The Curse of Masks in Health and Social Care

Testimony From the Scottish Covid Inquiry

Dr Gary Sidley: first published in The Daily Sceptic, 3rd November 2024

The U.K. Covid Inquiry – aka a hugely expensive façade striving to justify the dominant ‘pandemic’ narrative – is up and running again, and its chairperson, Lady Hallett, is continuing where she left off in her refusal to acknowledge any significant harms of mass masking. “Some might say getting an ulcer isn’t as bad as getting Covid” she quips during an interview with Dr. Susan Hopkins from the U.K. Health Security Agency. Thankfully, the Scottish Covid Inquiry has been much more open and impartial, as demonstrated by its willingness to address the profound negative consequences of wearing face coverings in health and social care settings. In particular, personal stories describing the dehumanising impacts upon care home residents have been truly harrowing – Lady Hallett could usefully incorporate these testimonies into her bedtime reading. 

One powerful example was the verbal evidence of Alison Walker, a former BBC sports presenter, who endured the trauma of both her parents residing in a care home in 2020. Alison witnessed the mental and physical deterioration of her mum and dad during the Covid event, and eloquently described the prominent role that masked caregivers played in this decline:

If you are surrounded by a group of people 24/7 wearing masks, and you don’t see people smile for up to two years, what kind of effect is that going to have on your mental health and wellbeing?

(5^th video)

Surrounding residents of care homes with people wearing masks for such a long period had a huge impact on them, this in conjunction with isolating them from their loved ones and everything they know was catastrophic.

(8^th video)

The devastating consequences of denying confused elderly people human connection – a synergy that is largely contingent on seeing the smiles and facial expressions of other people – was repeatedly endorsed by personnel representing frontline caring organisations. Thus, the closing statement to the Inquiry from ‘Care Home Relatives Scotland’ (a community group advocating for people who have loved ones in nursing and residential settings) included the damning conclusion:

The evidence demonstrated that the use of masks caused distress, confusion and considerable difficulties with communication. Residents couldn’t see smiles, had difficulty recognising relatives and those with hearing difficulties couldn’t lip-read or read facial expressions or visual clues. Some witnesses spoke to being made to wear them, even for window visits. Lucy Challoner said that her gran felt that people were laughing at her behind them.

(There seems to have been some formal recognition of these mask-related communication problems in 2021 when NHS Scotland spent over £5 million of taxpayers’ money on transparent masks, only for them to be subsequently deemed to be defective). 

Masks often resulted in visiting times degenerating into an especially frustrating experience, as indicated in the closing statement of ‘Independent Care Homes Scotland’ (a group comprising 12 independent care home operators). Regarding window/garden visits, they recalled:

…residents not being able to hear relatives properly during these types of visit due to physical barriers (window/masks) and/or distancing regulations… many residents did not understand why masks, for instance, were having to be worn or who suffered from poor hearing and/or who relied on lip reading to communicate. This often led to distress for residents …

Indoor visits at Homes were later permitted but again these were burdened with social distance and PPE wearing regulation which greatly affected residents, relatives and staff and which gave rise to awkward, unnatural and at times distressing encounters for all concerned.

Another service provider, ‘Central Scotland Care Homes’, also highlighted the insidious effect of masks on social interactions between residents and their loved ones:

Garden visits were described as being “horrendous” with no privacy. They were impractical in the Scottish climate and visitors had to shout to be heard while wearing masks and sitting two meters apart.

It was not only elderly residents with dementia who suffered from the mask mania operating within our health and social care sector. Younger people struggling with profound/multiple learning difficulties (PMLD) were also victims of this ideologically driven obsession:

The use of face masks caused concern because many people with PMLD could not tolerate face masks. Facial expression is a key method for communication. A mask makes it very difficult for a person with PLMD to see a supporter’s or carer’s facial expressions. Furthermore, masks could significantly compromise health where the user has respiratory issues.

And the harms of long-term mask wearing were not confined to those receiving care: the professional caregivers also experienced negative consequences. Suzanne Napier, a social care worker with Turning Point and a union representative, told the Inquiry about the physical symptoms she and her daughter endured as a direct result of prolonged mask wearing:

I never in my life had sinusitis before and I had it really… really badly and still at times suffer for it… I feel that had a real detrimental effect to myself and others… Even people within my family are suffering from it, regular sinusitis now… My daughter is a nurse… her face would be red raw… literally from wearing a mask.

These honest testimonies from people directly involved in looking after highly vulnerable service users vividly convey the profound harms of mask requirements in health and social care. Similarly damning are the experiences of clinical experts – captured in Smile Free’s upcoming short film, Masking Humanity – that vividly convey the enormous harms of masks in these settings. Those in positions of power and influence – such as Lady Hallett – should take heed of these personal accounts from those at the sharp end and do their bit to ensure that the blanket imposition of de-humanising face coverings never happens again. 

Dr. Gary Sidley is a retired NHS Consultant Clinical Psychologist and co-founder of the Smile Free campaign opposed to mask mandates.

A special thank you to Dave, the independent researcher at BiologyPhenom, for his tireless efforts to publicise the Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry. This article relies heavily upon his sterling work.