Graham, Donna
From: Andy Cooper <andrewjohn.cooper@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 14, 2020 8:10 PM
To: Board of Aidermen; Mayor's Office Email
Subject: The wrongness of wearing face masks
CAUTION: This email came from outside of the organization. Do not click links’open attachments if source is
unknown.
Dear Aldermen
Enough is enough! Along with Mayor Jim Donchess, your ineptitude and gross mismanagement of the COVID-
19 situation constitutes a grave assault on personal liberties.
What you are attempting to do by attempting to pass an ordinance requiring mask usage has no basis at all in
statistical inference, no rational basis in scientific fact, and runs counter to World Health Organization
recommendations regarding the usage of face masks, amongst other things. I urge you to read the actual
document at hitps://Awww.ewho.int/publications-detail/advice-on-the-use-of masks-in-the-community-during-
home-care-and-in-healthcare-settings-in-the-context-of-the-novel-coronavirus-(2019-ncov)-outbreak - and
specifically note:
"Advice to decision makers on the use of masks for healthy people in community settings. As described above,
the wide use of masks by healthy people in the community setting is not supported by current evidence and
carries uncertainties and critical risks."
Also note that the document highlights the fact that there is no evidence that community transmission is
impacted at all by the use of non-surgical face coverings, and the evidence for surgical face coverings is
confined to healthcare settings where multiple other protocols are also in place.
Furthermore, the actual numbers regarding the spread of covid-19 and the prevalence of severe cases simply
does not justify the draconian measures you are attempting to enforce,
Let's look at the facts here. As of May 13,
1, 3,299 - the number of *confirmed* cases of covid-19 - 0.24% of the NH population
2. 150 - the number of deaths from covid-19 - 0.01% ofthe NH population
3. 126 - the number of current hospitalizations - 0.009% of the NH population
These numbers, at any other time, would not be something that anyone would be concerned about. This is life
and reality. And lest you counter with "but Massachusetts...” - the numbers there are broadly similar, with a
population fatality rate of 0.07%, and a confirmed infection rate of 1.2%. And remember furthermore that the
*observed* case fatality rate does not in any way correspond to the actual infection fatality rate of covid-19
which has been pegged at 0.4-0.8% by scientific studies around the world.
As of May 11:
1. 101 deaths associated with long term care settings (out of a total of 133 deaths). 76% of the deaths occurred
in long term care situations. As callous as it sounds, long term care is not a place where people recover from
things. When the influenza virus hits long term care facilities, it is expected that one sees spikes in mortality
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