On May 21st, New England Journal of Medicine* posted an article on the importance of mask wearing in a medical setting and the ineffectiveness of a mask in a public setting.
"We know that wearing a mask outside health care facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection. Public health authorities define a significant exposure to Covid-19 as face-to-face contact within 6 feet with a patient with symptomatic Covid-19 that is sustained for at least a few minutes (and some say more than 10 minutes or even 30 minutes). The chance of catching Covid-19 from a passing interaction in a public space is therefore minimal. In many cases, the desire for widespread masking is a reflexive reaction to anxiety over the pandemic."
Is "The Mask" (not the Jim Carey movie) becoming nothing more than a symbol of fear for a political movement? Staying at least 6 feet away from others and certainly not "Close Encounters" for longer periods (about 15 minutes according to NEJM) was the answer... so we were told.
As this pandemic progressed, it became more and more of a political game. The minute President Trump showed up on "news" media cameras without a mask, it was game on. Blood in the water and the sharks began circling their prey.
"Models" were the only source of reference for what could happen. The worst case scenario was treated as the absolute. Then, when those models didn't prove to be a fruitful tool for one side or the other, they were discarded, as was Dr. Facui, as being nothing more than "guesses".
So as the American people sat on the sidelines, doing what was asked by local and federal "experts' to flatten the curve, the transparency of the hypocrisy started to come into focus and is now crystal clear. Pawns in a political game called " Election Year".
So who do you listen to? Who should you seek guidance from? For those answers, look in the mirror. YOU. YOU are your best source of guidance. The good sense that was gifted to you should be your best asset for guidance. What you DO know is that this Covid stuff IS really happening in the world and how local, state and federal authorities chose to deal with it, should not effect YOUR good, common sense.
The group of medical professionals that have been screaming from the rooftops that short, public interactions is not a likely source of transmission and that public use of "masks" is not the answer, have been silenced by a agenda driven national media that refuses to look at ANY other side of the story if it doesn't fit the national media agenda- win the Presidency.
It is my opinion that you and I are falling right into the arena of media bloodsport. If they infect enough people with fear, they have the upper edge.
What's the answer? Easy- question everything. Think for yourself. In the powerful words of Shakespeare's Macbeth- “have tied me to a stake; I cannot fly, / But, bear-like, I must fight the course.”