Is your doctor on this list? Docs who want Dunleavy to force people to wear masks

1. Nicely done, Suzanne. Thanks for the deep dive.

2. I wonder how many of these medical people are virologists?

3. The mask issue is by far the stupidest thing to politicize. Ok let’s just put ‘self’ aside and think about others. If you are in a crowded space where social distancing is not possible, what is so awful about wearing a mask? It works. Quite bellyaching and sounding like a bunch of BLMers. So what if my doctor cares or doesn’t care about masks. I’m wearing one and you may thank me for it. I work all over the state and have to be in situations with people I do not know. You should want me to wear a mask. I am beyond sick of the ridiculous ‘I ain’t wearing no stink’n mask issue. There should be no need for a mandate. Do what works.

   • It isn’t about masking or not masking. A personal choice. It’s about not making it illegal and punishable by fine or imprisonment to not mask.

     I choose to mask in certain instances. And not to mask in others. I might choose where I do business based on their policy and procedures.

     Businesses might choose how they want to handle their private premises and their customers or clients. They might choose to require me to mask. Then I get to choose wether I go in.

     These are personal and private choices. Not something for the government to require. Not something for a Facebook group to organize a boycott over. Why does everyone have to agree with us now for us to feel safe? Why do we have to get online and demand others all agree with us and collectively try to destroy anyone or any business who does something different than what we like? Every business owner is a hard working producer, employer, valuable member of our community, and someone who has a family that cares about them and depends on them. I can disagree with a business owner or a private citizen shopper and still allow them to be free. They don’t affect me. Only I affect me. I choose where I go and when I go there. And thankfully what I’m wearing when I go there.

     The problem many people like myself have is when others, who hold a certain belief, try to make a legal requirement that the whole population to conform with their belief. That is unacceptable. Let’s at least be honest that this is a belief because the science behind homemade cloth masks on untrained people is far from conclusive. So how can it become a law? How can we fine or imprison a healthy person who chooses to show their face in public? Surely not based on evidence so thin, so rapidly changing, so uncertain as what we have on cloth face coverings and Covid?

     We know the flu vaccine works and reduces morbidity and mortality from the flu. We know the flu kills far more children than covid. Yet we recommend vaccination. We don’t mandate it by law.

     The public health emergency story around Covid has fallen on its face. We now know that this is not the plague. This is not MERS on a global scale. Even the astronomically inflated mortality figures are not even 1/20th of what was predicted in March. Hospitals have not been overrun even in our hardest hit communities around the country. Some hospitals were full yes, but those were the designated treatment sites for Covid Patients while many other hospitals nearby remained well below capacity, even in hotspots. Alaska has never been a hotspot and still is not one today after a few weeks of opening.

     If you want to mask then mask. Respect private property. If a business wants you to mask then mask if you intent to go inside. But let’s all stop attacking those who choose not to mask, calling them killers or selfish. You aren’t required to interact with them. Stay home or wear your own mask effectively 100% of the time. Then you don’t have to worry so much about what others are doing.

     Lastly, it is true that a mask, no matter how rudimentary, must capture at least some particles from the widely feared cough or sneeze. But honestly, I haven’t heard a cough or a sneeze in three months; except for from myself in the comfort of my own home. Have you?

     In summary it’s not that masking isn’t easy. It’s that it shouldn’t be a legal mandate punishable by fine or worse. Let’s all accept some individual responsibility. That’s a small price to pay for liberty.

     • Amen!

   • Elizabeth a mask will not stop you from getting this virus. Have you ever been out four wheeling or riding in the mountains where there is dust, pollen, or rain? Well I have news for you. Those buffs, masks you all are clambering for are not gonna help you. When I wear my buff and I’m riding, I can tell you I still get dust, and pollen coming thru the fabric… (can’t be totally sealed or you will pass out) I get grit in my teeth… That is WITH wearing one. So you think a virus that is airborne is going to be stopped by wearing a mask? Nope! Wash your hands better, do not wear shoes from outside in your house and do better at cleaning your home so you don’t cross contaminate. But keep believing a paper or cloth fabric covering will help you…

4. SARS-Covid -19 aka Coronavirus is very much real. Please listen. Google it. All these stupid protesters are spreading it. My brother, 50 years old, died in January. My doctor had it and spread it to her patients. My friend’s father died — he was a dentist.

