You could put every ‘confirmed’ case of Bird Flu in the United States (in humans) on a Greyhound Bus. Fewer than 70 cases (68) out of a population of 340 million (ish). That’s 0.00002%. You’re more likely to get struck by lightning (1 in 15,300). And that’s just catching it. There have been no fatal cases (unless you count the chickens killed, so only the ruling class can afford eggs).
That’s no reason not to market it like a Biblical plague to get people to do things that pose a greater general health risk. You’ve seen them. There are people in public wearing cloth or medical masks. Some of them never stopped – and that’s just nuts, but I’m referring to the folks who have returned to the practice because someone convinced them it could protect them from flu-like viruses.
Dartmouth Health is one of those doing the convincing.
A few weeks ago, I visited an old friend who has lymphoma. He’s in an ICU at Dartmouth Health Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, New Hampshire. The mask policy is optional, but the staff were masked a practice they are encouraging patients and visitors to adopt. They really, REALLY want you to wear them, despite there being zero evidence of benefits and real evidence of health risks.
I will admit that if you are coughing or sneezing, it’s in everyone’s best interest for you to keep that to yourself. Don’t be spraying your crap all over everyone. And if yo are not doing either of those things but still want to obstruct your airway and recycle CO2, nanoplastics, and toxic chemicals into your lungs, that’s your call. There is also evidence of an inhalation hazard from PFOA and other toxins used in their manufacture.
I don’t recommend them, but DHMC does. In an email sent out this week, they link to an article titled “What You Need to Know About Avian Influenza Virus.” It is honest about how few cases there are and that humans are not likely spreaders, but it can’t help but offer this mask guidance, which it justifies by linking to the source—the CDC.
To help reduce risks of human-to-human spread in healthcare facilities:
- You may wear a mask even if you don’t have symptoms in our buildings.
- If you have respiratory symptoms (cough, runny or stuffy nose, sore throat), we require masks
- Know that our healthcare providers are strongly encouraged to wear a mask for all patient care.
- Wear masks appropriately, covering your nose and mouth. Masks are not to be worn dangling from ears or around chins/necks.
Source: Prevention and Antiviral Treatment of Avian Influenza A Viruses in People | Bird Flu | CDC
RFKJ needs to get someone to review that. Even if there were a risk of bird flu spreading between people, this mask guidance is misleading. It needs to include some hard truths—risks versus rewards. Include inconveneint facts like how they are less than useless at preventing viral spread. That any viability is abrogated by facial hair and that touching them even once damages whatever actual function they might have.
People need details to make an informed decision and if they had them, a lot of folks would stop wearing them.
The CDC also needs to update guidance on N95 or KN95 respirators. OSHA requires special training in workplaces that use them, yet no such requirement was ever attempted during COVID. People walk around wearing them daily (even now) with no clear understanding of the proper use or the risks they pose to individual human health.
Dartmouth Hitchcock might be a bastard when it comes to things like gender surgery and organ transplants, but they do a lot of good medicine. I can’t dismiss that. I have doctors in the DH system who have done right by me for years. My friend with Lymphoma is doing a lot better since he started treatment. There are good procedures and medicines so no throwing the baby out with the bathwater. But using the CDC as an excuse for what at least a few people in positions of authority ought to know is bad healthcare is inexcusable.
