Ready For The Return Of Masks? The Media Certainly Is
Starting in 2020, essentially the entire world ran an experiment on whether or not masks and other expert-promoted policies would be effective in stopping the spread of a virus.
The results of the experiment are in, and they are a resounding, comprehensive, conclusive no. Masks don't work. They don't stop the spread of respiratory viruses; they don't even slow the spread of viruses. There's not even any evidence suggesting that they're effective when worn by medical professionals who are trained to use them.
READ: New Study Confirms That Masks Likely Don't Work To Stop COVID
There's no evidence that they prevent infections during operations when worn by surgeons. Even attempts to discredit the overwhelming evidence on masks have failed.
All this is to say, that no matter what the situation may be with viruses or pandemics moving forward, it's abundantly clear that masks can not reasonably be made part of our response or strategy. Which is exactly why the media is already pushing to make masks part of a strategy to combat the bird flu.
Justin Trudeau, Canada's prime minister, puts on his protective mask during a news conference in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on Friday, May 7, 2021. Trudeau's government has shared no details about when border rules might ease or what the criteria will be for doing so. (Photographer: David Kawai/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The Mask Obsession Begins Again
The bird flu has yet to become a pandemic, though naturally, concerns are rising throughout the CDC, World Health Organization and Twitter experts. But that hasn't stopped media outlets from not so secretly rooting for the return of interventions and "mitigation" policies.
One article in Forbes, for example, trotted out a "senior epidemologist" to caution that the same policies that failed with COVID must be brought back if bird flu spreads.
"…experts warn safety measures like masks, vaccines and safety goggles will be needed if a pandemic is declared due to the virus’s deadly nature," the article reads. And why wouldn't we bring back masks or "safety goggles?" It's not like we don't have years of data, observational evidence and randomized controlled trials showing that those physical barriers are completely ineffective.
It gets worse.
"Experts have cautioned that if a bird flu pandemic is declared, safety measures will need to be put in place to mitigate the spread. Dr. Donal Bisanzio, a senior epidemiologist with the nonprofit research institute RTI International, told Forbes methods like masking and social distancing should be the first implemented. ‘Those are all the kinds of interventions we need to put in place to buy time for the vaccine,’ Bisanzio said."
They literally learned nothing. Absolutely nothing. We saw throughout COVID that cities, states and countries that enforced masks and social distancing the hardest and longest often performed worse than other comparable areas. Sweden, for example, wildly outperformed many of its European neighbors who imposed mask mandates and strict lockdowns. Florida outperformed the national average in terms of age-adjusted COVID mortality, despite never having a statewide mask mandate or lockdown.
Los Angeles County though, had one of the highest mortality rates in the world, despite being one of the first jurisdictions anywhere on earth to impose a mask mandate. A mandate that wouldn't permanently be lifted until well into 2022.
Why should any of that matter though, when experts tell us we need to bring back what didn't work before?
‘Experts’ Who Spread Misinformation, Worried About Misinformation
Naturally, it's not just masks that the experts are obsessed with; it's getting everyone on earth vaccinated. For COVID, that was an indefensible position that had no basis in fact or evidence. And in some cases, may have caused more harm than it prevented.
READ: Former CDC Director Admits COVID Mandates Were Destructive And Ineffective
Bird flu is a significantly more dangerous virus than SARS-CoV-2, assuming that it does become transmissible between humans. And assuming the vaccines are as effective as other commonly used vaccines, such as the smallpox or measles shots, it's a reasonable strategy. But as another Forbes quoted expert said, they're now worried about how "misinformation" and "public health communication" will impact potential uptake.
"I think the right course of action is to simply premanufacture several 100 million doses of vaccines and just have them ready," Dr. Maciej Boni, an epidemiologist and professor at Temple University, said about pandemic preparation. Bisanzio said that "better communication between public health agencies and the public will be needed for a bird flu vaccine rollout" because "there was a lot of misinformation [about the COVID-19 pandemic], and that caused issues with the vaccine rollout, and some people didn’t even want to get a vaccine."
This type of communication is exactly why so many in the public mistrust public health experts. There were many justifiable reasons to decline COVID-19 vaccines. Natural immunity, the dramatic differences in risk between different age gradients, rapidly waning efficacy and a questionable side effect profile for certain age groups.
Because they refused to acknowledge those realities though, shamed anyone who pointed them out, and labeled reasonable people as "anti-vaxxers" and "conspiracy theorists," public health agencies lost the trust of millions of people. Trust they may never get back.
Had they simply told the truth, accepted debate, and admitted mistakes, they'd be in a much better position to convince the public to listen. But when your first response to the potential spread of bird flu is to say, "bring back masks and social distancing," many are immediately going to tune out. As they should.