Letter to the editor: Masks are unhealthy
October 11, 2021
Dear Editor,
I would like to offer your readers other information not circulated in the mainstream media or by most health care professionals about masks. I would like to encourage the readers to read the following scientific articles and develop their own educated opinions. I apologize in advance for the length of this article. Please bear with me.
1) SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 Are Transmitted Through the Air Between Ferrets Over More Than One Meter Distance published in Nature Communications on March 12, 2021 by Jasmin S. Kutter and colleagues from the Department of Viroscience, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The researchers use an airborne transmission model from 2009 that showed A/H1N1 influenza could be transmitted through the air, to show SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 could be transmitted in the same way.
2) Ten Scientific Reasons in Support of Airborne Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 published in The Lancet on May 1, 2021. This article uses several peer reviewed published research articles to explain that aerosol transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus may be dominant. Their conclusion states, “The public health community should act accordingly and without further delay.”
3) Rapid Review of the Effects of Cloth and Medical Masks for Preventing Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Community and Household Settings published in South African Medical Journal on March 2, 2021 by T. Chetty and colleagues. These scientists reviewed the many research articles published about masks. They state in their conclusion, “Decision-making for mask use may consider other factors such as feasibility and SARS-CoV-2 transmission dynamics; however, well-designed comparative effectiveness studies are required.” They call for better research to help with recommendations to prevent the transmission of the SARS CoV-2 virus.
4) Effect of Wearing Face Masks on the Carbon Dioxide Concentration in the Breathing Zone published in Aerosol and Air Quality Research on October 6, 2020 by Otmar Geiss of the European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRS), Ispra, Italy. This researcher measured three mask types use under different activity levels. They do a nice job of explaining the thresholds for hypercapnia and respiratory acidosis. I really like the graphs that show the carbon dioxide level comparisons. The last sentences in their conclusion state: “However, concentrations between 1,000 ppm and 10,000 ppm can cause undesirable symptoms such as fatigue, headache and loss of concentration. This may be relevant for those segments of the population required to wear face masks over prolonged periods of time such a students, bus drivers or cashiers as well as persons with respiratory diseases. Wearing face masks only when strictly necessary may reduce these undesirable side effects.”
5) Experimental Assessment of Carbon Dioxide Content in Inhaled Air With or Without Face Masks in Healthy Children: A Randomized Clinical Trial published in the JAMA Pediatrics on June 30, 2021 by Herald Walach, PhD and colleagues. They studied 45 students with the average age of 10.7 years (range 6-17 years). Their data shows that the carbon dioxide levels in the inhaled air under the surgical and filtering face piece 2 (FFP2) masks was higher than what was deemed acceptable by the German Federal Environmental Office by a factor of 6. They state in their discussion: “Most of the complaints reported by children can be understood as consequences of elevated carbon dioxide levels in inhaled air. This is because of the dead-space volume of the masks, which collects exhaled carbon dioxide quickly after a short time. This carbon dioxide mixes with fresh air and elevates the carbon dioxide content of inhaled air under the mask, and this was more pronounced in this study for younger children.” “This leads in turn to impairments attributable to hypercapnia. A recent review concluded that there was ample evidence for adverse effects of wearing such masks. We suggest that decision-makers weigh the hard evidence produced by these experimental measurements accordingly, which suggest that children should not be forced to wear face masks.”
I admit the above article was retracted on July 16, 2021 because of questions related to methodology. However, why not do the study again and republish it with the corrected methodology? But no, the journal stamps it with retraction. After the research was done, data collected and conclusions made by seven very well-educated authors with the alphabet after their names, submitted for peer review by more people with the alphabet behind their names and published after jumping through all the hoops, only to be shamed with a retraction. In the big picture, it still shows that children experience increased exposure to carbon dioxide in inhaled air under a mask.
