The Virus that Keeps on Giving: The Sacred Garb

Covid's masking regime never made any sense as science. Widespread random filtering is implausible on its face. The masks made a great deal of sense, however, as a religious garb.

The American Spirit Essays #30

(continued from The Richness of Ritual)

Random Filtering

The face mask—the first sacred garb of Wokeism—never made any sense in the scientific world. A mask is a filter. Anyone who has ever encountered a filter understands that filters only filter if they’re tailored to a task. To work, a face mask must have openings large enough to allow breathing but small enough to block particles of the undesired toxin. They must also be fitted and worn appropriately. A program requiring everyone to deploy a randomly chosen filter affixed in an arbitrary manner is a bad joke—at least as a matter of science. Furthermore, when the particles in question are spread via aerosol, and the most common masks were either designed to block far larger particles, or repurposed garments designed for warmth or fashion, the entire program makes its participants look ignorant and silly.

None of these observations were either secret or subtle. The government scientists promoting masking all knew them. So did every health care professional in the country. So did anyone who ever worked in construction, an industrial setting, or around chemicals. So did anyone who ever followed Martha Stewart’s guidance in selecting just the right cheesecloth. I don’t fall into any of those categories, and even I knew it.

Yet compliance—at least in select places and select times—was extraordinarily high. People tripped over themselves to demonstrate commitment to the cause. The rules of common courtesy inverted themselves. Though it had always been considered rude to comment on what other people, particularly strangers, were wearing, such old-style common courtesy flew out the window. The polite were those who adopted the new fashion trend with gusto. The truly righteous loudly condemned all within their purview who failed to conform. Yes, many of them knew that few of their masked neighbors had constructed a setup capable of preventing the aerosol-bound transmission of Covid, but even a poor filter blocks something, they reasoned. In an era of pandemic and panic, every little bit helps!

The belief became so strong and so widespread—prominent politicians, pundits, and celebrities staked their reputations on the virtues of masking—that many saw it as a form of mass psychosis. How else could anyone explain such widespread fidelity and authoritarianism in the name of a practice so obviously incapable of achieving its stated goal?