More mask hysteria
This entry was at first intended to be just a small section of the initial report. Yet mask fever spiraled into such a freakish spectacle that it needs many entries. No matter how much evidence has piled up that masks were completely ineffective and harmful, society’s deciders still stand by mask mandates through thick and thin.
When we look at the imposition of mask mandates—especially their scope and length—it’s easy to forget just how extreme and unliberal it would have seemed before 2020. If it was considered a human rights violation before 2020, it should still be considered one after. Principles don’t change just because there’s a crisis. That’s when principles count more than ever. However, parts of this series of reports dealing with mask mandates are only an approximate guide, because enforcement varied from nonexistent to brutal—sometimes even within the same venue in the same time frame. Although some jurisdictions at some times took no action to enforce their own orders, there were arrests in these same jurisdictions at other times. Despite the widespread incursion by these mandates, there is actually not much scientific analysis of how well they were enforced or obeyed in particular institutions. I will say I was impressed with the noncompliance at many events and places I visited, but unfortunately, not every event had such spirit.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador may have put it best when he said he would not don a mask, because he wanted to “own the posh crowd.” Areas that were full of financially secure professionals seemed to idolize maskage, while working-class areas seemed to reject it. This was backed up by a July 2021 HarrisX poll and other surveys.
For years, the media had accused their many enemies of being anti-vaxxers—even those who generally supported vaccines. But permamaskers were the real anti-vaxxers. They had so little faith in vaccines that they thought masks were necessary even with a vaccine. By demanding masks even after vaccines became available, they undermined trust in vaccines. Having mask rules after vaccines were widely distributed is no different from making these rules permanent.
How absurd is it that we let the media decide that showing one’s face was as taboo as public nudity? How preposterous is it that we sought consent from the government before we did something as normal as showing our faces again? It’s just like how we sought permission just to start leaving our homes again. In another similarity with stay-at-home orders, many “leaders” promised mask mandates would last only two weeks, when they knew damn well they were going to extend the mandates for as long as they dared.
Let’s be frank: Masks were useless. This isn’t just a gut feeling but something that can be backed up with hard facts and scientific reports. Why did case counts in the U.S. blast upward in late 2020 just after people started wearing masks much more often? Why did they drop so much in Texas after that state famously lifted its mask order? Many other states did so later and saw a similar drop, as did countries like Estonia. A graph of cases in Utah shows a particularly strong correlation between tougher mandates and higher case counts. In May 2021, a study by University of Louisville biologist Damian D. Guerra and longtime research scientist Daniel J. Guerra said, “Mask mandates were not predictive of slower COVID-19 spread.” A later University of Queensland study found that masks hampered cognitive performance.
These findings were just more logs on the towering shit sundae that had debunked widespread masking for years. A 2006 paper encouraged vaccination to fight pandemics but opposed measures like lockdowns, travel limits, and general mask use. It said such extreme measures are ineffective and “could result in significant disruption of the social functioning of communities and result in possibly serious economic problems.”
Surgeons and other medical workers did wear masks while working on patients long before the pandemic. However, the main reason for this was to prevent exchange of fluids. Many of the masks sold to the public during the pandemic were specifically labeled as ineffective for COVID, and some were actually intended for tasks such as working with drywall.
By 2022, masks were so completely discredited by scientific studies that much of the public openly questioned this measure even while some jurisdictions dug in. A Reddit post even said:
“To me the data against masks is incontrovertible. They have been thoroughly, soundly debunked from every angle. And yet ‘experts’ continue to insist in them despite their obvious ineffectiveness.
“It’s embarrassing at this point how much they are unwilling to accept that their position is debunked.”
Even after the pandemic began, the Guardian reported that Public Health England did not recommend masks for the general public. In April 2020, the WHO reiterated its guidance that did not recommend masks. This agency released new guidance in June, but most of it seemed to apply only to older adults in limited situations. The WHO remained opposed in all cases to masks on young children. UNICEF also opposed masking very young kids. The CDC had previously urged not wearing masks, but in April when the CDC suddenly began demanding almost universal maskage, it stood almost alone among the world’s major health agencies. What new studies appeared between March and April to justify masks? There were none. The actual science didn’t change. Also, instead of recommendations, our officials leapfrogged directly to mandates.
