The Mask of Death No Lessons Learned From the Spanish Flu

Caoimhín P Connell, Forensic Industrial Hygienist, July 28, 2021

AS the dust settles following the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic and the political house of cards begins to tumble, Mr. and Mrs. Joe and Josephina Average are waking up to realizing just how badly they were duped during the last 18 months.?

The often quoted 610,000 US deaths from COVID-19 is not squaring with the US National Crude Mortality Rate which stubbornly fails to cooperate with the desired narrative, and the more reasonable estimate of approximately 37,000 deaths as a result of the virus is squeaking through more and more.?

Like light being brought to bear on a room full of cockroaches, the Gombeen Men of the Wuhan pandemic are scattering into various corners; Fauci may be facing criminal charges, while unethical and ignorant Industrial Hygienists who backed the anti-science social distancing and mask mandates are scrambling to try and regain crumbled credibility and, it appears, there's nowhere to hide.?

One thing that is becoming apparent is the remarkable similarities between the Great Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918-1919 and the "Wuhan Flu" of 2020.?For a start, the etiological agents, both RNA viruses, are very similar in size.?The mode of transmission for the viruses is similar.?The Reproductive Number of the waves of the viruses are in the same range, and we also witnessed striking similarities in social responses.

During the Spanish Flu, New York City had Mr. Royal Copeland, the head of the health department who confidently lied when he said there was “not the slightest danger of an epidemic” because the disease seldom attacks “a well-nourished people.”?They had Copeland - we have Anthony Fauci.?

During the Spanish Flu, the U.S. Public Health Service had Rupert Blue and the Philadelphia Department of Public Health and Charities had Dr. Wilmer Krusen, (who publicly denied that influenza posed any threat to the city).?During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic, we had flip-flopping Robert Ray Redfield Jr. at the CDC.?

In the US, during the Spanish Flu, the US news media lied about the number of deaths.?During the COVID-19 Pandemic, the US news media lied about the number of deaths; in 1918, the media vastly downplayed the deaths and in 2020, the media vastly exaggerated the deaths.

Fear.?Fear sells. Fear motivates.?Fear is a great tool to control people when you don't have any facts to back up what you're selling.?And everyone knows it.?President Wilson created the "Committee on Public Information" and the charismatic George Creel was placed at its wheel.?Creel developed fear as a tool, and planned that “every printed bullet reach its mark.”?Creel created the "Four Minute Men" and told them:

?“Fear, perhaps, is rather an important element to be bred in the civilian population. It is difficult to unite a people by talking only on the highest ethical plane. To fight for an ideal, perhaps, must be coupled with thoughts of self preservation." (1)

?Fear.?One of his Liberty Bonds ads declared:

?"I am Public Opinion. All men fear me!"

Creel's CPI warned if one had the wherewithal to buy bonds but didn't, the CPI, through public opinion, "…will make this No Man’s Land for you!” Fear is what drove the non-existent Swine Flu Epidemic of 1976, wherein over 40 million Americans were needlessly frightened into receiving an ineffective and unsafe vaccine for a "epidemic" that never was, an "epidemic" that killed one person (that's right, one person, a soldier at Fort Dix). Fear reigned during that "epidemic" as well; 93% of American were aware of the "epidemic," and 53% stated they were going to get the vaccine. (2)

In both the Spanish Flu Pandemic, and the Wuhan Flu Pandemic we had "social distancing" and, of course, masks.?Millions of masks.?Millions of worthless masks that offered no protection to the wearer, no protection to the public and were absolutely worthless in stemming the spread of the disease.?Lacking any scientific evidence at all, and fully aware of the fact that the masks were useless, the propaganda was spread incessantly - in 1918 it was spread at the start of vaudeville shows, public meetings, movies and other forms of entertainment, and in 2020 the propaganda is spread by TV, radio, and the internet.??

In 1918, the Wilson Democrats used the CPI to weaponize public opinion for political purposes.?In 2020, the Democrats used the CDC and Democratic controlled state governments for the same thing.?See the poster below - which is from the internet July 28, 2021; even the artistic style hasn't changed.(3)

Fear. Fear sells.?When you don't have facts, push the fear.?

In 2004, John M. Barry published his book "THE GREAT INFLUENZA - The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History."?The book was lauded by the San Diego Union-Tribune, Newsweek Magazine, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe and even the Journal of the American Medical Association.?What was so great about Barry's book that had these outlets gushing so google-eyed??Let's look at some of the quotes and see:

?"Philadelphia General Hospital had 126 nurses. Despite all precautions, despite wearing surgical masks and gowns, eight doctors and fifty-four nurses—43 percent of the staff —themselves required hospitalization. Ten nurses at this single hospital died."

?Hmmm. That probably wasn't it… Maybe this one:

?"The police wore their ghostly surgical masks, and people fled them, but the masks had no effect on the viruses."?

