Dr. Fauci says that the Rose Garden confirmation event for Amy Coney Barrett was a super-spreader event.
He then uses that event to justify the face mask.
Well, there you have it. God has spoken.
Who am I, a mere mortal, who has not graduated from the Ivy League to defy Lord Fauci?
Stand down, knave!
Ah, but I shall not bend the knee.
I am a rude knave, an insolent beast.
Of course, I was not there at the event. Mortals may not attend. I have to rely on video.
Nevertheless, I can see clearly that at the end of the event people were shaking hands.
It would also make sense to me that people were shaking hands before the event.
It would also make sense to me that hors d’oeuvres were being served at this event. But even if they weren’t, it seems reasonable that during or after the event people would reach into their pocket and pop a TicTac, a piece of gum or even a pill into their mouth without washing their hands first.
I know this is likely to happen because Americans are not accustomed to washing their hands.
I know this very well because I have taken care of patients for the past 38 years. The reason they’re coming into my office is because they’re sick. And they are sick because they don’t wash their hands before eating.
This is the principal way that infections are spread.
Dr. Fauci states that this Rose Garden event – and the number of infections that ensued – indicates that face masks are necessary.
I disagree. I don’t think the face mask prevented one infection during that ceremony.
The idea that a coughed or sneezed virus would make a beeline into someone’s trachea which would then overcome non-adaptive immune defenses to infect them is beyond belief.
The infectious dose would be dramatically limited by the sheer volume of air that exists in the atmosphere.
Pure respiratory transmission of disease goes against my 38 years of pediatric practice in which I am up close and personal with coughing children every day of the week.
I almost never get sick because I wash my hands.
My experience has taught me that handwashing is paramount in preventing infection.
I have explained this before but I will explain it again.
Infections are transmitted when people cough on their hands, shake hands with other people, or pass money to others, after which the receiving people then ingest food into their body without washing their hands first.
This is probably what occurred in the Rose Garden ceremony for Amy Coney Barrett assuming that the whole thing is not a hoax perpetrated by the powers that be in order to perpetuate the use of the useless face mask.
This is probably also what occurred in the influenza outbreak in Philadelphia after the Thanksgiving day parade in 1918.
Probably those attendees of that parade in 1918 purchased soft pretzels, hotdogs or souvenirs. To purchase items one needs money. Money is a fomite. The influenza virus was probably passed from one person to another through the vendors.
The people being at a parade and without access to facilities with which to wash their hands probably then ingested peanuts, soft pretzels, or hotdogs while the parade was going on.
It is extremely unlikely that they passed the virus to one another via an airborne route simply because of what I have explained already. When a person coughs or sneezes in the air those respiratory droplets that are suspended in the air are dispersed throughout the entire immediate ocean of air – which is huge.
It is as ludicrous to think that you can contaminate the air as it is to think that Lex Luthor can poison the city water supply with a small vial of poison.
Lex Luthor could dump a truckload of poison into the city water supply and accomplish nothing.
I could have hosed down the entire volume of air around Amy Coney Barrett’s reception with coronavirus and achieved nothing.
I’m joking, of course, but if you think that a few people intermittently coughing into the open air caused all those infections, then you are joking with me.
Now, let’s do the math.
The date of this Rose Garden event was 9/26/20.
You can see that the wind speed was not high. The flags and the trees were fluttering only slightly. I estimate that the wind speed was no more than 2 mph. Conservatively the wind speed was at 1 mph.
Even at 1 mph, the speed of the wind was approximately 1.46 feet per second. Most Americans stand at a distance from each other of about 2 to 3 feet. Most adults also cough into their hands. Rarely do adults cough right into the face of other adults.
A coughed or sneezed particle travels much faster however; the results will vary upon which researcher you choose to believe. But the speeds could reach anywhere from 10 to 100 mph.
This could work for us or against us with regard to the coronavirus.
Since most people don’t hold their mouth open, like a catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers ready to received a fast ball from Clayton Kershaw, it could be that a sneezed virus moving at 100 miles an hour would move past you or worse be trapped upon your face mask.
In this case the face mask would work against you because most people are constantly adjusting it.
By the way, do you think that a catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers could catch a Clayton Kershaw fastball from 2 feet away?
Maybe not, but he might get hit in the face. Likewise, it might be likely that a person sneezing at you missed your mouth and landed on your face. So what? Are you a dog? Do you lick your face?
Probably not.
Let’s say though, that you were not standing in front of the sneezer but were six to ten feet away; would you be likely to become infected?
Well, if the virus is being sneezed out at 100 mph, wouldn’t it be likely to be sneezed out in a wide variety of directions thus diluting its infectious dose rapidly and thoroughly.
If the virus remained suspended in the air, wouldn’t an airspeed of 1.5 ft./s be enough to thoroughly dilute the power of the infectious dose?
As I have spoken before, a 15’ x 10’ x 10’ room, or 300 ft.³, has 8400 liters of air. Imagine the quantity of air when you are standing outdoors. Now tell me how likely it is that you are going to get infected while outdoors.
You’d have to be coughed upon by a COVID-19 afflicted Superman sneezing out super-phlegm to become infected.
Thus, I do not believe that the face mask prevented anyone or would have prevented anyone from getting infected in the Rose Garden. It may even be that the face mask did more harm either by acting as a coronavirus collector or by giving a false sense of confidence to the people who wore them.
Ah yes, but does the face mask prevent the afflicted person from getting coronavirus on their own hands which are then transmitted to others?
Unlikely as people are constantly adjusting their face mask, holding up their hand over their face mask when they cough, or rubbing their nose when it itches or runs.
What’s the take-home message?
Wash your hands.
Sincerely,
Archer Crosley, MD
PS I can’t resist. Can you imagine anybody coughing at that event? Why the audacity. They would have been taken down by Seal Team Six.
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Cowboy Archer 