International health agencies said masks should never be worn during exercise or physical activity. In Wuhan, a 26-year-old man’s lungs collapsed because he was jogging in a mask. Yet various American officials and institutions tried requiring it anyway.
Forcing very young children to wear masks for prolonged periods is child abuse. Full stop. There is no gray area. This is not negotiable. I don’t give a damn what anybody else says. Shame on any politician or “expert” who encouraged it. Noted biologist Dr. François Balloux—a self-described COVID “centrist”—even called masking of children “the most bizarre public health policy ever.”
I grew quite tired of those in the media who sniveled about how they couldn’t understand why anyone felt that wearing a mask 100 percent of the time was so objectionable. It was as if the media was willfully ignoring all of the reasons given by countless online commenters and others. Check your privilege, media.
Part of the problem was people who went along with it unquestioningly when they didn’t need to. This only encouraged authorities to dig in.
If there’s any good news, it’s that most government orders for the public to wear masks were not written for aggressive enforcement except in military dictatorships. I know firsthand that many were not enforced at all. The bad news is that they were still enforced too much, and authorities dug in on enforcement as the crisis slogged on. Who in 2019 thought that a year later we’d be fighting with public officials who required the general public to wear masks? Did we lose a war? (Yes.)
Although enforcement seemed relatively light at first, many jurisdictions doubled down as time went on. In parts of the U.S. that had mask mandates in late 2021, you would get in more trouble for not wearing a mask than you would if you committed a serious crime like a home invasion. I know from experience that authorities in my area mostly stopped enforcing laws against home invasions years earlier. In the Bizarro World that’s become of America, crime pays—but not wearing a mask could land you in deep trouble.
With compliance being so low in some regions and venues, the orders seemed almost pointless. Yet the orders were enforced religiously in other places. But if a rule needs 100 percent compliance to work, and if there is no way it will have 100 percent compliance everywhere, it’s probably not a good rule. Authorities must have known this, which means the whole thing was about control. One way we would know it was about control was if the orders themselves became stricter. At first, government “leaders” said even a bandana would suffice. I thought to myself that they were probably building up to eventually disallowing bandanas and then other items, leaving no options other than specific types of masks. Then I would know it was about control. True to form, that’s exactly what happened. The more a type of mask was tolerated by the public, the faster it was disallowed.
This shows mask orders were sumptuary laws and had no basis in public safety. It was a dress code for the general public that made about as much sense as my high school regulating the color of sweaters. In 2007, the University of West Alabama became one of few American public colleges to adopt a dress code. The AP reported that it was “to improve the image of the campus.” It was about compliance. That’s also what mask mandates were about, as diapering up was the most visible sign of compliance and a restructured society.
We know this because the rules kept getting stricter—rarely less strict. The list of permissible items dwindled, while the rules applied in more places. Enforcement was stepped up as well. This trend continued into 2022—even 2023 in some locations. New mask mandates continue to appear in 2024, including in the U.S., where Gateway National Recreation Area in New Jersey has just issued a new mandate.
Some may be inclined to say that militant antimaskists were not completely innocent either. However, the cultlike reliance on masks became so extreme that the media has forfeited the privilege of me thinking both sides were equally bad. It’s like how the media lied so much about lockdowns that they had already lost the privilege of me trusting stories that supported masks. Time and time again, masks were either discredited by scholarly studies, or studies supporting masks used downright laughable methods, but the media kept doubling down in their mask support. It’s called the smart idiot effect. That’s when somebody digs in more and more after being proven wrong.
Some studies that did favor masks were conducted using mannequins or hamsters. It was never adequately explained how they fit a mask on a hamster. Plus, those studies were in laboratories, not the real world. UCSF’s Dr. Vinay Prasad charged that some studies relied on “hairdresser anecdotes.” It didn’t take long before there was enough real word data to show the ineffectiveness of masks. A set of graphs has periodically been posted on social media sites showing that regions with high mask usage have not seen less COVID. This data consists of hard numbers reflecting what has already taken place—not speculation. Yet it has been ignored by major media.