?Probably not... how about this:

?" The masks worn by millions were useless …"

In fact, throughout his book, Barry stresses that community masking during the Spanish Flu Pandemic was useless.?Until March of 2020, this was not just common knowledge, it was actually scientific knowledge as well. Could you imagine Barry saying the same thing today, and simultaneously receive glowing accolades from The San Diego Union-Tribune, Newsweek Magazine, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe or the Journal of the American Medical Association??Not bloody likely.?More likely Barry would be excoriated and abused by these same organizations as an anti-science Right Wing Conspiratorialist.

In Thomas Kuhn's 1962 "Structure of Scientific Revolutions," most scientific work is "normal science" focused on solving problems within a given paradigm.?The concept of "paradigm" incorporates the prevailing zeitgeist and dominates public funding, university appointments and (most frightening of all) editorial boards of scientific journals.?Those who have mastered the prevailing paradigm (regardless of its scientific validity) have little incentive to question that paradigm or bring critical light to bear on the paradigm if that light will dismantle the paradigm.?There is a serious obstacle to legitimate progress when the paradigm is a myth.?This is the dogmatic science Physicist Stanley Jaki called "stillbirth science."

?According to Paul Feyerabend, historically, the dogmatic myth lives comfortably in science:

?"The myth is therefore no objective relevance, it continues to exist solely as the result of the effort of the community of believers and of their leaders, be these now priests or Nobel prize winners.?It's success is entirely man-made."

When a paradigm shift occurs, it is known as "scientific revolution," even if there is no science behind it, we saw this occur almost overnight in March 2020 when we went from a scientifically valid evidenced-based condemnation of community masking to a politically based, fear-motivated defense of community masking.?Did the science change overnight??No, science remained the same, what changed was the manipulation of the narrative for political gain. Fear.

As I detailed in a September 2020 discussion, the Institute of Medicine, Board on Health Sciences Policy, convened a 2006 Committee on the "Development of Reusable Facemasks for Use During an Influenza Pandemic."?This was an austere assemblage of eminent professionals from the University of Minnesota, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the Centers for Disease Control, Georgia Institute of Technology, Yale University School of Medicine, and?the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health.?Collectively, the committee produced a report titled "Reusability of Facemasks During an Influenza Pandemic: Facing the Flu."

One of the findings of The Committee was the foundational understanding of how politicians may be swept away with the urge to use a pandemic to manipulate people; and politics may rear its ugly head taking US policy makers down the path of tyranny using junk science to support their agenda.

?The Committee prophetically cautioned:

?Any public health effort aimed at extending the usefulness of existing devices must be delivered with clarity and truthfulness. The public is likely to forgive lack of knowledge but will not be willing to trust public health officials in the next instance if they have in any way been misinformed or misled.

The Committee knew this from the simple fact that we have already seen such abuses and lies in the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic, and the repercussions from those lies by Government, mass media and glory-grabbing sensationalists.

We know this from William Clarence Braisted, Surgeon General of the US Navy, 1919 in response to the community facemask craze that occurred during the Spanish Flu:

No evidence was presented which would justify compelling persons at large to wear masks during an epidemic. The mask is designed only to afford protection against a direct spray from the mouth of the carrier of pathogenic microorganisms … Masks of improper design, made of wide-mesh gauze, which rest against the mouth and nose, become wet with saliva, soiled with the fingers, and are changed infrequently, may lead to infection rather than prevent it, especially when worn by persons who have not even a rudimentary knowledge of the modes of transmission of the causative agents of communicable diseases.

So, to say that intelligent people are cheesed-off after finding out that their lives have been greatly disrupted and their loved ones neglected for the last year all based on politically motivated lies would be a dangerous understatement.?The public was likely to forgive a lack of knowledge at the beginning of the Wuhan Flu Pandemic but they are definitely not willing to now trust public health officials since they have now been misinformed and misled.

Any continued or renewed "mask mandates" and "social distancing" requirements are likely to be met with violent push-back.?The pot was already starting to boil over when the anti-science health departments in several states tried to push their luck and start prosecuting people - they may as well have just started burning witches at the stake for all the good it was going to do them.

Several Industrial Hygienists I know maintained their professional integrity and refused to sell out to the zeitgeist of the CDC and "Karen" screaming her virtue signaling at the supermarket.??On the other hand, several have sold their souls and have tarnished their reputations, and the profession has a long memory.

George Santayana is often credited with quipping “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”?Given that forgetting one's history is a perennial human problem, I doubt that he was the first.?However, since modern Western Society seems to have launched a war on Tradition, which necessitates the recollection of our history, I'm afraid that we and our Grandchildren may very well find themselves repeating 1918 more than once in the near future.

?Save a mask - get a life.

?Other COVID-19 discussions by CP Connell:

Ignoring Science: The Legacy of The Left – Why did Republican states fare much better than Democrat States during the COVID fiasco?

Another Mask Paper Not About Masks: A review of Bagheri, Thiede, Hejaza et al " An upper bound on one-to-one exposure to infectious human respiratory particles"

Evolution of a Scientist: From Two-Handed Threat to Forked-Tongue Savior: The degradation of science during the COVID debacle.

