As most public health officials are pushing face masks, social distancing and a potential vaccine, by and large they are ignoring the role a healthy lifestyle plays in reducing the severity of COVID-19 illness.
In fact, this disquieting pandemic has presented a unique opportunity for public health officials to create better awareness about healthy lifestyle choices that improve overall health, reduce the risk of infection and lessen the severity of any infectious disease.
Unfortunately, it appears as if their focus is not on health and wellness of the people they serve, but rather on creating an environment in which pharmaceutical agendas can be pushed as better options. For example, Reuters writes that the public can expect an “overwhelming” vaccine campaign in November, and includes comments from an unnamed senior administration official:
“The fine line we are walking is getting the American people very excited about vaccines and missing expectations versus having a bunch of vaccines in the warehouse and not as many people want to get it. You may not hear a lot about promoting vaccines over the airwaves in August and September but you’ll be overwhelmed by it come November."
As time marches forward, and pharmaceutical companies scramble to release the first vaccination for public distribution, it’s important that members of the public are suitably groomed to accept and even welcome a vaccine that may well come with a high price tag. So far, keeping the mask debate front and center has worked to the advantage of Big Pharma.
In May 2020, five authors published an article in the New England Journal of Medicine in which they explored the need for personal protective equipment in a public setting. By the second paragraph they had acknowledged several facts:
“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 a few minutes (and some say more than 10 minutes or even 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.”
They concluded by saying:
“It is also clear that masks serve symbolic roles. Masks are not only tools, they are also talismans that may help increase health care workers’ perceived sense of safety, well-being, and trust in their hospitals.
Although such reactions may not be strictly logical, we are all subject to fear and anxiety, especially during times of crisis. One might argue that fear and anxiety are better countered with data and education than with a marginally beneficial mask …” ...<<<Read The Full Article Here>>>...
