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Why Healthcare Settings Should Drop Their Mask Requirements

by Will Jones
3 May 2022 5:02 PM

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.

Tags: Face MasksHealth and safetyHealthcare workersLockdown harmsMask MandatesMasks

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114 Comments
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transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
1 year ago

Another “conspiracy theory” now recognised as a simple fact.

187
-1
For a fist full of roubles
For a fist full of roubles
1 year ago

It is real and it exists. Its Latin name is Plumbum Oscillans.

97
-3
Dinger64
Dinger64
1 year ago
Reply to  For a fist full of roubles

Or long lazy arse syndrome 😴!

42
-4
True Spirit of America Party
True Spirit of America Party
1 year ago
Reply to  For a fist full of roubles

LOL, “swinging the lead”.

14
0
Mogwai
Mogwai
1 year ago

”When the results were compared with nearly 1,000 people who had flu, the numbers reporting issues were similar (3% vs 3.4%).”

Well this is because, just like the flu got a rebrand and was repackaged as ‘Covid’ ( the insane amount of specific testing helped here but plenty got diagnosed based purely on symptom presentation, or no symptoms and a ‘positive’ test result. The obsessive fools! ), post-viral fatigue syndrome went and got a new image and was rebranded as ‘Long Covid’. It’s just that it’s taken somebody with clout almost four years to come out and state what many of us already knew, or at least suspected. So is this article effectively saying that we’ve all been led up the garden path then? Sounds it to me.

This is about a study they did in the Netherlands on ‘Long Covid’ patients and they found a biological cause, but it too sounds a lot like post-viral fatigue to me, though I’m no expert or doctor, they just need to drop the silly name. But our government has recently declared it’s going to invest 27 million euros into further research of LC, so they’re not ready to admit there’s no such thing yet, seemingly;

”Researchers from Amsterdam UMC and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) have discovered that the persistent fatigue in patients with long-COVID has a biological cause, namely mitochondria in muscle cells that produce less energy than in healthy patients. The results of the study were published today in Nature Communications.  

“We’re seeing clear changes in the muscles in these patients,” says Michèle van Vugt, Professor of Internal Medicine at Amsterdam UMC. 
25 long-COVID patients and 21 healthy control participants participated in the study. They were asked to cycle for fifteen minutes. This cycling test caused a long-term worsening of symptoms in people with long-COVID, called post-exertional malaise (PEM). Extreme fatigue occurs after physical, cognitive, or emotional exertion beyond an unknown, individual threshold. The researchers looked at the blood and muscle tissue 1 week before the cycling test and 1 day after the test.  

“We saw various abnormalities in the muscle tissue of the patients. At the cellular level, we saw that the mitochondria of the muscle, also known as the energy factories of the cell, function less well and that they produce less energy,” says Rob Wüst, Assistant Professor at Department of Human Movement Sciences at the VU University. “So, the cause of the fatigue is really biological. The brain needs energy to think. Muscles need energy to move. This discovery means we can now start to research an appropriate treatment for those with long-COVID,” adds van Vugt.”

https://www.amsterdamumc.org/en/spotlight/tiredness-experienced-by-long-covid-patients-has-a-physical-cause.htm

Last edited 1 year ago by Mogwai
56
0
Douglas Brodie
Douglas Brodie
1 year ago

These Australians seem to be going off-narrative. Campaigning US family doctor Pierre Kory believes that “long Covid” is an establishment ruse to cover up the chronic injuries resulting from the Covid vaccines. He sees from his 1200 patients that their problems only started after taking the vaccines and says they are suffering from “long vaccine”, not “long Covid”.

104
0
Tyrbiter
Tyrbiter
1 year ago
Reply to  Douglas Brodie

I suspect that one day this explanation will be proven, but actually holding the insane jabbers to account and extracting whatever pound of flesh remains is going to be difficult.

49
0
True Spirit of America Party
True Spirit of America Party
1 year ago
Reply to  Douglas Brodie

Indeed, Long Jab Injury

13
0
Matt Dalby
Matt Dalby
1 year ago
Reply to  Douglas Brodie

Does this mean that a lot of people with post-viral illness after the flu are also vaccine injured. This would be pretty easy to research as very few people under 50 have had flu jabs and would be a perfect control group.

6
0
Sforzesca
Sforzesca
1 year ago

It was interesting that shortly after the term passed into common parlance a study was carried out amongst sufferers of this new and novel phenomenon.
Astonishingly it was found that a significant number of sufferers had er, never had covid (whatever that may be…).
Sorry but cannot locate link.

50
0
djmo
djmo
1 year ago

When the results were compared with nearly 1,000 people who had flu, the numbers reporting issues were similar (3% vs 3.4%).

Dr. John Gerrard, Queensland’s Chief Health Officer, said: “In health systems with highly vaccinated populations, Long Covid may have appeared to be a distinct and severe illness because of high volumes of COVID-19 cases during the pandemic.”

If the rates were similar to other viruses in a highly punctured population, imagine how much lower a rate it would be if they reduced the figure to account for those who were suffering from Long Jab.

29
0
True Spirit of America Party
True Spirit of America Party
1 year ago
Reply to  djmo

Indeed

4
0
Jabby Mcstiff
Jabby Mcstiff
1 year ago

Either you understand the nature of malaise or you dont. And understanding in regard to this has to be gnosis or knowledge of the heart. If you lack the understanding to enter that realm then it is probably better that you keep your mouth shut.

1
-8
Jabby Mcstiff
Jabby Mcstiff
1 year ago

There is a real malaise just look at how many people are off sick from work. The dampness that will contnue to affect health is going to continue for many years. All you an do is encourage your children to travel abroad, maybe try to learn a difficult language. You will need to have a very strong constitution if you stay here. I’m sure that the strongest amongst us will find meaning in the nastiness but this is not a place to stay if you can help it.

5
-3
True Spirit of America Party
True Spirit of America Party
1 year ago

Indeed, anecdotal evidence aside, Long Covid is statistically and practically indistinguishable from Long Flu, Long Cold, and stuff like that. Occam’s Razor would say, it’s simply post-viral syndrome. Meanwhile, Long Lockdown, Long Mask, Long Nutritional Deficiency, and especially Long Jab Injury are far, far worse.

Last edited 1 year ago by True Spirit of America Party
20
-1
V Detta
V Detta
1 year ago

I dated a bloke the other day, who told me that he had ‘long Covid” as he was very tired and breathless. He then proceeded to tell me that lots of NHS staff are off sick with it, but its a big conspiracy because no-one is mentioning it… Idiot…I didn’t see him again…

15
-1
RTSC
RTSC
1 year ago

It’s another of those “so hard to disprove” conditions which the lazy lumps are using to avoid the unpleasant prospect of having to get off their fat arses and go to work/find a job.

The new “back pain” and “migraine.”

10
-2
atheling
atheling
1 year ago

Post-viral syndromes are real and can be devastating. 3% suffering life altering symptoms is serious! ‘Fatigue’ or ‘post exertional malaise’ are trivialising terms for the illness and exhaustion that precludes even the simplest of exertion and feels like a long-lasting flu. Investigators into ME have found multiple abnormalities in muscle function, immune cell function, energy production and in sustaining exertion. As stated, instead of sporadic cases a whole cohort got ill at a similar time which hit the headlines. Some post-Covid syndromes only last months and wane. This Australian study probably did the usual very general assessments that have been used to discredit M.E. over decades but I don’t know. Some sponsored by insurance cos in cahoots with Gov Welfare depts. Yes, prob some post vax injury in there too. I realise Long Covid was used as an excuse to vax unnecessarily but don’t throw the baby out etc.

7
0

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