IN PENNSYLVANIA, Gov. Tom Wolfe this week ordered stores to deny service to customers not wearing a face mask. So after writing for weeks about how wrong and unnecessary it is to make the whole world resemble a hospital ward, I have no choice but to wear a mask. In protest, I wear one that is too big and looks especially ridiculous. I refuse to wear anything remotely fashionable.

I would have no problem wearing a mask if I were sick and might infect others. But I am not sick. This dictatorial order is contrary to longstanding medical science and to recent recommendations of the Surgeon General and the World Health Organization.

Studies show that masks are only effective in preventing the spread of coronaviruses (and other respiratory infections) if worn by people who are already symptomatic with coughs. Those who are asymptomatic do not spread the viruses through droplets in the air (but can spread them — under certain specific conditions — through contact with surfaces.)

In March, the World Health Organization reported the results of a study of Covid-infected people in China:

In an analysis of 75,465 COVID-19 cases in China, airborne transmission was not reported.8

Droplet transmission occurs when a person is in in close contact (within 1 m) with someone who has respiratory symptoms (e.g., coughing or sneezing) and is therefore at risk of having his/her mucosae (mouth and nose) or conjunctiva (eyes) exposed to potentially infective respiratory droplets. Transmission may also occur through fomites in the immediate environment around the infected person.8 Therefore, transmission of the COVID-19 virus can occur by direct contact with infected people and indirect contact with surfaces in the immediate environment or with objects used on the infected person (e.g., stethoscope or thermometer).

Prof. Pietro Vernazza, chief physician of infectiology at the St. Gallen Cantonal Hospital in Zurich, recently reviewed the latest findings on the spread of coronaviruses, including Covid-19. He said these findings are nothing new and have been known for many years:

These results show that the BAG recommendations continue to make sense and that our knowledge, which has been established for years for viral diseases of the respiratory tract, can also be used for coronaviruses:

*If you have no symptoms (cough, runny nose), you do not have to wear a mask to protect others.
*Masks reduce the risk of transmission of a sick person when they cough.
*In the hours before the onset of symptoms, in which a person can be contagious through contact, this contagion is not prevented by wearing masks.
*According to what we know, wearing a mask doesn’t seem to be necessary for other people.
*The most common virus transmission is through contact. Hygiene measures remain the most important preventive measure. [emphasis added]

American public health officials are well aware of these facts. Why then did Trump and the CDC begin to press for masks at the beginning of April? Why did Wolfe issue this order just as the coronavirus was winding down?

As the dire death predictions were proving untrue, the face masks became a useful scare tactic to prevent people from rejecting the Corona Dictatorship.

The mask, in the case of healthy people, is a fear-inducing prop for staged panic. At the beginning of this epidemic, pictures in the media of crowds in China wearing masks were also, I believe, deliberate propaganda intended to whip up fear.

I should also mention that there are commercial interests with a stake in the promotion of masks, hand sanitizer and other related products that are turning our society into a psychiatric clinic for germaphobes.

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