The Rio Grande Foundation is not and never has been “anti-mask,” but we support states that have chosen to move towards reopening. While President Biden called states like Texas which have recently reopened and dropped its mask requirement, “neanderthals” and Gov. Lujan Grisham stated that New Mexico would not be dropping its mask mandate anytime soon, the reality is that like so many aspects of COVID 19, it is hard to connect government containment policies with success.
Here is a map of states that do NOT require masks. According to WorldoMeters’ COVID tracking site, most of them have performed BETTER than New Mexico (15th-worst in the nation) on the virus (deaths per population).
Of the non-mandate states only Arizona, South Dakota, and North Dakota have higher death rates than New Mexico.
Every other state (a total of 12 of them) that lacks a mask mandate has a lower COVID death rate than does New Mexico.
Whether you wear a mask in public or not, it should be a personal decision, not a governmental one.
The mask mandate has never been about health. This hoax has been allowed to happen because of the silence and complacency of a fearful populace
Gary is exactly right. It is a control mechanism meant to instill authority and submission. Our governor, the CDC, and all of our elites know this but use it as a means to show authority. Similar techniques have and continue to be used by the military to instill discipline.
Scientifically, masks have repeatable been shown to be ineffective or even unhealthy. Virus are typically 0.1 microns diameter, while the holes through masks, are many microns in diameter. Smoke particles are on the order of 0.4 to 0.5 microns. See how well your mask stops smoke! And sure a mask may stop large droplets, but what keeps them from being volatilized in subsequent breaths? Here is an excellent summary of mask efficacy studies and how well they don’t work.
https://swprs.org/covid-masks-review/