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Mask mandates far from harmless, point out campaigners
SUMMARY: Compulsory mask rules have been re-imposed in England, but masking the healthy is not and has never been a harmless intervention. For many deaf or hard of hearing, abuse victims, PTSD sufferers, the autistic and more, mask mandates and ‘masked society’ destroy quality of life, as moving new first-hand accounts demonstrate.
Here we go again. In England we are back to compulsory masks in shops, cinemas and theatres, on public transport, and even for children in parts of secondary schools. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland there has been no respite from mandatory mask wearing, despite the lack of good evidence in support of the practice. Along with this new legal imposition in England the pressure on people to wear masks at work and in other situations is bound to increase.
But in addition to their terrible environment impact – with 53 million masks going to landfill every day in the UK – face coverings and ‘masked society’ cause great harm and suffering to many people.
Smile Free, the campaign to end mask mandates in the UK, asked for personal stories to illustrate the harms caused by mask mandates. Here are a few extracts from the many responses received.
“I was sexually abused for years as a child where I was smothered and muffled, anything to stop me crying out… so mask wearing has been a trigger for me, both wearing and seeing people in masks… particularly children.”
“My 88-year-old mother finds it difficult to put on a mask due to a lack of feeling in her fingers. She finds it very difficult to hear what people are saying to her in shops when they and she are wearing masks, leading to confusing conversations. She also feels hot, sweaty and faint when wearing a mask for more than a few minutes. As a result, she is losing confidence in going out alone.”
“Masks are harming me daily in my role as a nurse. I have to wear them despite knowing their use is pointless in an infection control capacity and that they are damaging to both me and my patient. I find them utterly awful to wear as I feel hot, my glasses steam up and they have a massively negative impact on the nurse/patient relationship.”
“I would feel dizzy and short of breath when wearing a mask. It gradually got worse until I started having flashbacks, very sudden images of my abuser covering my mouth. Naturally this would cause me to panic.”
“I didn’t realise quite how much I depended on lip reading and facial expression until mask wearing became mandatory.”
“The combination of background noise in public places, mask wearing, plastic barriers and physical distancing makes daily communication fraught for the deaf.”
“Wearing a mask causes me severe difficulty because it pushes me below the acceptable level in terms of intake of air. After a few minutes I feel that I am being asphyxiated, which is extremely stressful.”
“As a university lecturer, with a class of 15 or 20 wearing masks means I can’t hear them, they can’t hear each other, and they have a lot of difficulty hearing me. I’m constantly asking them to repeat everything. Not being able to breathe comfortably is also definitely affecting their concentration. Overall masks make it harder for them to learn and me to teach. I’m really worried these really damaging rules will be kept in place by the university for the next academic year.”
“Anyone who has to work, let alone teach, in a mask knows that it is really urgent to get rid of them.”
“I got headaches after a two hour driving lesson every week. The mask was a serious irritant, so much so I feared for mine and other road users’ safety.”
“When I saw pictures of the Queen masked and alone at her husbands’ funeral, I wept. How many bereaved people have had this terrible experience?”
“I have autism (Asperger’s)… I initially tried to wear a mask but it was a nightmare. I break down crying, stop being able to think clearly or really even pull a coherent sentence together. I couldn’t complete my shopping. So I got a lanyard, but it was still a nightmare. I was followed round shops, had nasty comments, challenged regularly – and these things also led to massive anxiety.”
“Before lockdown my daughter was a smiley, happy, sociable 12 year old. For her the mask mandate has been catastrophic and has curtailed her life and caused deep trauma. When she puts a mask on she hyperventilates – it immediately makes her panic and feel anxious. She is made to wear an orange badge on her blazer as proof of her “exemption” status so everyone knows all the time. On a daily basis she is made to feel less worthy as she is not wearing a face mask.”
“I suffer from claustrophobia, wearing a mask actually makes me feel extremely anxious because of this so I don’t any more. Over the last 16 months my world has become smaller and smaller because of this.”
“The pub kitchen environment where my daughter works is particularly hot and uncomfortable and her skin has suffered badly. She also finds at times that she is becoming extremely anxious due to the stifling nature of masks.”
“I am asthmatic, I am plagued with recurring sinus infections and throat infections which my GP has said is a result of the masks. I have had to increase my inhalers and take my nebuliser more often as my asthma has become much more severe, all due to masks. I have constant headaches and fatigue as a direct result of masks.”
“At a hospital appointment I was told they wouldn’t see me unless I wore a mask, I put one on but ended up crying in it. I was already feeling very anxious about having a baby and the mask was making it worse.”
“My daughter has cerebral palsy, epilepsy, cerebral visual impairment and hip dysplasia. She attends a mainstream school with full time 1:1. At times staff have refused to work with her without a mask on despite her disabilities. During these times she has been very anxious and badly behaved in and out of school.”
“11 years ago I was attacked; grabbed from behind by a man holding an arm over my nose and mouth to silence my scream, I was then held at knifepoint for hours on my kitchen floor. This is why I have NEVER worn a mask, it’s too much for me to have my mouth and nose covered in this way.”
Dr Gary Sidley of the Smile Free campaign said: “Masking the healthy is not and has never been a harmless intervention, and face coverings are associated with profound social and psychological consequences. The evidential bar to justify mandating a behaviour should be set very high, and the research in support of masks offering protection against coronavirus infection falls a long way short of this. If people choose to wear face coverings, so be it, but this should be a personal decision for each individual, not one imposed by Government diktat.”
For more information and to join the Smile Free campaign go to https://smilefree.org
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