Plus some general points about the forced covering of the human face
Another outpatient appointment for my shoulder today offered yet another glimpse of COVID-era remnants that appear to be permanent fixtures in the Chicago-area healthcare system.
As with my last visit (chronicled here) a receptionist asked about symptoms unrelated to the reason I was there. This time around, I noticed the question specified a number of days: “Have you experienced any cold, sore throat, or flu-like symptoms in the past 7 days?”
My answer was no — and will always be no, unless I have something akin to Actual Pneumonia, in which case I would probably go to the hospital — because I refuse to donate my specimen to systematic collection for surveillance of things thought to cause respiratory illness.
If I were experiencing certain symptoms and was sick, a paper sign taped to the glass separating the receptionist from me says I “must” wear a mask. The same sign also says, Do not visit if you are sick.
These words of Jesus Christ come to mind as an obvious response:
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” – Mark 2:17 (ESV)1
My 13-year-old daughter’s reaction when I showed her the picture: “So, they basically want a sick person to wear a mask while standing outside of the building and think about coming in but not step inside?”
Sure seems like it. 🤡
It’s possible the sign is distinguishing between a patient and a visitor — i.e., the sign is used in NM’s hospitals and outpatient facilities and “sick” visitors are being told to keep out. Either way, masks are welcome, but are required of some people and in some places amounts to propaganda and is scientifically baseless besides.
Northwestern Medicine should remove these signs and associated requirements immediately.
More on masking
While I’m on the subject, it bears repeating that I’ve vehemently and publicly opposed compelled masking since requirements barged into my family’s life in April 2020:
- The forced covering of the human face as a condition of medical care, residency (in a facility), access to food, schooling, transportation/movement, church/place of worship, and most other basic activities is fundamentally wrong.
- Forced masking has always been, and will always be, first a foremost a question of authority over the body. who has the authority over your body (your face, your physical health, your mental and social health) to require you to cover your face — not only under “the law” but under God? (Answer: Not appointed/elected government officials.)
- Mandated masks were/are the psychological training wheels for mandated injections and differ very little (if at all) in ideology and purpose from digital ID.
- There is a significant difference between being paid to mask, or being “paid while masking” and being forced to mask as a condition of purchasing goods, receiving a service, etc. I would love to see studies investigate the following hypothesis: Where paid mask-wearing individuals are “over” unpaid mask-wearing individuals, there exists power differential that increases the risk of harm/negative outcomes for the unpaid masked individual.2 I haven’t yet watched this new documentary from Smile Free, an organization co-founded by Gary Sidley, but plan to soon, with that hypothesis in mind. https://youtu.be/0M4vsO5xJPc?si=IjpvjItq5NGsNAcg
- David A. Hughes for observed in his article Wall Street, the Nazis, and the Crimes of the Deep State the blue masks covering the faces of prisoners at the Guantánamo Bay detention center. Further examination of how covering the human face enables individuals to carry out sadistic practices against individuals or groups is needed.
- Those who choose to wear a mask in daily life (e.g., to the store) are making an individual decision not unlike choosing to wear a certain item of clothing. There is no good reason to prevent individuals from covering their faces, or to shame them for doing so.
- Wearing a mask is not akin to wearing a seatbelt. That analogy fails on many counts – including those enumerated below.3
Footnotes
- Added post-publication: Without detracting from the point Jesus was making in context — or from the work of excellent doctors (including the one I saw today) — I should add that the sick don’t always need a physician — and a physician can make matters worse! ↩︎
- The server/guest relationship in a restaurant setting would be interesting to explore but does not quite fit the hypothesis I’m proffering because the server is not truly in a position of authority over the guest in the same way as doctor/patient or teacher/student. ↩︎
- Altered from versions I posted on Twitter (e.g., November 2020, May 2021, April 2022) I’m told that studies don’t support seatbelt laws as strongly as one might suppose but I have not reviewed the associated research or statistics and defer to those who have done so. States like Illinois do allow residents to be told to mask under certain communicable disease laws that define mask-wearing as a form of modified quarantine. However, the legal argument brought by parents against the Governor of Illinois and IDPH in 2021 demonstrated, that allowance requires individuals or groups of individuals to receive an order from the county health department and is subject to the recipient’s due process rights. ↩︎
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