such as fractured femurs, are more prevalent in the elderly. Expecting face coverings from this demographic, the most regular visitors to healthcare facilities, can only exacerbate the risk.
Aggravation of respiratory problems
For patients with existing respiratory problems, the requirement to cover their airways with cloth or plastic will often inflict additional distress. Masks can make breathing more difficult, a problem likely to be more apparent after long periods of wear, such as those routinely experienced in hospital Accident and Emergency departments. Furthermore, face coverings can inflate the risk of acquiring pneumonia and other respiratory diseases. One study found for example that as little as four hours of wearing a cloth or plastic mask increased vulnerability to bacterial infection. There are also the largely unknown risks from the inhalation of micro-plastics and the exposure to contaminants in the textiles.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: Double-masking offers people no more protection than single-masking and may increase their risk of becoming infected, according to a new study from Johns Hopkins University and Florida State University. MailOnline has more.
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I do have a deep feeling for those insane people, driving alone in their cars, masked.
One can only assume that the plan is to stop themselves giving themselves Covid.
150 papers on how they don’t work..
https://brownstone.org/articles/more-than-150-comparative-studies-and-articles-on-mask-ineffectiveness-and-harms/
How is it, that healthcare professionals struggle so much with medical science.
I totally agree. I work in hospital and find masks really detrimental to everybody.
My biggest issue – which I have yet to see mentioned in any scientific study – is that every human exhales 40,000 ppm of that ‘deadly global warming gas’ Carbon Dioxide with every breath.
If the ilinformed believe this nonsense then how much more harmful to their lungs is happening with breathing CO2 back in?
No wonder a large portion of the population are exhibiting symptoms of insanity.
“If the ilinformed believe this nonsense then how much more harmful to their lungs is happening with breathing CO2 back in?
No wonder a large portion of the population are exhibiting symptoms of insanity”
probably the intention all along
I had occasion to visit a hospital yesterday and, while most were masked, nobody gave me grief about my being un-face-nappied. I was even given directions by a polite lady in scrubs, who was masked but approached closer than 1 metre! Admittedly, it must have helped that I wasn’t coughing and dabbing at my nose.
Common sense suggests that masks were useless from the start simply by the fact that Covid was spreading in hospitals and care homes faster than anywhere else. Trust the “experts” we were told. Even though most of it was pseudoscience. People who still walk around with rags on their faces need urgent deprogramming or else mental health treatment as do their advocates.
We can all start by reminding anyone wearing a mask, they do not protect them or anyone else from anything and they may be dangerous in terms of breathing in all the bacteria, fungi accumulating on this warm, moist surface they are wearing over their mouths.
I had some fun asking our local Clinical Commissioning Group for the evidence that masks work. All the pathetic bureaucrat who responded could do was keep on repeating the official narrative BS
Our current political class is appalling. In our local election we have the choice of 4 socialist parties: Conservative, Lib Dem, Greens and Labour.
I will not waste my time voting.
Boris Johnson has time to spare to address the Ukrainian parliament
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KqMbFE9VdE
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces many domestic difficulties, from the soaring cost of living crisis to the collapsing National Health Service. Rather than tackle these important matters, he chooses instead to try and pose as an international statesman, bestriding the world like a colossus. This was an attempt doomed to failure from the start.
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If doctors want any credibility as ‘being followers of evidence-based medicine’ they have no choice but to drop the mask mandate.
If they want credibility as Bill Gates’ Gauleiters, I think we all know how their lives will end up….
“If doctors want any credibility as ‘being followers of evidence-based medicine’ they have no choice but to drop the mask mandate.”
You have set the bar too low there rtj1211.
If they want credibility then they should start asking themselves what is in the jabs they get paid to administer and do some critical thinking about whether it is a good thing to continue jabbing kids and boosting elderly people so that they end up with no functioning immune system. We all know that and we aren’t all medically trained so why don’t they?
Presumably, the clowns running the health circus haven’t got round to reading this new study, highlighted by the Daily Sceptic a couple of days ago, showing mask-wearing could be causing COVID deaths,
https://journals.lww.com/md-journal/Fulltext/2022/02180/The_Foegen_effect__A_mechanism_by_which_facemasks.60.aspx
Masks are incredibly effective in getting people to eat shyte and say it’s delicious, their goal….