Despite the media’s protests to the contrary, masks were so thoroughly discredited that I felt a sense of relief whenever somebody violated a mask order. (Predictably, the lying media portrayed a few instances of bluster and bravado as the face of all dissenters.) Forced masking was truly one of the very worst measures put in place during the pandemic—and has lasted the longest. Almost without fail, the worse an idea was, the longer it lasted. This proves that authoritarian measures were designed to weaken morale. I know bullshit when I see it, and the media has never shown us the science supporting masks. Not only is their scientific credibility dashed, but also their moral authority, as they cheered lockdowns that defied all ethical standards.
If there was one group that was undeterred in the permamasking crusade, it was powerful executives in the business world. The Hill reported in July 2020 that top executives from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Retail Federation, and National Association of Manufacturers were among those who teamed up to demand a nationwide standard on mandatory maskage.
Masks were worse than just ineffective. They created a culture of fear—in contrast to the peace that we should aspire to. That’s in addition to the very real medical concerns that were arrogantly shrugged off. Our rulers claimed repeatedly that masks have no negative medical consequences. Don’t buy it. I experimented with maskage just to see what would happen, and I had breathing trouble, a headache, and heart palpitations after less than a minute. The media doesn’t get to gaslight me by telling me I didn’t experience this. Should I believe them, or should I believe my own experiences? Media outlets also said masks would not impede breathing for people with asthma or even cystic fibrosis. That too was a lie. People with asthma made numerous online posts reporting severe breathing trouble with masks.
The more people reported problems like this, the more the media kept doubling down and insisting it wasn’t true. This is another toxic example of unconscionable but intentional journalistic malpractice by the media. However, as you’ll see from a later report in this series, an American public school district released a document confirming masks’ “adverse effects.” So if the media wants to argue with a school about it, that’s their problem.
This reliance on diapering up was indeed cultlike. It reminded me of an episode of The Simpsons in which Homer became a cable TV commentator who wore a gravy boat on his head, prompting the public to follow by walking around with gravy boats on their heads all the time. This episode in turn clearly lampooned the Tea Party movement and its followers who used teabags in their clothes and jewelry. Conversely, there were many places that supposedly required masks, but where this rule was almost completely ignored and nobody cared. It was like the story of the emperor with no clothes. By that time, public officials had no credibility. Strangely, it was mostly people who claimed to be the most well-educated who didn’t realize it, so maskage was less prevalent in settings with a mainstream customer base rather than a financially secure clientele.
Many American jurisdictions demanded masks on anyone at least two—yes, two—years of age. Two-year-olds soil their pants and throw tantrums at the slightest provocation (sort of like our politicians do), so how can they be developmentally able to wear a mask? However, the U.S. is actually uncommon in demanding small children wear masks. France gave the U.S. a run for its money in this regard though, thanks to the diktats of totalitarian Prime Minister Jean Castex. On the other hand, Ireland reportedly never required masks for children under 12.
The WHO and others have shunned masks for very young children. Plastic shopping bags have warnings that say they should be kept away from small children because they could suffocate. Similar science applies to masks. Masks on young children create their own unsafe conditions, and parents have every right to place their children’s safety over unscientific government fiats.
From January 2021 to April 2022, the U.S. was plagued by an order by the TSA that required masks on mass transit such as airplanes, buses, and commuter trains, and in transport facilities like airports and bus stations. This order was flawed not just because of its substance. For one thing, the unelected TSA is not supposed to be a lawmaking body. In addition, although airliners facilitate intercity travel, airports and local transit systems are generally not federal property. They are usually owned by cities, states, and local communities.
