News Ed's Must Reads

Ardern: 'Masks May Do More Harm Than Good'

ORIGINAL POST
Posted by Ed 4 yrs ago
NZ epidemiologist Doctor Simon Thornley compares the infection mortality and infection per capita rates for Australia (minimal lockdown) vs New Zealand (world's most restrictive lockdown) and the numbers are not significantly different.
 
New Zealand's economy has been decimated by the lockdowns with an extra 300,000 Kiwis expected to be added to the welfare rolls.   
 
Many are asking the question - was it necessary to lockdown to extreme levels for 7 weeks? 
 

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COMMENTS
Ed 4 yrs ago
Ardern:  "Masks Might Do More Harm Than Good' 
 

As for experts calling for masks to be used on public transport, Ardern said the Ministry of Health had reviewed all the evidence and research.

 

It concluded certain areas like frontline health staff, and those working in jobs with no way to physically distance should use masks.

 

"For the general public if you don't wear them properly you might be in a position of more harm than good," she said citing masks had to be changed regularly.

 
 
 
 
Otago Uni researchers double down on call for masks
 
A group of Kiwi public health experts have repeated calls for "mass masking" amid the Covid-19 pandemic – this time setting out the benefits for people riding on buses or crossing the border.
 

The use of masks has been debated among researchers; while many have argued they offer extra protection, a recent Government-commissioned review found there wasn't enough scientific evidence to make recommendations either way.

 

Nonetheless, Otago University researchers have doubled down on earlier calls for mass masking in a blog post today.

 

Those experts – professors Nick Wilson and Michael Baker, and doctors Sophie Febery, Ling Chan and Amanda Kvalsvig – said there was "significant" indirect evidence from mask-wearing countries to indicate the practice was an effective public health measure when combined with hand-washing and physical distancing.

 
 
  
The CDC Recommends Face Coverings to Prevent the Spread of COVID 
 
In light of new data about how COVID-19 spreads, along with evidence of widespread COVID-19 illness in communities across the country, CDC recommends that people wear a cloth face covering to cover their nose and mouth in the community setting. This is to protect people around you if you are infected but do not have symptoms. 
 
 
 
Australian Infectious Disease Physician and Microbiologist Peter Collignon, when contacted by AsiaXPAT, indicated that cloth masks are an excellent barrier that prevent you from touching your mouth and nose and contracting Covid.
 

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Ed 4 yrs ago
An Open Letter to Jacinda Ardern Re: Covid-19 APRIL 27, 2020
 
Why Is New Zealand Not Fully Open and Operational Right Now?
 
I write this letter as a patriotic Kiwi with the best intentions for my country and for the future health and welfare of my fellow Kiwis. You have a very difficult job at this moment in time. There can be no doubt about that.
 
There is a famous saying. “The first casualty of war is the truth”. Well, from what we are seeing around the world, the first casualty of a pandemic is not only the truth but also rational thinking.
 
That comment is directed at the COVID-19 situation in general rather than at you. In times of crisis or potential crisis, emotion can be the enemy of truth and rational thinking. Especially fear. There has been a huge amount of emotion and fear flowing across New Zealand and the entire world the last few weeks.
 
This letter attempts to momentarily push the emotion to one side and focus on rational thinking linked to facts and evidence.
 
Our country as we know it has been ripped apart in the blink of an eye, perhaps never to fully return. The economy and businesses decimated for the foreseeable future. Mental health problems and social problems are set to explode with devastating consequences. The damage done is catastrophic.
 
To inflict that onto the nation, there needs to be one heck of a good reason, and one heck of a strong case to do it. There needs to be an extreme level of critical danger in order to inflict this level of damage to try to safeguard the nation.
Alongside that, we absolutely must balance that with an understanding that hindsight is always 20-20.
 

So, the question we need to approach with rational thinking, evidence, and facts is this.

 
Was there/is there a sufficiently extreme level of critical danger facing New Zealand that warrants such damaging measures being taken?
 
 

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Ed 4 yrs ago
Masks work in lowering Covid-19 transmission rates: Hong Kong researchers
 

Hamsters placed in adjoining cages with infected subjects were infected at a 66.7 per cent rate; the introduction of a barrier saw the percentage drop to 16.7.
 
‘It shows very clearly that if infected hamsters or humans … put on masks, they actually protect other people,’ HKU’s Dr Yuen Kwok-yung says 
 
 
 
A Tale of Two Covid Approaches:
 
1.  Encourage citizens to wear masks - impose minimal lockdowns - drop infections to near zero
 
 
2.   Discourage the wearing of masks -- impose the world's most strict lockdown and destroy the country's economy ---  drop infections to near zero. 


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Ed 4 yrs ago
The Strong Case for Mask Requirements in Public Transportation and Border Control Settings in NZ’s Current COVID-19 Pandemic Context
 
Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Sophie Febery, Dr Ling Chan, Dr Amanda Kvalsvig, Prof Michael Baker 
 
In this blog we identify six likely benefits from requiring fabric mask use in public transportation and border control settings in the “peri-elimination” context that New Zealand is currently in.
 
Given these likely benefits and the relatively low costs (especially if the Government provides free masks as per Hong Kong), such a policy should be given very serious consideration by health authorities in the transition to level 2. 
 
As detailed in a previous blog post, the case for mass masking (i.e., wearing masks for source control as a population health intervention) for SARS-CoV-2 control is becoming increasingly compelling and many countries are adding masking policies to their pandemic response.
 
High quality randomised controlled trial (RCT) evidence on mass masking is not available. However, there is significant indirect evidence from natural experiments occurring within mask-wearing countries which indicates mask use is an effective public health measure when combined with hand washing and physical distancing.
 
SARS-CoV-2 is highly infectious, with a large proportion of asymptomatic (including pre-symptomatic) transmission, implying the need for additional control measures, notably widespread use of masks by the public [1]. 
 

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Ed 4 yrs ago
Widespread mask-wearing could prevent COVID-19 second waves: study
 
Population-wide face mask use could push COVID-19 transmission down to controllable levels for national epidemics, and could prevent further waves of the pandemic disease when combined with lockdowns, according to a British study on Wednesday.
 
 
 
Oh come now ....  this is old news....  the CDC site has been pushing face coverings/masks (on their website) since the very beginning of this crisis.    
 
The CDC, WHO and world leaders obviously were aware of this, yet they did not recommend face coverings to 'prevent the Covid-19 FIRST wave'   thereby reducing, or even eliminating, the need for the lockdowns that have devastated the global economy.
 
Go figure.... 

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Ed 4 yrs ago
And now Ardern believes masks are no longer harmful....
 
Masks to become mandatory
 
Ardern has also announced Cabinet's decision to make masks mandatory on public transport. She said it will apply at level 2 and above, and will come into effect from Monday.
 

 
 


 
 
 

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