After graduation from medical residency, I served for four years as my AirForce Reserve unit’s biological/chemical weapons expert & physician. My job was to understand the risks of all the known biologic and chemical weapons that could be used on a human being, including severe viral and bacterial diseases that could pose a threat. My training was specifically focused on how to prevent and treat the effects of these illnesses in those under my care, military or otherwise.

I spent four years reading and researching where and when various types of masks, respirators and protective equipment would and should be used. Never once was a surgical or cloth mask ever found to be effective. Even N95 masks failed the rigors of these encounters.

This week our fearless Dr. Fauci says it’s “common sense” to wear two masks. So, my question to him and all of the other emperors of medicine is, what about three masks?

Even better yet, 10 masks makes even more “common sense!!” Where does this stop? (I stop at 11, because, my ears flop over at 12 masks.)

I’m thinking that 100 masks is 100% effective right?

I guess those filtered gas masks really aren’t essential then?!

One surgical mask decreases risk by 1-2% (yes, that’s the benefit of a mask that we’ve been required to wear). You’re more likely to have a 40% COVID risk reduction by throwing salt over your shoulder when you leave the house . . . (that’s the actual placebo effect).

The whole reason for mask wearing is to decrease “asymptomatic” transmission of COVID-19. That means, masks are supposed to decrease your risk of spreading or inhaling this virus when you or the person near you have no symptoms. Initially, we recommended wearing masks, because we did not know how infective the COVID-19 virus was to humans. We also knew that there was limited access to the N95 masks used in the hospital setting.

However, in the last 12 months, we’ve learned a great deal and we have a tremendous amount of data about treating this virus in the outpatient setting. You can follow Dr. Nally’s COVID-19 treatment protocol here.

How Contagious is COVID-19?

What’s the actual risk of spreading the virus when you have no symptoms? It’s about 0.06% if you have prolonged contact (3 hours continuous face-to-face) with a person within six hours of that person having onset of symptoms (i.e. – fever, sore throat, fatigue, headache, loss of taste or smell, or runny nose). It is very rare to be infected at all with COVID-19 asymptomatically if you contact a person 6-9 hours before they have symptoms.

In fact, a recent study revealed there were no positive tests (or asymptomatic spread) among 1,174 close contacts of asymptomatic cases.  So, why are we still wearing masks? Because it is politically convenient, increases fear, and increases your likelihood of getting a vaccine.

Are There Unintended Consequences of Mask Wearing?

Is wearing a mask to decrease a minimal risk by 1% more worth the risk? Increased bacterial and fungal infections that are on the rise as a consequence of chronic and continued daily mask wearing.

I’m seeing patients with increased frequency of facial rashes, fungal infections, non COVID-19 induced bacterial infections. Reports are coming from my colleagues, all over the world, that suggest bacterial pneumonias are on the rise.

Why? Because we are wearing and re-wearing of dirty masks. Untrained members of the public are wearing medical masks, repeatedly… in a non-sterile fashion… They’re becoming contaminated. They’re pulling them off of their car seat, off the rearview mirror, out of their pocket, from their countertop, and they’re reapplying a mask that should be worn fresh and sterile every single time. And, there is no way around this when 330 million people are required to wear a mask to go to Wal-Mart or Costco.

In a recent report in Emerging Infectious Diseases, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests what experts have stated all along: There is no conclusive evidence that cloth masks protects users from coronavirus, especially since most people do not use them correctly and do not keep them clean.

The report actually says, “To our knowledge, only 1 randomized controlled trial has been conducted to examine the efficacy of cloth masks in healthcare settings, and the results do not favor use of cloth masks. More randomized controlled trials should be conducted in community settings to test the efficacy of cloth masks against respiratory infections.”

So, why, again, are we wearing these masks?