In February 2021—again, months after vaccines became available—Honolulu’s bus system doubled down on masks and disallowed bandanas because they didn’t like the appearance. At the same time, however, it was reported that riders and employees of Chicago’s transit system were frequently seen barefaced. Some transit employees were out of patience with maskists. For example, a rider of Washington, D.C., buses groaned that he asked a driver to enforce the mask rule and was told he “should probably get off the bus then.” In addition, a handful of Long Island Rail Road commuters demanded a crackdown on inconsistent maskage by riders and conductors. This demand received no mainstream support.
A commuter rail system in Indiana offered a special car on its trains for riders who declined to wear masks.
The bus system in Bakersfield, California, announced it would not turn away maskless passengers.
In May 2020, a woman was wrestled to the ground by police and arrested for not properly masking at a Brooklyn subway station. Bill de Blasio offered mild criticism of the arrest, but he later dug in on such extreme enforcement—even ordering masks to be worn at the New Year’s celebration on Times Square at the start of 2022. TV footage showed that the ridiculous New Year’s fiat was widely ignored.
At the same time as the subway incident, it was reported that a disproportionate number of those arrested for COVID-related offenses in New York City were Black. Several such confrontations were caught on video.
Many passengers at Salt Lake City International Airport seemed to be good little fascists, as they were seen on video goose-stepping their way through the corridors, completely masked. But other airports weren’t quite as hapless.
Writing for Insider in April 2021, Sara Shah reported that many passengers at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport were not wearing masks inside the facility. Shah seemed to act as if this was a bad thing. Months later, online posts and news stories recounted similar scenes at airports in Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Houston, Austin, Denver, Charlotte, Memphis, and Orlando. On the other hand, one video did show the Los Alamos goose-step in action in Orlando. News photos and videos disclosed noncompliance occurring to some degree at airports in Boston, Louisville, and Honolulu. In Louisville, even a TV reporter went barefaced at the airport, as did a high-ranking airport official. YouTube clips revealed even wider defiance in Los Angeles, Cincinnati, and particularly Buffalo. Footage of various airports suggests there was less compliance in seating areas than walking through the airport. Most comments on these stories and videos cheered this disregard of the regulations, but some crybaby photographed a maskless woman at San Francisco International Airport and splashed the photo all over Twitter. The camera clutching traveler did the same to several men at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago and reported them to airport police. However, the cop told him that the men weren’t actually violating the rules, as they were not on the plane and were not near other people.
The Dallas Morning News reported in April 2022 that another local airport—Dallas Love Field—was using seven-foot-tall “robots” to detect if passengers were wearing masks. The “robots” were actually stationary cameras. They were also used for purposes unrelated to COVID, such as making sure people were not parking too long at the curb to pick up returning travelers, and could issue verbal warnings and notify police. A video posted by the newspaper showed that the “robots” didn’t even work at detecting unmasked passengers, as a barefaced man strolled past without any trouble.
The mixed signals from Orlando resulted in a Yelp reviewer complaining that “enforcement of mask wearing was 0.” Another complained about the noncompliance in Buffalo, whining that offenders “should’ve been removed from the building.”
All in all, Salt Lake City may have been the worst major airport on America’s mainland. An online review said the airport hired personnel to harass customers over masks. The tyranny wasn’t even limited to COVID, as other reviewers called out the general racism at this airport.
Maui may have been worse than any airport on the mainland. A video appeared online showing full mask compliance and was accompanied with a description of the other unpleasantries there. This included all passengers being forced to wait in line for three to four hours to be interviewed and being given a QR code just to exit the airport. Each passenger also had to spend $150 on a COVID test approved by the state of Hawaii, and all restaurants at the airport were closed, forcing people to go hours without food.
Even regarding air travel, the U.S. was an outlier in its cultlike maskage. While the U.S. had a mask order afflicting air travel, an online commenter said they flew from Cairo to Moscow and hardly anyone wore masks even on the plane. A clip of a maskless flight in Norway appeared on Twitter. If other countries could have undiapered travelers without any trouble, why couldn’t America?
Forbes reported that between February and September 2021, the TSA fined less than one percent of people the agency caught without a mask at American airports. Those odds sound pretty favorable to the weary traveler, but the rarity of fines touched off a complain-a-thon by public officials, who demonized violators.
