The Science is Settled: Masking children does far more harm than good
The Science is Settled: Masking children does far more harm than good
Not only is there no point to masking a child against the CCP virus, long-term masking causes moderate to severe medical and mental health issues for them
Masking children during the China virus pandemic has proven to be not only ineffective and unnecessary, but harmful to their overall physical and mental health. (Photo: Evan Edwards/University of Alabama-Birmingham) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
How did this blue surgical mask and white cloth mask come to dominate our daily lives? Masks have become the most contentious and quarrelsome symbol and reminder of our battle with SARS-CoV-2, the China virus or, as we call it, the CCP virus.
Masking has become so politicized that it prevents rational consideration of the evidence and drives levels of acrimony, invidious actions, disdain, and villainy among wearers to each other who feel threatened by the individual who will not or cannot wear a mask.
Making these reactions to one another mor irrational is the fact the virus simply isn’t all that dangerous. In fact, it is less deadly than seasonal influenza. The reason we have seen so many deaths worldwide and in the U.S. than a typical flu season is the fact the virus further compromises the health of those living with COPD, asthma. Heart disease and diabetes for more effectively than does the yearly flue.
Based on studies done by Professor John PA Ioannidis of Stanford University, we know that we are dealing with a virus that has an infection fatality rate (IFR) of 0.05 in persons 70 years old and under 70 years of and under. This figure is actually less than the IFR of most influenza viruses and yet the draconian and massive reactions to the China virus have never been employed during influenza season.
Given this knowledge it is more than perplexing as to why our governments, at the behest of their public health advisors, have accepted as a fait accompli of a “great deception” ― an outright lie, to be blunt ― convincing us of inevitable and severe consequences if anyone is infected with the CCP virus.
The laypeople of the world have been deliberately lied to and deceived from day one by governments and the media medical cabal with its incessant messaging that we were all at equal risk of severe illness or death if infected, young and old. They subverted science.
This caused irrational fear and hysteria that continues a year and a half later, even though the number of infections is drastically reduced from the height of the pandemic. This type of deception and the resulting unfounded fear has been driven by the media despite a thousandfold difference in risk between old and young.
I am boldly proclaiming that these facts of the virus have been known from the beginning. Disinformation and blatant falsehoods were spread both willfully and knowingly by our leaders and the media. Such conflation of the risks between the young and the elderly population with comorbidities and the at-risk is wrong-headed and creates unnecessary fear for all. It is well known that there is a distinct stratified risk strongly associated with increasing age and comorbidities.
Additionally, data now suggests that children not only have extremely low risk but also that they naturally have the capability of evading the China virus due to the lack of the ACE-2 receptors in their nostrils. It escapes me as to why this deceit continues to be served to the public and has not been stopped, except to speculate with good reason that the government wasn’t us isolated, afraid and docilely obedient. Such a sheep-like population is easier to control with still more edicts and mandates.
Exercise is obviously uncomfortable when wearing a mask, but new evidence is proving that even casual activity sees the development of breathing stress when worn over a period of time. (Photo: Sean Mayhugh/Irish Times) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Evidence is accumulating about the potential harms of mask use For example, the CDC’s own February 2021 double-mask study reported that masking may impede breathing ― which can trigger a variety of other problems including acute anxiety attacks in susceptible individuals. These harms are even more likely to occur to children, particularly children under the age of five.
The scientific evidence in total also suggests masks as currently used are ineffective in reducing transmission In many reports even those masks which offer minimal improvement in stopping the spread are still largely ineffective, conclusively so. As an example, a very recent publication stated that face masks become nonconsequential and do not function after 20 minutes due to moisture saturation.
“Those masks are only effective so long as they are dry,” said Professor Yvonne Cossart of the Department of Infectious Diseases at the University of Sydney. ”As soon as they become saturated with the moisture in your breath, they stop doing their job and pass on the droplets.”
In a similar light, there are indications that wearing a mask that has already been used, which is very common, is riskier than if one wore no mask at all. The evidence on mask mandates is also clear in that they are ineffective and do not work to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses like the China virus.
We don’t have a wealth of scientific evidence on exactly when it is safe or not safe for children to be masked, but here’s a good rule of thumb. If you wouldn’t put a child in the front seat of your Prius without disabling the airbag ― think twice before requiring an otherwise healthy child to wear a mask or even forcing them to social distance in school.
On the dangers of masks generally, a recent mini-review reported “There are insufficient data to quantify all of the adverse effects that might reduce the acceptability, adherence and effectiveness of face masks.”
While many of the researchers warning against universal mask use agree that there is a dearth of adequate primary comparative effectiveness research is still not available, they do have strong anecdotal, reported, and real-world information, along with some primary evidence, which we have judged appropriate to inform the discussion sufficiently.
During April to October 2020 in the US, emergency room visits linked clinical anxiety for children aged 5-11 increased by nearly 25 percent and increased by 31 percent for those aged 12-17 years old as compared to the same period in 2019. During the month of June 2020, 25 percent of persons aged 18 to 24 in the US reported suicidal ideation. It is widely suspected that it is largely a function of our response to the pandemic.
One of the most starkly revealing and troubling observations come from Dr. Margarite Griesz-Brisson MD, PhD, who is one of Europe’s leading neurologists and neurophysiologists focused on neurotoxicology, environmental medicine, neuro-regeneration and neuroplasticity. She has gone on record stating: “The rebreathing of our exhaled air will without a doubt create oxygen deficiency and a flooding of carbon dioxide. We know that the human brain is very sensitive to oxygen deprivation.”