Nice article. Here in Florida, the ONLY places where masks are required is health care facilities. And there is pretty much 100% uniformity in imposing mask requirements on both patients and staff at every health care facility I’ve been to. I always ask if they have any exceptions and they always say “no”.
At first when I would disobey the mask mandate, multiple staff would harass me about it, but nowadays, I think they mostly pretend not to notice. When they see maskless people every where else, they have to know that it’s all BS.
So Florida is not the ‘land of freedom from Covid nonsense’ as we have been led to believe…
Health and safety of staff associated with mask wearing, swabbing or injections was and I suspect still is, blatantly ignored. Those in charge don’t seem to have realised that continuing with the mask wearing charade just shows people how stupid they are.
When I went to the dentist last week, there was no push to wear a mask. There were 2 receptionists. One had a mask dangling under her chin, the other was mask less. A couple of patients came into the waiting room wearing a mask, another picked one up from the box on the counter to put on but then just held it, another patient and myself didn’t bother. The dentist and hygienist put a mask on when undertaking the examination and treatment, which was fine. There is an extra charge imposed for the PPE precautions. I couldn’t see anything which justifies the increased charges – it was just normal clinical / cleaning routine.
Walking back to my car, I passed specsavers which somewhat resembled the Marie Celeste. Looking through the window, past the ‘wait outside until you are told to enter’ and the ‘you must wear a mask on the premises’ signs stuck on the windows and door, no one was in sight, apart from an errant elbow sticking out of a doorway (I presume the elbow owner was adjusting their mask at the time) and it soon disappeared.
I did some shopping in the precinct and during… Read more »
Yes, Specsavers do seem to be quite hysterical about the coof, don’t they? My local branch is the same. Pre 2020, it was always full, people there for appointments, to pick up spectacles, ask questions….now, when I look in, there’s more (masked) staff than customers.
Serve them right.
We now know from research that mask wearing makes those constantly inhaling recycled pathogens ill with respiratory conditions – so is the NHS diktat designed to encourage more of the epidemic ‘sickness’ reporting from staff to increase waiting times for desperate patients?
After two years of consolidated lies, absolutely nothing would any longer surprise me.
“Double-masking offers people no more protection than single-masking”
Twice zero is zero.
Indeed. It effectively doubles your outward display of gullibility though.
Put up the cost to £5 per nappy.
Then see how healthy the zombies think they are.
Make that £10.
Special offer! One for £10 or a pack of five for £100.
A logic test which many of those who favour nappification may well fail…
Zombification continues apace in almost all settings.
I heard of someone who went to a hospital appointment wearing a mask that was much more protective (against real dangerous bugs) than a standard-issue one. Not sure whether he had an FFP2, FFP3, or a 7500, or what. But as soon as he was through the door, the nurse handed him a bog-standard tissue one and asked him to put it on instead, “because it’s our rules”.
That’s how sh*te the NHS is. That’s how sh*te what @PartyTime calls “healthcare providers” are, whom he bemoans the loss of “confidence” in. That’s how sh*te Britain and its “education” and “health” systems are.
Best to keep away from them if you possibly can. (And the good news is that a lot of people have learnt that lesson.) Those who run to nursy-wursy and to medics when they’ve got a sniffle or a pimple on their butt deserve… well, pity at best.
No, wait. Perhaps the Sun newspaper can give them “free” sticks with little pictures of the “queen” on to put up their noses on Jubilee Day, just to make sure they haven’t caught the lergy. They’ve already got mental super-lergy, after all.
I had an appointment at the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton recently and because I had no intention of wearing a mask, I braced myself for the inevitable confrontation. I was pleasantly surprised. On arrival the receptionist asked if I was able to wear a mask. When I said that I wasn’t she simply said “very well Mr Kreis, please take a seat and the consultant will be with you shortly”. No hysterics just a common sense approach.
Because it shows these highly educated people know absolutely f*ck all about basic health, and can’t be trusted to make the right decisions about mine?
Well by complying with mask bollocks they’re basically advertising the fact they failed their virology module and suck at critiquing scientific studies.
Now now, let’s not jump to conclusions, pantyhose + mask is a game changer!