In March 2022, congressional Democrats finally began voicing support for a bill to repeal the transit mask rule. “I’m completely over mask mandates,” said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, a Democrat from New York state. “I don’t think they make any sense anymore. I’m for whatever gets rid of mask mandates as quickly as possible.” Indeed, the Democratic-controlled Senate voted in a bipartisan 57-40 vote to nullify the mandate. But it was too little too late to save the party. The Republicans weren’t blameless either, as Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah—the Republicans’ disastrous presidential nominee in 2012—loudly supported continuing the mandate.
The TSA’s mask order was tossed in April 2022 by a federal judge, who noted that it hadn’t even undergone the proper rulemaking procedures that federal agencies must use. Yet the Biden administration squandered taxpayer money by appealing this ruling. Many folks hailed major airlines for pushing to have the order lifted, but airlines were not the heroes that some people thought, because they had implemented and strictly enforced mask mandates many months before the TSA rule was enacted. Nonetheless, when the court issued its ruling to overturn the TSA’s fiat, many pilots announced the ruling in the middle of a flight, and passengers erupted in cheers.
In October 2023, Sen. J.D. Vance, a Republican from Ohio, introduced a new measure to ban federal mask mandates on public transit and commercial airliners through the next fiscal year. It passed overwhelmingly in the Democratic-led Senate. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio noted, “The pandemic is over. There’s no reason to make people wear masks.”
The blogosphere’s adherence to the mask cult was as unyielding as its reliance on lockdowns. There used to be diaries posted on Daily Kos opposing masks—some posted by industrial workers who understood how masks work. After these stopped appearing, remaining commenters slapped themselves on the back about hounding off these diarists. One even said that people who didn’t wear masks on a walking trail were “pieces of shit.” Later—in response to a diary that incorrectly equated opposing masks with opposing vaccines—a commenter boasted:
“Our side of the political spectrum has our share of science-denial crackpots too. We used to get them regularly HERE a few years ago, before the covid thing ever even began. ...
“Thankfully, admin started kicking them out on their idiot ass, and the rest of them shut their stupid mouths.”
Similar to the “pieces of shit” remark was when a Reddit commenter said people not wearing masks on the Boston subway were “assholes.”
As Deborah Birx was urging Americans not to travel or visit family for any reason, she traveled to one of her many vacation homes for a big family gathering. While she was on this trip, she gave a remote Face The Nation interview in which she complained about people traveling “even into the next state”—even as she did so herself! Birx was also known for her seemingly random lists of major cities that were about to suffer COVID surges. Cities on these lists rarely went on to have such a surge. In September 2020, Birx’s task force demanded Montana implement fines for violating mask orders. Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock pooh-poohed this complaint, saying, “We do things the Montana way here.”
Much as Birx’s lists of cities didn’t pan out, one article dredged up some “expert” in March 2021 to warn that the U.S. was “on a tipping point of another surge.” That statement was followed by some of the lowest case counts of the entire era.
As late as January 2021, Birx’s task force—as one of the final acts of the Trump administration—was urging Florida to enact a new lockdown. This also shows the bipartisanship of the COVID autocracy complex. Similarly, President Trump and Vice-President Pence did not wear masks at campaign rallies, and some Trump staffers did not wear masks while in the audience at a debate, even though it was ostensibly required. Yet Birx—who worked for the Trump administration—constantly demanded stricter mandates.
Of course, it wasn’t just the U.S. Reportedly, there was no actual law in the Philippines to criminalize not wearing a mask, but President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the maskless to be detained anyway. The human rights organization Karapatan said Duterte’s ukase was “brazenly unscientific and ineffective” and a “disproportionate use of force.”
Regardless of your overall political leanings, you can see that these time traveling “two-week” mask mandates that have lasted four years in some jurisdictions are unmatched failures. Common sense shouldn’t have a specific ideology. It’s especially preposterous that the American federal government had a mask mandate for 15 months for transit systems it didn’t own, and that this mandate was actually imposed after vaccines came out.