Don’t Succumb to Mask Mania, by Ryan Young at The Collegian, a magazine of Hillsdale College:
Of the scientific studies that have been done on the efficacy of masks and N95 respirators in stopping the spread of viral infections, the data suggests that there is minimal to no benefit.
Doctors at West China Hospital, a division of Sichuan University in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan, found in a Feb. 2020 meta-analysis that “there were no statistically significant differences in preventing laboratory-confirmed influenza, laboratory-confirmed respiratory viral infections, laboratory-confirmed respiratory infection, and influenza-like illness using N95 respirators and surgical masks.”
Further, in a 2010 Cambridge review on the effectiveness of face masks to prevent the transmission of the influenza virus, researchers found that “there is limited evidence to support the effectiveness of either surgical masks or N95 respirators to protect healthcare personnel and there is little evidence to support the effectiveness of face masks to reduce the risk of infection.”
As for the effectiveness of cloth masks and scarves, the World Health Organization explains “there is insufficient information available on their effectiveness” and that “using a mask incorrectly may actually increase the risk of transmission, rather than reduce it.”
In Australia, government guidelines actually discourage the use of cloth masks because “they retain moisture and can be a breeding ground for bacteria and viruses due to its warm environment caused by the person breathing.”
Regardless of your own opinion about masks, the data is inconclusive. Therefore, an individual should have the freedom to choose for themselves whether or not they feel wearing one is beneficial. As each individual’s risk level varies, the government is in no place to set decrees or force compliance. In fact, the CDC explains that masks should not be worn “by children younger than 2 years old” or by “anyone who has trouble breathing,” among other exemptions.
Since students have returned to college, there have been 48,299 coronavirus cases reported from 37 universities in the United States. Of those cases, there have been only two hospitalizations and zero deaths.
“It turns out that for people younger than 20, the likelihood of dying from COVID-19 in Indiana is a 1.7‑in-a-million chance, far lower than being killed in one’s lifetime by lightning or by a dog,” said Alon Friedman, associate professor of medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine. “The chance of drowning in a pool is 19 times greater for individuals ages 20 – 49 than dying from COVID. Persons 50 – 69 years old have a lower risk of dying from COVID than they do of dying by falling down steps or being killed in a motor vehicle accident.”
These statistics have been buried by the mainstream media in an effort to manufacture widespread panic and fear. Do not succumb to the media’s mask mania. Remember, as Benjamin Franklin wisely said, “those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
I wonder if mask mania will be featured in the next update of Charles Mackay’s 1841 book, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. Mackay’s book has remained in print since it was first published in 1841. You can buy it today at Amazon.
Read the rest of Ryan Young’s essay by clicking the link at the top.
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