   Please, it is horrific virus. Shut down your borders immediately. Get rid of these protesters. I love Alaska and you are true Americans, good people.

5. After the fiasco with the WHO is it any surprise we have a lot of ignorant medical professionals? The LAST thing we want is to let these Socialist anti-freedom medical folks have any say in the running of our Republic. They hate our God given Rights and want to curtail all of them, starting with freedom of speech and Gun ownership. Sometimes spoiled brats just need to be ignored an allowed to wear themselves out.

6. I have been a resident of Anchorage for over 50 years and only recognize about 10 of these health care providers. A couple of my friends who have also been around here for a long time recognize even fewer. Makes me wonder!

   • Really? You must visit healthcare providers a lot.

7. Ed,

   Please tell us which rights you’ve been deprived of that you plan to sue under the color of law argument.
   .
   If you can find any lawyer anywhere to even sniff at your reason for a class action lawsuit I would be shocked. You still have yet to name one single right that you’ve been deprived of, not a single one! The Legislature granted the Governor the ability to act during this mandate. There are laws that have gone through the due process of the law all the way to the Supreme Court of The United States that allow the government to limit certain rights during pandemics, these long established laws allow the government to protect idiots from themselves.
   .
   You would really do yourself a favor to review Jacobson v. Massachusetts, maybe you would learn something and stop sounding like a broken record. We get it you and your liberal pals don’t like the Governor and you will say and do anything to try and remove him from office.

   • “Far from it, Dude!”

     Paging George Carlin!

   • Ed,

     You are asking people to join a class action lawsuit, one that requires you display how your rights have been infringed upon, and you can’t figure out one single right that you have been deprived of? Good luck with your case…

8. Happily the Anchorage Assembly voted down the Mask Mandate… The masks don’t keep you from the getting the Virus, and they don’t keep it from spreading either… they just leave you with bad air to breathe. I’ll be happy when I see no more masks around… Getting rid of the masks is a large part of returning to normal, which needs to happen sooner rather than later.

   • They are 60% effective. Enough to stamp out the virus if everyone used one properly and followed a few other rules. Ignorance is curable, stupid not. Darwin is hard at work here. Unfortunately there will be innocent bystanders.

9. My heart aches for what has become of Alaska. This used to be such a strong, independent state. Now, it is filled with such cowardly, virtue-signaling, emotional infants. How dare these “doctors” demand that we bow to their will! Maybe they should emphasize good health, and strong immune systems, instead of handing meds, vaccines, and addictive pain pills like they are candy. They disgust me. Thank God my family, also in the medical field, emphasized wholesome food and hard work to keep our bodies strong when I was a child. I’ve never needed a doctor’s “tender care” as a result. And I don’t need their mandates to know how to keep myself healthy! If you want to wear a useless mask as a placebo for your fear, do so. Do NOT mandate to me, an adult (!), what I must do. No one has the right! Neither they, nor the state, owns me!

10. Great work Suzanne. As a local physician, I was intrigued to read the list myself. This was actually not 160 doctors, but 160 “healthcare professionals“. There were several first and second year medical students from Washington on the list. Some non-medical doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc. Also a number of physicians I recognized are retired and living out of state. Hardly the local Alaskan representation the headline purports it to be.

    The Lancet article they tout is hardly conclusive. And the journal itself is hardly the pillar of medical research they assert. In fact, just last week the journal was forced to retract a well publicized article that was based on completely made up fictional patients. Would be funny, if it were not so scary.

    • Thank you for posting this, as I just did a google search of a random selection of these names and came up with the same thing. I noticed, too, that some were out-of-state, and many were not medical doctors. There were many that were associated with the University of Alaska, and we all know they have a beef with the governor, so I doubt their credibility.

11. Excellent job connecting the dots!!! One reading of the ADN letter to the editor gave me the heebie-jeebies, because I know there is a lot of smoke and mirrors in the mask debates. And yes, it is a real debate. There is a significant body of evidence (work done by scientists with no conflicts of interest, done before the current hyper-politicization of science) suggesting that masks not only are ineffective, but they can harm healthy people. The ADN letter looked like political maneuvering but I could not put my finger on it exactly – thank you, Ms. Downing!
    I was very angry with Gov. Dunleavy when he put us under martial law, but since he currently has removed or is resisting imposing most unconstitutional mandates, I am trying to support him when he does what’s right. I hope everyone who has a problem with these “medical professionals” (honestly, whatever that means – maybe it includes billing assistants?) writes the governor and a) thanks him for resisting this pressure, and b) lets him know we still do not need a governmental medical nanny – we as Americans have the right and responsibility to make our own choices regarding the health and safety of ourselves, our families and our communities.

