This might feel like Déjà vu, but I’m going to write it anyway. Do you remember tip #31 of our daily health tips in August was to simply, Ask Better Questions?! Well it’s been almost an entire month now, and collectively as a community, we don’t seem to be making much headway on this topic. Let me explain what I mean….
I’ve been in communication with our local County Health Officer over the past couple of days and I realize that we are communicating from two very different angles. The only concern our public health officers have is whether the mandatory masks are slowing the spread of the virus. That’s it. Their question is…. Do masks work? Their answer is…. YES! It seems like our health officer knows the importance of keeping kids in the classroom, which I appreciate, but it almost seems like a threat. *WANT YOUR KIDS TO STAY IN THE CLASSROOM? THEN MAKE SURE THEIR MASKS ARE ON AT ALL TIMES*
Yet, I can’t help but wonder how all of the local summer camps and daycare facilities have been operating this entire time without kids in masks, with no outbreaks?! Are those facilities immune to COVID? Are the employees and students not living life & spending time with family and friends on the weekends (who could potentially be bringing COVID back into the workplace)? Or is it that maybe our kids would be FINE and HEALTHY in school without masks, just like they were all summer? Would the death rate remain the same, no matter if we implemented masks in the classrooms (on the children) or not? We’ll never know. Do our County and State Officers study those cohorts at all? Are they aware that many of our kids have been attending these facilities for the past 6 months and they’ve remained healthy?! But as soon as they step foot onto school grounds (hanging out with the same friends they spent the summer with), now they must wear the masks to “stay healthy”?
We can all agree that wearing a cloth over our faces is going to block spit particles from flying as far when we cough, sneeze, talk, sing, or laugh. That seems a bit elementary to me though. You don’t need a scientific background to understand that. The literature that is aiming to prove that masks work uses solely that concept, so really there isn’t anything left to “argue” if you choose to stop at that simple fact.
But you guys know me, I like to ask better questions. I like to dig deeper. I like to find the CAUSE of problems instead of staying surface level. So, after accepting the {obvious} fact that masks block spit, I want to take it a step further.
The first question is…. Why are we still trying to “stop the spread” when we know that is completely unattainable? We cannot and will NOT stop the spread of this virus. Ever.
The second question is…. How long are we aiming to “slow the spread” of the virus. And what is the trade off? When we will get our health freedoms back? When hospitals are well equipped and not overrun? Nope. When we finally have some data to study so that we know who is the most at-risk population – meaning we can take precautions to protect those individuals, but let the remainder of society continue to live their lives? Nope. When the vaccine hits the market and some arbitrary percentage of the population gets inoculated? Is that what we are all being forced to wait for? I’m afraid so.
The third question is…. Does long term mask usage (especially on the pediatric population in the classrooms) have any potential physical and/or mental health consequences? In other words, is there a chance that we can be making ourselves more prone to illnesses and mental health struggles because of the mask requirements? The research suggests so, but no one seems to care about that research anymore. Now that we have studies showing that the cloth masks stop spit from flying, everything else goes out the window!
And my final question (for now) …. What will be the long-term consequences of over-sanitizing? I’m talking about the excessive use of heavy duty, toxic hand sanitizer and harsh chemical cleaning products? Will we be seeing an increase in cancer down the road? More gut issues? Chemical toxicity? Decreased immune function? Like I said, what’s the trade off?
The other thing that was brought to my attention while speaking to our County Health Officer is that Government officials really have NO CLUE what is actually going on inside of our local schools. He was under the impression that children are not wearing their masks all day. He told me that they can take their masks off when there is 6 feet of distance, and he was thinking that most schools were somehow equipped for that spacing. When I informed him of the reality of what our kids are going through in schools, I was told that is not a County Health problem, but a School District problem. So here we are again, back at square one.
Another thing that really bothers me, coming straight from the Wyoming Tribune Eagle article this past week, is the statement, “Masks, for the time-being, are the next best thing to actually having a vaccine,”. Really?! What is the FIRST best thing? I think we’ve completely botched the hierarchy of getting through this disease by leaving out a teensy-weensy detail, called a properly functioning Immune System. Why doesn’t the Public Health department actually PROMOTE HEALTH!? Why does the vaccine take the top notch? I think we should be saying, “if you’re under the age of 70 and have no pre-existing co-morbidities, you shouldn’t be worrying hardly at all!” Why can’t we be promoting HOPE rather than FEAR?! I think we should stop worshipping a rushed, man-made vaccine that hasn’t even passed rigorous safety trials over our powerful God-given immune systems!
To sum it up, I truly believe that the way we (as a society) have chosen to respond to COVID 19 will not go without long-term consequences, both economically and physically. There are two sides to this coin. One side is promoting HEALTH, VITALITY, and HOPE. The other side is preaching FEAR, WEAKNESS, and HOPELESSNESS. Which side do you support? We are almost 7 months into this Pandemic, with no real end in sight. We choose to stay on the side of promoting health. Cheers to those of you who join us.