These are current articles with valid, peer reviewed, information on the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid 19, how masks affect people wearing them and masks may not be effective in preventing virus transmission. I think the research shows that masks are not the answer to stopping the spread of Covid because the virus IS smaller than what the masks can filter. In email correspondence last year, Dr. Anthony Fauci stated the virus is so small it will pass through masks and around the air gap at the sides of masks (Washington Examiner article on June 2, 2021). Two last articles reading assignment for the inquisitive reader: Transmission of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 During Border Quarantine and Air Travel, New Zealand, published in Emerg Infect Dis. on May 27, 2021 by Nick Eichler and colleagues. This article focuses on tracing the Covid virus’s genome to determine how it got to New Zeeland. Unfortunately, this article focuses on the genomic traceability of the virus. What I got out of the article was they did not stop the virus from entering New Zeeland despite fairly extreme measures of a 2-week quarantine and two negative test results. The second article, A SARS-CoV-2 Cluster in an Acute Care Hospital published in Ann Intern Med., on June 17, 2021 by Michael Klompas and colleagues, studied a Covid 19 outbreak among health care workers in Bringham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts where there was a mature infection control policies including masks and eye protection. Their conclusion: “SARS-CoV-s clusters can occur in hospitals despite robust infection control policies.”
Masks are unhealthy. Ask the Manchester Schools’ student and teacher that passed out, and hit their heads on the floor, about the adverse effects of breathing higher levels of carbon dioxide. Imagine being a horrified 10-year-old student in the classroom, with your teacher lying unconscious on the floor and emergency personal and equipment being rushed in the room. This left some students unsettled and seeking counseling from the trauma. If you have medical knowledge, you would know about dead air space in anesthetic machines that is taken into consideration when putting tiny babies versus full grown adults under general anesthesia. Small lungs do not move enough air to properly exchange exhaled and inhaled air through large tubing. If you have medical training, you know people pass out in operating rooms or must take breathers. Surgeons also change their masks once excessive moisture builds up during surgery, never reusing a mask or wearing cloth masks (Surgeon Destroys Myth, If Masks Don’t Work, Why Do Surgeons Wear Them?” published in CNSNews on-line by Dr Jim Meehan, original article published in Principia Scientific International). If you have medical knowledge, you would understand hypoventilation is the primary culprit believed to cause Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) without the baby wearing a mask. Hypoventilation occurs in people’s sleep who suffer from sleep apnea, COPD lung disease, during scuba diving when carbon dioxide is not properly removed from rebreathing equipment and Obesity Hypoventilation Syndrome when the lungs are not expanded fully. These are not all carbon dioxide toxicosis, but they are situations where higher than normal levels of carbon dioxide have significant and sometime fatal health effects. Not to mention how unsanitary mask adjustments are, with the extra times children adjust their masks and touch their faces with those dirty fingers.
I do hope the readers find these articles informative and gain knowledge to help understand both sides of the mask debate. It is repeated over and over to “follow the science.” Let’s follow ALL of it. Unfortunately, people can be very one-sided in their information and opinion, claiming they know more and they are right. This is not a black and white issue. That is why we should refrain from broad brush painting of policies. Each person’s viewpoint is unique and circumstances different. The main-stream media sensors and silences this other view, afraid it will disrupt their constant drumbeat of; “be scared,” “wear a mask” and “get vaccinated.” They talk about how information has evolved about the Covid 19 virus, well, so too should the public health recommendations evolve.
Stay tuned for more information about Covid 19 vaccination!
Informed Manchester Citizens,
Rhonda Guido (Manchester Township), Jason Fuchs (Village of Manchester), Tracy Eberle (Village of Manchester), Santo Guido (Manchester Township), Katie Brinkman (Village of Manchester), Michelle Jedele (Village of Manchester), Tracey Hock (Freedom Township), Lori Nickerson (Manchester Township), James Stewart (Manchester Township), April Stewart (Manchester Township), Anna Naebeck (Manchester Township), Raquel Hulswitt (Manchester Township), Lisa Volpe (Village of Manchester), Darci Majewski (Village of Manchester), Susan Amrhein (Bridgewater Township), Jennifer Alexa (Freedom Township)
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