Imagine surgeons not obeying mask rules
AN increasing amount of my friends are making comments to suggest that current Government restrictions are “worse than the coronavirus itself ” through the “immense psychological harm being wrought on society” etc because of the wearing of face masks and the imposition of varying degrees of lockdowns.
As a shielded person with very low immunity due to over five years of chemotherapy for amyloidosis and post-renal transplant immunosuppressants, I received letters from doctors and the Government during the first lockdown with guidelines for people like myself.
However, these same critics point out that the figures for death of covid-19 are innacurate, and that probably only 12% of deaths in the UK recorded as dying of Covid actually died of it, comparing to it to a situation in Italy based on a statement of the Government Chief Medical Advisor there. Although the death toll is claimed to be so low, I have heard the same antiGovernment critics cite nursing homes as ‘death camps.’ One comment contradicts the other. Apart from citing the possibity of suicides due to the mental strain of living in such uncertain circumstances, the main concern from such voices seems to be about economic life of the country.
There is a growing lobby attacking the concept of wearing face masks, by calling them ‘muzzles’ and saying that the Government wants to control individuals into submission, and “to create a fearful, pliant and submissive society,” (to quote one article I had read) rather than controlling the virus or trying to look after the interests of the people.
I looked up the word ‘muzzle’ in Webster’s Dictionary, and it only refers to their use for animals, not humans, to prevent them from biting. Obviously, in that context muzzles are to protect humans, although I do not think the Government is wanting to prevent people biting one another!
Also, the ruling on face masks is only in certain situations for limited periods of time, such as going into a shop or an enclosed space with strangers. Is that really such a hardship, compared to people actually dying horribly with this disease, or is that being called into question too?
Many of my friends are reading things on the internet and then saying the virus is a hoax and that I should just ignore the doctors and throw caution to the wind. Who is right? Plus with a ‘muzzle’ there is free and open supply of air to breathe.
When I had my kidney transplant, the surgeons were wearing masks. This did not seem to cause me or the wearers any psychological harm, or lack of oxygen, as some others are claiming. I felt safer knowing their mouths were covered.
Are anti-maskers suggesting that surgeons take off masks during operations as they are not scientifically proven to protect from anything and let the surgeon’s harmless saliva possibly drip into my open body?
One set of guidelines not written by the Government is in the Holy Bible when God instructs the Israelites, about what to do in cases of plague such as suspected leprosy. In Leviticus 13 it says that when a man has a swelling, a scab etc or various symptoms of plague he must isolate for seven days, and if symptoms have not improved after 7 days, to further isolate up to 14 days, and he is to cover his upper lip (vs 45) (shaphat in Hebrew), as some English Bible versions being translated by polite gentlemen have rendered it as ‘moustache,’ where the Hebrew wording is clearly ‘lip’, and of course women do not wear moustaches, at least not back then, as the the Hebrew always writes in the masculine when it is referring to both sexes. God further advises that the person shall “dwell alone” – like a quarantine – outside of the camp, or place where the rest of the population are.
I may not always know what scientists say can be proven right, but I was relieved as a person with no immunity, that God sanctions face masks and quarantine.
Colin Nevin
Via email