    • Ed, I agree with you completely regarding the outrageous affronts to our rights coming from the medical cabal (among many other sources). Simply taking a child to the ER or some physicians’ offices involves taking a chance on never returning home with him or her, if you do not bow to whatever opinions the medical staff issue. I fear the mainstream medical institution at least as much as I fear the state these days.
      My point was that we *do* have inalienable rights, not that they are being respected (mostly, they’re not), which is why I encourage people to be active in educating others, especially our elected officials, and demanding that they respect those rights.
      Regarding the governor, I agree that he has really blown it. But since he is still our governor, we should encourage him to do what’s right, thank him when he does something positive (eliminating most of the mandates), and educate him when he continues to offend our constitutionally-guaranteed rights and liberties. I am not excusing his lack of understanding of those rights, but I know he is under tremendous pressure by the left-wing and socialist groups and individuals that have the stage right now; I also know that in Alaska it does not take a huge number of people to change the political trajectory. So back him up if he seems to want to change his course and move in a more Constitutionally-oriented way. Call bad “bad” but also call good “good.” Write letters and emails and make phone calls describing what needs to happen from here. I started out by sending angry emails but realized that I could do better with constructive ones (still listing my grievances but with specific requests/demands regarding how they should be solved, and approving actions that were positive). I figure that this governor (and unfortunately Zink and Crum) are what we’ve got to work with, so we need to do what we can to change what we can change right now.
      And if you know of a Constitution-respecting candidate who could run in the next election, lots of us would love to hear about it!

12. This would be totally counterproductive. It might even decrease the number of people wearing masks. Private businesses can mandate masks. Health facilities already mandate masks. If you are unhappy that a business does not mandate masks shop somewhere else. And how would this be enforced, exactly? The mask police? Really it does seem to be a political stunt, not a serious proposal. On the other hand hand you cannot discount plain stupidity – why don’t we just legally mandate that everyone has to exercise and only eat healthy food? I bet a lot of these guys would sign a petition like that!

13. Well, my doctor, (now former doctor) is on both lists. I won’t be going back. Governor Dunleavy is doing an excellent job!

14. There is no data that wearing a mask in the general public has any effect on COVID19 among casual contacts. It is an abnormal and uncomfortable thing for many people. It is not a sign of kindness towards others to perpetuate a lie or propaganda.

    • Yes! I think the push for masks is more about demonstrating control. What better way to impress on people that they are faceless cogs, totally dependent on their masters, than to make them faceless. Even better, have them volunteer to do it, and insist others do as well!
      Even if some people still believe covid is a world-ending plague, there is little evidence to demand masks to stop it. Early on, after investigating the evidence showing masks were ineffective at stopping viral spread and can actually cause harm, we decided we were not wearing masks precisely because we will not live the lie, nor will we promote the lie to others by action or acquiescence. I have had many people in masks pull the things down in relief when they see they are not the only ones who suspect it’s nonsense. As you say, it is not kindness to perpetuate lies, even lies that might make some people *feel* safe.

15. Kindly stuff your masks, you so-called doctors. You disgrace your profession.
    .
    Kindly stuff your mask mandates, you so called “representatives”, you disgraces to your districts.
    .
    You carpetbaggers think you’ve got Governor Dunleavy backed into a corner; he has to make people do anything you say or else you so-and-so’s are gonna recall him?
    .
    Both elected and unelected remind one of horrible, but especially stupid, parasites gobbling away on their host until the host, their meal ticket, is gone!
    .
    That would be the host, FYI, already bloody sick and tired of your pointless panicky pontificating like this is your once-in-a-lifetime chance to shine your arguably worthless selves in the public spotlight by being even more of a nuisance to your betters than you already are.
    .
    Bring it on, Masked Avengers, remember jury nullification because you can be damned sure productive Alaskans will.

