According to the New England Journal of Medicine, May 21, 2020, “We know that wearing a mask outside health care facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection. Public health authorities define a significant exposure to COVID-19 as face-to-face contact within 6 feet with a patient with symptomatic COVID-19 that is sustained for at least 10 to 30 minutes. The chance of catching COVID-19 from a passing interaction in a public space is therefore minimal. In many cases, the desire for widespread masking is a reflexive reaction to anxiety over the pandemic.”

According to the U.S. Department of Labor on COVID-19, “Cloth face coverings are not considered personal protective equipment and not intended to be used for PPE for protection against exposure to occupational hazards. As such, OSHA’s PPE standard does not require employers to provide them.” 

According to Russel Blaylock, M.D., “By wearing a mask, the exhaled viruses will not be able to escape and will concentrate in the nasal passages, enter the olfactory nerves and travel into the brain. … There is no scientific evidence necessitating the wearing of a mask.”      

Positive asymptomatic people cannot pass the virus, making the lockdown and masks totally unnecessary, and physical symptoms from mask wearing include headaches, increased airway resistance, CO2 accumulation, hypoxia, collapsed lungs while exercising and elderly passing out.   Repeated episodes of hypoxia have been associated with increased heart attacks, strokes and cancer.

The Routt County Health Department and Routt County Board of Commissioners have no authority to issue a health mandate that causes people harm, especially if it’s based on false pretenses. Therefore, I support the recall of all of them. We need our health and constitutional rights restored now.

Cindy Daw
Steamboat Springs