Politics always trumps science especially when science has become so dependent on politics for funding. To think that relationship wouldn’t end up being one way is not just naive it’s absurd. That’s doesn’t mean science can’t happen.
But the people doing it are always going to want two things. To keep their jobs and to get more funding. This means you must appease your political sugar daddy and the results are – well, look at the past two years.
Craptastic public health failures at every turn. And while not everyone agrees, some folks who were going that line have the sense to realize that enough is enough.
Margery Smelkinson, Ph.D. is an infectious disease specialist. She works at Tony Fauci’s NIAID and she’s out against masking kids in schools.
Covid policies must be based on robust evidence and balanced against potential harms. School mask mandates do not meet that standard. The time has come to pivot towards mask-optional policies.
My latest with @JeanneNoble18 and @LeslieBienen https://t.co/vynYRZuADc
— Margery Smelkinson, Ph.D. (@MSmelkinsonPhD) January 26, 2022
She’s called for the curtain on more than just masking.
Her Atlantic essay cautioned against “a pivot” to higher-grade masks, which Montgomery County started distributing in schools this month. The FDA has not approved N95s for children, and Chinese-made KN95s require a “very tight seal” that is “unrealistic” in schools, Smelkinson wrote.
We’ve seen several such calls more notably at places like Plymouth University.
Some local boards and committees have also considered an evolution to N95 masks in their quest to keep the nightmare alive and kicking. Like Plymouth University, it’s a knee-jerk action without any regard to the issues related to such an edict.
Not for nothin’, but the N95 respirator is an OSHA-regulated piece of protective equipment. There are lots of rules (here’s one example). That means there are conditions and guidelines for not just use but proper and effective use, especially when employers require them of employees.
Employers should reference this guide to help educate their employees on the proper use and limitations of this type of PPE. Teach them how to use it and for how long. There is a checklist for fit-testing, and several other goodies, not mentioned in the email to faculty and students.
And implementing the N95 without proper training or an understanding of proper fit would be pointless. The same guide also notes several issues that interfere with the effectiveness of the N95.
The N95 also increases the likelihood of side effects like hypoxia, dizziness, headaches, and the re-inhalation of contaminants our bodies rely on an unobstructed exhale to remove. But another example of the dangers created y politicizing public health and weaponizing the flu almost no one needs to fear.
But that ship sailed, listed, burned, and sank. We’re left with the wreck and no good way to get to it to rescue the millions trapped in its memory.
Margery Smelkinson is trying to ease people back from the COVID ledge, despite having helped lead them there but then, that’s science. You look at a thing and then come to realize the circumstances are other than you once believed or have been proven wrong.
Smelkinson’s not admitting she was wrong, she is saying we’ve done this, and now it’s time to stop. The problem there is that none of this had much to do with science or public health. It was always political and the politicians aren’t down with their play. If it suits them the part played by Margery Smelkinson Ph. D. could be recast.
In more tyrannical regimes no one would hear from Margery ever again. A circumstance we’re a lot closer to today than we were two years ago. Blame whomever you want but we need to stop heading in that direction and go back or no one will be writing these sorts of op-eds for The Atlantic or anyone else, ever again.
