Meg Lee Chin

Ghislaine Maxwell sits in jail awaiting trial. This privileged socialite holds the puzzle pieces to that which props up the most hideous misery on Planet Earth today. The ugly abomination to which she has access is the industrial-scale blackmail of politicians and celebrities.

It's the mechanism behind needless wars, widespread corruption, and suffering. So for the first time in history, we have in our hands the key to the unraveling of the most sinister web this world has seen. Never mind Trump's silly tweets, the potential to "drain the swamp" is actually now within our grasp.

The other opportunity is to push the post-COVID economy away from the current bailouts of big business toward a more equitable landscape. These would be worthy of marches in the street. But instead of seizing the day, some of my activist mates are forming groups to protest "wearing masks".

It seems silly to me. I'm not quite sure what drives them. Some believe #Covid19 is harmless, others believe it was man-made as either a bioweapon or to control the masses.

But either way, there is no doubt that the genie of biowarfare is out of the bottle. I'm not saying that it was man-made, simply that it could be. We have the technology and like other deadly weapons one cannot simply reverse their discovery.

Therefore it doesn't hurt to have our human ingenuity directed toward creating better masks and other technology to protect against something which is likely to plague us again in the future.

Our current stock of seasonal viruses already kill large numbers each year. If everyone wore masks, COVID19 along with many other infectious diseases could disappear completely. If not, we will add a far more deadly virus on top of what we already have.

It's early days and we're only beginning to learn about this disease. There are already a few things that make it particularly worrisome:

- CT scans show permanent damage with glassy patterns in the lungs of 30-40% of those who were asymptomatic.
- It's possible COVID19 may never leave the body completely - like herpes it appears to go dormant.
- It appears cumulative, with "viral load" playing a factor in the severity of illness.
- It spreads in stealth with many infecting others for up to two weeks while unaware they have it.
- It seems there may be no permanent immunity with antibodies being short-lived, lasting just a few months.
- Sudden death can occur even in those who are asymptomatic.

Of all the ways to tackle airborne disease, simply wearing masks in confined indoor public spaces seems to be the least painful option.

In wartime, governments see the death of a relatively small number of innocents as "collateral damage". Sadly some Anti-Maskers also seem to see the death of Covid19 victims the same way.

Being generally distrustful of politicians myself, I can sympathize with any cynicism over their motives. But I disagree that this is all about control. If anything, the government is underplaying not overplaying it. I don't wear a mask because the government tells me to but because it's the right thing to do. This virus is very real and if anything was worthy of pulling together for, I think this is it.

FFS how hard can it be to just slip on a mask when on the tube and in shops? Not everything is a symbol of oppression folks.

#masks #masks4all