Holding Science Hostage - How the fearful and powerful corrupt science for political gain.

Napoleon's Coffee - With or without a mask Getting data to fit the Procrustean Bed.

How to Peddle Backward?- What happened to the 2020 Flu Epidemic? A summary of the US Crude Mortality Rate's refusal to cooperate with the popular COVID narrative.

WHO thought this was a good idea...?(Comments regarding the December 1, 2020, "Mask use in the context of COVID-19".)

??The Failing Mask Cure Aid?a review of Bundgaard H, Bundgaard JS, Raaschou-Pedersen DET, et al, "Effectiveness of Adding a Mask Recommendation to Other Public Health Measures to Prevent SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Danish Mask Wearers, A Randomized Controlled Trial" (Ann. Int. Med. Nov 18, 2020, https://doi dot org/10.7326/M20-6817).

?Don't be a Maskhole, Karen?A review of?Zeng N, Li Z, Ng S, Chen D, Zhou H,?Epidemiology reveals mask wearing by the public is crucial for COVID-19 control. (Medicine in Microecology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.medmic.2020.100015):??

?Masks, and the new Doctor Schnabel von Rom: Review of Stadnytskyi V, Bax CE, Bax A, Anfinru P, The airborne lifetime of small speech droplets and their potential importance in SARS-CoV-2 transmission?(Approved by PNAS May 2020: https://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2006874117)

Pathological Science?- Zhang?et al?and the PNAS: Zhang R, Annie Y Zhang L, Wang Y, Molinae M: Identifying airborne transmission as the dominant route for the spread of COVID-19 (fast-tracked through the PNAS on June 11, 2020)

Defacing Mask Science?- Rossettie S, Perry C, Pourghaed M, Zumwalt M, "Effectiveness of manufactured surgical masks, respirators, and home-made masks in prevention of respiratory infection due to airborne microorganisms" The Southwest Respiratory and Critical Care Chronicles 2020;8(34):11–26

Masks - Don't look behind the curtain: Review of Vivek Kumar, Sravankumar Nallamothu, Sourabh Shrivastava, Harshrajsinh Jadeja, Pravin Nakod, Prem Andrade, Pankaj Doshi, Guruswamy Kumaraswamy "On the utility of cloth facemasks for controlling ejecta during respiratory events "

?Size matters!?A Brief Description of filtering mechanisms and size.

Materials v. Masks:?A review of Konda A, Prakash A, Moss GA, Schmoldt M, Grant GD, Guha S "Aerosol Filtration Efficiency of Common Fabrics Used in Respiratory Cloth Masks" (American Chemical Society, April 2020)

"Junk Science: In Favor of Community Face Masks - a return to Lysenkoism"?A review of: Jeremy Howard, Austin Huang,?Zhiyuan Li,?Zeynep Tufekci, Vladimir Zdimal,?Helene-Mari van der Westhuizen,?Arne von Delft,?Amy Price,?Lex Fridman, Lei-Han Tang, Viola Tang,?Gregory L. Watson,?Christina E. Bax,?Reshama Shaikh,?Frederik Questier, Danny Hernandez, Larry F. Chu, Christina M. Ramirez, Anne W. Rimoin Face Masks Against COVID-19: An Evidence Review NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 13 May 2020

Wishful Science?- A review of Anna Davies, BSc, Katy-Anne Thompson, BSc, Karthika Giri, BSc, George Kafatos, MSc, Jimmy Walker, PhD, and Allan Bennett, MSc Testing the Efficacy of Homemade Masks: Would They Protect in an Influenza Pandemic? (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2013;7:413-418)

If Manikins Could Fly…?A Review of Eikenberry SE, Mancuso M, Iboi E, Phan T, Eikenberry K, Kuang Y, Kostelich E, Gumel AB "To mask or not to mask: Modeling the potential for face mask use by the general public to curtail the COVID-19 pandemic" (Infectious Disease Modelling 5 (2020) pp. 293-308)

Review of?Cheng VC, Wong S, Chuang V, So S,?et al?"The role of community-wide wearing of face mask for control of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic due to SARS-CoV-2" (Journal of Infection April 30, 2020;16:13)

Gassed Masks!?Reactivation of viruses and deoxygenation during mask wearing.

Masking the Truth?- A discussion of aerosols and droplets

We R0 New York City?- A discussion of the basic reproduction number.

The epidemic of ignorance:?Lessons from "Flattening the Curve" April 14, 2020

Think Tanks!?The Dangers of Group-Think April 13, 2020

References:

(1) Pamphlet for speakers from the Committee on Public Information, quoted in the New York Times, February 4, 1918

(2) Neustadt RE, Fineberg HV "The Epidemic that Never Was" Vintage Books, January 1993

(3) Photo credit Carlos Rancano "Save Lives Wear a Mask" July 28, 2021 (https://community.amplifier.org/art/save-lives-wear-a-mask/) Used under "fair use" rule.