16. Just from my casual observation, it appears that a full 75% of these healthcare providers are female, and only 25% are male. I’ll leave you to come to your own sexist conclusions….

    • FYI, there are plenty of us females who do not wear that ridiculous mask!

17. Good luck with that case. It’s a good way to make a little money in court – just start with a lot of money.

    [Links removed by moderator.]

18. Yeah, makes me lose sleep. NOT!

19. The Anchorage Daily Worker still exists? They have actual readers? Who knew?

20. Not all are doctors. I recognize one name that may be a village health aid.

21. I’ve said it before – masks are the new pussy hats of the resist crowd!

22. I’m sure the Providence “health care” facility with the latest outbreak had a mask policy in effect that seems to answer the question about if wearing one does anything but condition people to be controlled “for safety “.

23. So many snowflakes here.

    • They persist because theirs is always a winter of discontent. The spectrum of preventative steps has been all over the place as have been the goal posts for the end game. The Lancet had to retract the bogus anti-hydroxychloroquine publication which was used to steer political and medical opinion despite many others finding it worked… even in 2015 it was noted to have effect against SARS.

      Add to that… it would be interesting to ask the signatories if they are for “Black Lives Matter” or “All Lives Matter”. And if the former…”just Black lives matter”?

24. Leave it to MRA to politicize every issue, including well-intentioned health recommendations that are based upon good science. Anything, I guess, to keep the eyeballs on the website, the clicks forthcoming, and the advertising dollars flowing.

    Why practice journalism that is fair, balanced, and in the public interest, when dividing people instead is so much more fun and profitable…

25. OK, No links
    JVM has been mentioned.
    Read Zucht v. King and the recent decision South Bay United Pentecostal v Newsom

26. So let me get this straight – a group of health care workers, including many respected local doctors, who spend their lives trying to heal people and keep them healthy, decides to advocate for a common-sense health measure, and MRA decides to – based partially upon freely-admitted speculation – sort them into political groups so that they can be pilloried by MRA readers.

    No doubt MRA would be even happier if they would boycott their establishments altogether.

    Some day, you all may call upon them in a time of need, and no doubt they will still be there, ready and willing to help you.

    Really, such pandering is a new low for this website.

    • Did you even read what real doctors said about those who signed the petition? The majority of those on the list aren’t even medical doctors currently practicing in Alaska. If a maskless society is so threatening and scary to you, stay inside and bleat like a good little sheep.

      • The real doctors used their real names on the opinion piece. Your real doctor does not value his opinion enough to even associate his real name with it. These anonymous posters could have doctorates from some strip mall religious colleges like other posters here calling themselves doctors.

    • Insert the word police into your rant and then tell me your thoughts. Seems the leftists and media are falling all over themselves to defund police.
      .
      How are things down there in your neck of the woods Whidbey? Has anyone taken over your town square yet like they’ve done in Seattle?

      • Hey Steve-O, it’s been a while! FYI, I think defunding police is nonsense and a ridiculous idea that will die its death in the next news cycle. I’m not quite the Lefty you believe me to be – I’m more of a pragmatist who just happens to believe that following good medical advice that protects yourself and those around you is a good idea.

        Beautiful summer down here – flowers and Rhodies all around, no mosquitoes, a ferry system that actually operates, State government that is well-funded, and not a protest in sight.

27. Where are my posts? Not that it’s a great care but why did this poorly written attack piece get buried so quickly?

28. Way to politicize a pandemic……

29. An excellent deep dive by Suzanne on the possible political agenda by these health care providers who want to mandate masks. Interesting that democrats seem to be the ones to push that mandate.

    I checked the list for my health care provider being listed and the name was not there. I didn’t expect to see it because my health care provider has common sense. Even the ‘revered’ Dr. Fauci has stated the wearing of masks only makes sense when worn by health care providers and not the general population. He has a nice YouTube video on that topic.

    But, ‘never let a crisis go to waste’ in the paramount drive to rid ourselves of our governor through the recall movement. The wearing of masks appears to be just another angle of attack by democrats. And it is becoming more apparent that it is less about medicine and more about control. Alaskans will not be controlled.

