Calif. Dept. of Public Health Clinging to COVID Masking Orders Despite Authoritative Study Debunking Masks

As the Globe reported March 1st, Gov. Gavin Newsom finally ended California’s COVID-19 State of Emergency.

“Or did he?” we asked.

There are several reasons why we asked, and two in particular stand out: Masking and his new “SMARTER Plan.”

Masks

The California Department of Public Health still has masking orders in place until April 2, 2023, claiming, “California has used science to guide our health protection strategies throughout the pandemic.”

“A universal indoor masking requirement was reinstated on December 15, 2021, to add a layer of mitigation as the Omicron variant,” the CDPH says.

Science.

The Sacramento Bee claims in an article last week designed to suss out what is true and false in Covid, “Masking generally can significantly reduce transmission of COVID-19 and other respiratory infections in health care and community settings, evidence shows.” And the science behind this statement by the Capitol newspaper of record? A Science Direct article from August 2020.

Since then there have been dozens of scientific studies debunking masking as means to prevent the spread of Covid and other flu-like viruses.

The most recent and thoroughly extensive, comprehensive study is the Cochrane study, completed in February:

We identified 78 relevant studies. They took place in low‐, middle‐, and high‐income countries worldwide: in hospitals, schools, homes, offices, childcare centres, and communities during non‐epidemic influenza periods, the global H1N1 influenza pandemic in 2009, epidemic influenza seasons up to 2016, and during the COVID‐19 pandemic. We identified five ongoing, unpublished studies; two of them evaluate masks in COVID‐19. Five trials were funded by government and pharmaceutical companies, and nine trials were funded by pharmaceutical companies.

…wearing a mask may make little to no difference in how many people caught a flu‐like illness/COVID‐like illness (9 studies; 276,917 people); and probably makes little or no difference in how many people have flu/COVID confirmed by a laboratory test (6 studies; 13,919 people).

Despite that we now have the most definitive and factual evidence that there was zero value provided by wearing masks during the pandemic – other than to dehumanize the population –  the California Department of Public Health is still recommending masking in some locations, and by some populations.

In fact, “CDPH continues to strongly recommend that all persons:

• Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccination, including all primary series doses and boosters.
• If you’ve been exposed, wear a mask for 10 days.
• Stay home when sick and know what to do if you have been infected with COVID-19, including seeking treatment early.
• Test if you are sick or have been exposed to someone with COVID-19.
• Improve ventilation and air quality in their setting.
• Wash hands regularly.
• Sign up for CA Notify to receive alerts when you have been in close contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19.

And the CDPH even digs its heels in on masking: “Despite what level your community may be in, masks that offer the best fit and filtration (e.g., N95s, KN95s, KF94s), are highly recommended, and remain a critical component of our multi-layered approach for protection against COVID-19 infection.”

The newest CDPH Covid guidance says this:

Regardless of the COVID-19 community levels, CDPH recommends:

• Wear a mask around others if you have respiratory symptoms (e.g., cough, runny nose, and/or sore throat),
• Consider wearing a mask in indoor areas of public transportation (such as in airplanes, trains, buses, ferries) and transportation hubs (such as airports, stations, and seaports).  This is increasingly important as the risk for transmission increases in the community.
• When choosing to wear a mask, ensure your mask provides the best fit and filtration (respirators like N95, KN95 and KN94 are best).
• If you’ve had a significant exposure to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, wear a mask for 10 days.

Who and what is Cochrane, the author(s) of the study?

According to City Journal, “the gold standard for medical evidence is the randomized clinical trial, and the gold standard for analyzing this evidence is Cochrane (formerly the Cochrane Collaboration), the world’s largest and most respected organization for evaluating health interventions. Funded by the National Institutes of Health and other nations’ health agencies, it’s an international network of reviewers, based in London, that has partnerships with the WHO and Wikipedia. Medical journals have hailed it for being ‘the best single resource for methodologic research” and for being “recognized worldwide as the highest standard in evidence-based healthcare.’”

The most accurate and uncompromising study of masking yet disputes what the CDPH recommends – that neither surgical masks, N95, KN95s, and KF94s masks make any difference in reducing the spread of Covid-19.

Throughout the Covid pandemic, the Globe questioned the masking orders, and cited statements from many physicians we interviewed. We were attacked repeatedly for our journalistic inquiries. In January 2022, I interviewed Dr. Peter McCullough, a cardiologist who at that time who had 46 peer-reviewed publications on COVID. I asked Dr. McCullough about mandatory masking, and he said, “there have been over one dozen studies of general masking which have shown it is basically not effective. I think the only people that need masks… I am a cardiologist and I wear a mask with patients.”

“Dentists, dental hygienists – and we wear them in the operating room. It’s not to prevent the spread of COVID, but it stops sneezes or coughs,” Dr. McCullough added. “But general masks don’t work.” He noted that epidemiologic curves show even with masks worn for two years, “we have more COVID now than we had before.”

The people of California are owed an apology – actually many apologies – starting with Governor Gavin Newsom who locked the state down, required businesses to close, closed schools, closed public parks, closed and killed off restaurants (except the French Laundry), mandated testing, mandated masks, and mandated vaccines even for healthy people and school children, of which Dr. McCullough said emphatically, “Students have never been a major vector. There were no school outbreaks even in the first year,” he said. “And even in the pandemic and second year, there have been no major outbreaks.”

Punishments must be administered to the public health doctors and professors who falsified science journals, disparaging therapeutic treatments of long-trusted, now inexpensive generic medicines – as well as those who knowingly ordered the mRNA shots while disparaging therapeutic treatments and punishing/cancelling doctors who did treat patients therapeutically.

Gov’s SMARTER Plan

Governor Newsom is holding onto his Covid protocols to be used “for future emergencies.”

What?

“The state’s SMARTER Plan will maintain California’s operational preparedness to address the next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and will continue to guide the state’s work to support communities across the state,” Gov. Newsom’s plan website states. “Additionally, COVID-19 vaccines, testing, and treatment continue to be available at sites within local communities across the state.”

The SMARTER Plan should give you chills, as Newsom’s Covid19.ca.gov website explains:

“The SMARTER Plan is not just for COVID-19. We can use these strategies and systems for future emergencies.”

SMARTER stands for:

• Shots – Vaccines are the most powerful weapon against hospitalization and serious illness.
• Masks – Properly worn masks with good filtration help slow the spread of COVID-19 or other respiratory viruses.
• Awareness – We will continue to stay aware of how COVID-19 is spreading, evolving variants, communicate clearly how people should protect themselves, and coordinate our state and local government response.
• Readiness – COVID-19 is not going away and we need to be ready with the tools, resources and supplies we will need to quickly respond and keep public health and the healthcare system well prepared.
• Testing – Getting the right type of tests—PCR or antigen—to where they are needed most. Testing will help California minimize the spread of COVID-19.
• Education – California will continue to work to keep schools open and children safely in classrooms for in-person instruction.
• Rx – Evolving and improving treatments will become increasingly available and critical as a tool to save lives.

“The SMARTER Plan is not just for COVID-19. We can use these strategies and systems for future emergencies. We’ll improve the SMARTER Plan as we learn what works,” the Governor’s plan states.

Shots, masks, readiness, testing, education of school kids, Rx – Pharma solutions. How is the Covid-19 pandemic over if Gov. Newsom is clinging to his Covid protocols?