Labeled a “quack” and a “cultist” for statements that masks cause carbon dioxide toxicity, Dr,Steven Arthur LaTulippe of Oregon had his license suspended last Friday, despite new research proving his viewpoint. (Photo: Natalie Jacobs/The Oregonian) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
There are neurons, for example in the hippocampus ― the center of the “fight-flight-or-freeze” center of the brain ―that cannot survive more than three minutes without an adequate supply of oxygen. Given that such cells are so sensitive to oxygen deprivation, their functionality must be affected by low oxygen levels.
Oxygen deprivation can cause metabolic changes and the metabolic changes that happen in braincells are vitally important for cognitive functioning and brain plasticity. It is known that when drastic metabolic shifts occur in the brain, there are consequent changes in the brain’s to oxygenate. The flow of oxygen to the brain has a significant role in managing neuron function in reasoning, remembering and processing.
The acute warning symptoms are headaches, drowsiness, dizziness, reduced ability to concentrate and reductions in cognitive function. Given that the development of neurodegenerative diseases can take years to develop, then there must be grave concern over the potentially toxic effects of the use of masks, especially in children, when masks are used over the majority of their day.
Parents, must consider this and weigh the benefits versus the harms. Are there benefits enough to warrant use relative to the potential harms? If the harms outweigh the benefits, then we cannot in good conscience advocate for mask use. Moreover, the continual and stressful impacts of masking (and school closures) will also have a known and harmful impact on the immune systems in children (and adults).
Other medical harms relate to the notion that children and adolescents have an extremely active and adaptive immune system, a system that must be challenged in order to retain functionality. Yet by severely restricting children’s activities because of lockdowns and masking, we are probably hobbling their immune systems. Evidence indicates that regular physical activity and frequent exercise enhance immune competency and regulation.
A child unexposed to nature has little defense against a minor illness, which can become overwhelming due to the lack of a primed ‘tuned-up’ and ‘taxed’ immune system. They may just as well be “the boy in the bubble,” without a valid medical reason for isolating them.
A robust immune system shortens an illness as a consequence of the presence of preprogrammed “remembered” immunity. Preventing children from such interactions with nature and germs can and does lead to overwhelming infections and serious consequences to the health and life of a child. We might be setting up our children for future disaster when they emerge from societal restrictions fully and with no masks.
They will be at the mercy of normally benign opportunistic infections with a now weakened immune system. This cannot be disregarded as we consider the consequences of our actions today in this pandemic and the questionable lockdowns, school closures, and mask policies.
A German-wide registry used by 20,353 parents who reported on data from almost 26,000 children, found that the average wearing time of a mask was 270 minutes per day ― four and a half hours. Impairments caused by wearing the mask were reported by 68 percent of the parents.
Of perhaps greater concern than the physical aspects of children wearing masks for prolonged periods of time is the psychological damage that is being reported by parents worldwide. (Photo: Jana Murray/Dallas Morning News) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
These included irritability (60 percent), headache (53 percent), difficulty concentrating (50 percent), unhappiness (49 percent), reluctance to go to school/kindergarten (44 percent), malaise (42 percent) impaired learning (38 percent) and drowsiness or fatigue (37 percent).”
Concerns are being raised regarding psychological damage and why a mask is not ‘just a mask.’ There is tremendous psychological damage to infants and children, with potential catastrophic impacts on the cognitive development of children. This is even more critical in relation to children with special needs or those within the autism spectrum who need to be able to recognize facial expressions as part of their ongoing development.
The accumulating evidence also suggests that prolonged mask use in children or adults can cause harms, so much so that the bottom line is that if you are not sick, you should not wear a mask. Furthermore, by wearing a mask, the exhaled viruses will not be able to escape and will concentrate in the nasal passages, enter the olfactory nerves and travel into the brain.
Remember, even Dr. Anthony Fauci told us in 2020 that masks are not needed and not effective as you may think it is. Fauci was indeed telling you the science then, and the science has not changed. His statement “it is not providing the perfect protection that people think … ” may have changed, but the science remains crystal clear on the lack of effectiveness.
Parents must consider this and to carefully weigh the benefits versus the harms of masks to their children. This really is not an issue of the “science” as kids do not spread the virus readily to kids, to adults, to teachers, or to the home. They do not get severely ill or die from this. Moreover, teachers are at very low risk of severe illness or death and the school setting remains one of the safest, lowest risk environments.
The science is clear and thus the question becomes, what is the benefit of masks for children? Is masking of children really more about seeming to be doing something even if it is ineffective or possibly harmful? If the possible harms outweigh the negligible and questionable benefit in such a low-risk group, then why must they wear masks indoors and outdoors at school?
Masks in children with such near zero risk of transmission and illness from the China virus is not necessary and illogical and irrational. This is similar to the need for vaccination of children, especially young children. Children were not part of the vaccine research and also the very low risk to children raises very troubling questions of why vaccines are even being considered for them. A move to vaccinate children based on the existing risk evidence has no basis in science and there is no net benefit.
Masking or vaccinating children is as absurd, illogical, nonsensical, and potentially dangerous as is the impossible task of trying to stop every case of CCP virus or stopping it at all costs. Masks are not needed for children based on near zero risk in children. The risk of dying from China virus is “almost zero” for young people. The issue of masks in children is really a risk management question for parents and any decision-maker.
As proponents of the CCP virus fearmongering as so fond of saying, the science is settled.
Mike Nichols is a conservative, a patriot, U.S. Army veteran, a licensed professional counselor, political enthusiast, sports fan and writer living with his beautiful wife Liz in the Heartland. He is a regular contributor at has a regular blog at the GenZConservative news website and a Facebook presence at Americas Conservative Voice-Facebook.