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-10777965/Double-masking-DOESNT-work-raise-risk-catching-spreading-Covid.html
Went to the dentist today for routine clean and inspection. I was told by email to stay in the car and ring in to await further instructions. I ignored the message and opened the unlocked main door which had a “wear a mask” notice. Of course I ignored it having totally exempted myself at he outset of the Covid scam. The entrance lobby was also plastered with further advice on social distancing and other such nonsense.
I ignored the hand sanitiser as always and went on in, where a masked receptionist and an elderly N95 masked up patient were attempting to make arrangements about a future appointment. The patient was clearly quite death and what should have taken 30 seconds took about five minutes.
The patient eventually left and I approached the receptionist who seeing I was unmasked immediately lowered her face diaper to the still annoying under the chin position and we then chatted almost like normal human beings. The unmasked hygienist called me through, she did mask up for the actual work which was fair enough.
After cleaning and a short wait I was sent on to see the unmasked dentist, who looked into my mouth for less… Read more »
Exactly the same with my dentist.
Interesting account, I need some dental work but have been waiting for some time hoping the mask bollocks will be dropped
It will obviously depend on individuals. This was my third visit since the Covid bollocks started and I have never joined in with the mask nonsense, no one has bothered. The dentist was masked up in May last year but not in November.
Is that a private practice? I was forced to go private because the NHS practices in my bit of Wales literally laughed in my face when I asked if they had room for me. Boy, am I glad I did. My dentist never believed any of the covvibollox and only went along with it (superficially) because they’d have closed him down if he hadn’t.
It is private.
You could be waiting a long time.
My advice FWIW is that you should get an appointment and get the work done.
I had no dental treatment for over 2 years due to the covid bollocks and the fact that they were not allowed to drill etc. I almost lost 2 teeth. It isn’t worth it.
Deaf not death, that was being a bit too harsh.
At the end of the article it says,” In the words of one enlightened GP, it’s time to “put the patient first again” by ditching the mask in healthcare settings.”
A doctor should always follow their oath and put the patient first, let’s not praise this “ enlightened one” for doing something they should always have always be doing.
looking at the gaps around the comfort blankets on the masked faces today in the supermarket, (and the doc’s on that pic), how big do they think virus germs are?
Roughly the same size as the gaps in their understanding of air and relative particle sizes.
This guy is great….I know there are a few good Youtubers, but I stick to just a handful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asiGNI2NX2M
The very people who we have a right to expect (hmm) to be on top of matters medical are still conducting themselves like medieval witch doctors.
It is beyond believable and beyond stupid.
I cannot think of another way in which to more seriously undermine and demean your profession.
Whenever I am confronted with these people I just think – Bloody Idiots.
Doctors? Give me strength.
Ha! Great minds.. maybe?
Well we do tend to be on the same page. Frequently. In fact so frequently that sometimes I don’t post because you have already said what I’m thinking. 👍
Brothers in scepticism! 🙌
Come on you two love birds!
When is the wedding?
best laugh I have had all day!!
Apart from “mask wankers” meme above!
“I cannot think of another way in which to more seriously undermine and demean your profession.”
I do wonder about being treated for, well pretty much anything, by someone who thinks that a penis is synonymous with the birth canal…
And that’s another rant I could develop.
I won’t though.
They really do put all of the healthcare professions to shame. I’m beyond disgusted. They may as well have written on their stupid masks, “Trust me, I’m a qualified doctor…whilst I simultaneously deny science!” This is the non-verbal signal they are broadcasting loud and clear to the sane folk. But the cabbage brained will just think, “Well if all the doctors and nurses are wearing masks then there’s still something to be afraid of.” And it’ll reinforce their anxiety and compliance to never ever give up the bloody things.
Don’t forget the vets, whose masking rules (here at least) are just as non-evidence based. The only real difference is that one can easily get an appointment,
Doctators and Witch Doctators.
I’m am hoping to give my 94th donation of blood later this month and I will not wear a face nappy, if I am challenged, I will say: ” Do you want my blood or don’t you?”
Do you think you might also ask them to set your unjabbed blood aside to be given the the unjabbed only so that, if they ever need blood they are not forced to have the blood donated by a jabbee?
Computer says no!!
Do forgive me, but there comes a point where one must dispense with the rational arguments and just say: