“The glory which is built upon a lie soon becomes a most unpleasant incumbrance,” author Mark Twain once said. “How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and how hard it is to undo that work again!” The breathing mask remains an unpleasant incumbrance for many people, though the glorious narrative that drove the phenomenon has faded from view. Was this ever an informed choice, let alone now?.The disciplinary hearings for a maskless Calgary chiropractor have provided a remarkable basis of evidence to question the use of masks. Dr. Curtis Wall had a medical exemption to not wear a mask and did not place similar burdens on his clients either. This relationship of willing care-provider, willing patient continued without difficulty until December 2020, when someone filed a formal complaint..The College of Chiropractors of Alberta held disciplinary proceedings against Dr. Wall, who enjoyed the vigorous defence of James Kitchen, a lawyer with Liberty Coalition Canada..The college’s only medical witness was a public health and family physician, who played a role in both provincial and national responses to the pandemic. This witness, whose name remains redacted, touted the usual narrative of how helpful masks were, but later redacted two portions of his written submission. The witness admitted they were not a virologist, an immunologist, a respirologist, or a medical microbiologist and testified that for “people with extreme anxiety, [masks] can make you anxious.” It was a strange admission for the college witness, given the reason for Wall’s exemption was just that..Kitchen called four top-notch witnesses to the stand, and the college sought to keep both their testimony and their names out of public view until after a decision was reached. The decision has not been reached, but their testimony is posted on the LCC website..Doctor and respirologist Dr. Bao Dang said during the more dangerous SARS-CoV-1 (of which SARS CoV-2, or COVID-19 is a sequel), only patients with symptoms wore a mask, while the public did not. He noted a lack of “firm evidence saying conclusively that masking worked or that they justify the measures that have been in place.” Asked if public mask wearing worked to stop virus transmission, Dang said, “if we go completely by results-based assessment, [then] definitely you can say, no.” He said mask-wearing was driven by “a social and political aspect … causing mass paranoia and fear and panic.”.Dang cited two studies that showed masks were good to stop saliva, but not airborne aerosols of the virus. “It’s like a cloud, so unless you seal any mask airtight, it’s just going to seep around the masks.” Besides, the 0.1 micron length of the COVID-19 virus was much smaller than the 0.3 micron particles the N95 mask was designed to stop 95 per cent of the time..“Having the public wear masks, most of which are often wet, dirty, reused, and incorrectly worn, can lead to health problems and inhaling pollutions and secretions over and over,” Dang added..Chris Schaefer, an occupational health and safety (OHS) consultant taught courses on respirators to the military, health care providers, and schools. He said public mask mandates were “alarming” and “beyond strange” and “Russian roulette” for the public because those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart conditions, lung conditions, or high blood pressure were put under worse risks for wearing masks than not. Schaefer said his own testing showed that within two minutes, mask-wearers had oxygen levels so low and carbon dioxide levels so high that if such conditions were present in a natural work environment, OHS standards would require that workplace to shut down, with employees barred from returning unless they had a suitable breathing apparatus..Virologist and University of Guelph professor Dr. Byram Bridle said the virus had made a typical evolution, becoming more virulent but less deadly. By the end of 2020, its 0.15 per cent fatality rate was like “a bad flu season,” though Omicron was even less risky. He said masks were appropriate for sick people and no one else and that most people handle their masks so much that it increases the chances of spreading the virus on contact..A microbiologist who testified had his name redacted by request. He said stats from a randomized trial in Bangladesh suggested masks made such little difference and that it would take every one of Alberta’s 1,100 regulated chiropractors wearing masks for eight weeks to prevent a single infection..No doubt, hold-outs still wearing masks do so in the belief it is best for themselves and/or others. In the current environment especially however, that notion is dubious. Unfortunately, the chances of a truly informed choice remain hindered by a bizarre and almost unprecedented censorship of medical opinion on the matter. If you know a mask-wearer, hand them this article to help them make an informed decision. Trusting the real science or clinging to fear or habit is something everyone must work out for themselves.