30. I wish my doctor was on that list. I have tried to make appointments with 2 doctors that I cannot see via telemed due to the nature of my problems. Neither require patients to wear masks in the office! That is what it is like in the South now (TN to be exact!). They do not follow CDC guidelines in Dr. ‘s offices!!! Crazy! I’m 66; I have several medical issues so that if I get COVID, I’m likely dead. So screw all you idiots who think wearing a mask is some kind of political issue! It isn’t! I don’t care what your politics are! I care about living . . .

    • Don’t come to Alaska. I saw my doctor a few weeks ago and neither of us wore a mask. I didn’t feel threatened. I wasn’t afraid. I’m not going to live my life in fear. We’ve had one COVID-19 death in the Mat-Su since this started. One death. Out of a population of over 100,000. Get over it, lady. Stop living your life in fear. I was in Fred Meyer the other day and only a handful of people were wearing a mask. Most of us are not living in fear for our lives. BTW, I’m also 66.

    • Surely you wore a mask every single time the regular ole flu and SARS and MERS and AIDS and the common cold showed up?
      .
      Might be worth turning off the television, hysteria’ll get you before China flu does…
      .
      True, in the South, they don’t take snowflakes as seriously as snowflakes take themselves. Incredibly, it works for the most part.
      .
      You’ll care enough about politics when it gets obvious to you what this insanity is meant to accomplish.
      .
      China flu’ll be around forever, probably has been around since forever, no more cure for that than for AIDS or the common cold…
      .
      But your country, your freedoms won’t be if you, we, permit fools and liars keep on doing what they’re doing to us. That’s politics, not public health.
      .
      May come down to choosing between herd immunity and herd mentality…

31. Glad I don’t live in Alaska… They could have filmed deliverance there last week.

32. June 11, Peer reviewed examination of the effectiveness of masks: Use your favorite search engine and search PNAS Identifying airborne transmission.

33. I have a compromise. Lefties wear masks on even numbered days. Lefties wear masks on odd numbered days. Problem solved!

34. Thank you for publishing this list. Marin Granholm; I coulda called it. Won’t be seeing any of these ideologues.

35. ROFLMAO. In the midst of the current flood of emerging science showing the efficacy, nay necessity, of mask use in fighting this virus, only an ideologue would eschew using one!

    Dunleavy is making a political decision, playing with fire.

36. JERE, you obviously haven’t kept up with the latest intel on masks. Even Dr Fauci has declared them nothing more than a pacifier for those in fear. Fact the covid Virus is too small to be filtered by any basic mask. The M95 mask has an exhalation valve, meaning nothing is filtered when you exhale! Common anti-bacterial masks must be laundered between uses as they are moist and collect bacteria that is hazardous. I suggest you read the OSHA mask criteria for all uses. Masks don’t work for viruses, only bacterium. It is science.

    • ART, you really don’t know what you’re talking about. Fauci has been a proponent of masks the whole time because they can capture aerosol dispersal before it hits one of your mucus membranes — even basic fabric masks. They aren’t perfect but they make a difference. Also, N95 come with and without the valve. Those with the valve only protect the wearer while those without the valve protect the wearer and those around them. But on another note, I support freedom of choice when it comes to masks. I wear one because I’m cautious and it doesn’t negatively impact my day to day experience. You don’t because you can’t be bothered to see the big picture, get away from your normalcy bias, or have a hard time understanding how the real meaningful info in the pandemic numbers comes from the ratios between the numbers, not the numbers themselves. Each to their own.

      • I should add that Fauci recently admitted that he understated the importance of masks early on because he didn’t want cause a run on supply that would further increase the shortage of masks available for health care workers. He has openly admitted this blunder in the last week or so. Search it.

    • O contraire, ART. My most recent search of the peer reviewed literature was just a few days ago.

      The Dr. Fauchi declaration (reprehensible IMO) is old.

      The size of the virus itself is not the pertinent question. The virus is carried in exhaled breath captured in aerosol particles of size and character amenable to capture by N95 and surgical masks. Their efficacy has been studied wrt earlier viruses in the past and now a growing body of papers on SARS-Cov-2 are appearing. It’s science, as you say – continually evolving.

      All N95 masks do not have an exhalation valve – I use them regularly in a number of applications and now when I interact with other people during this pandemic.

      The use of a mask is an important aspect of slowing or stopping the spread of this virus in the population. As pointed out earlier, there are other, now w ell known, measures the prudent citizen should take in addition to using a mask when appropriate.

      Thank you for your perspective and interest.

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