(LifeSiteNews) – Certified industrial hygienist Stephen Petty provided expert testimony for the New Hampshire Senate in March that showed from his perspective masks do absolutely nothing to stop the spread of a virus like COVID.
He began his testimony by stating that I’ve been working 45 years in the field of health and safety … most recently I testified in the State of Kentucky and as a result of my testimony the mask mandate was overturned statewide.”
Petty went over in great detail the reality that in his professional opinion there is no evidence that masks could stop the spread of COVID.
His argument centered on the fact that COVID particles are extremely small and have no problem going in and out of masks, and that COVID particles are airborne and remain the air for long periods of time.
“The virus is 500 times smaller than what you can see,” he said. “A COVID particle is a thousand times smaller than the cross section of a human hair, and I ask everybody the simple question … can you slip a human hair by the side of your mask?”
He compared the amount of space that a virus particle has to travel in and out of medical masks to a “super freeway for the virus to come and go.”
He critiqued the source control argument, which is an idea that even if a COVID particle can pass into a mask, it is still safer to wear one so you don’t spread the virus out of the mask.
“This source control argument is bogus,” he said. “If you’ve got this super freeway it doesn’t care [the virus] whether it’s coming in or going out.”
Petty also stated that an “asbestos fiber on average is 50 times larger than a COVID particle.” Petty slammed the idea that you could say a medical mask or N-95 could be used to stop COVID when only “high-end respirators” are used in asbestos work.
“We wouldn’t even use an n95 for asbestos workers,” he said.
He said that when an n95 mask is not worn with proper fitting, the effectiveness drops to three percent, and it is 46 percent effective when worn with perfect fitting.
He released a YouTube video where his explanation of the sizes of particles can be seen in depth.
In addition to his concerns about the futility of using masks to stop tiny particles, he also called to attention how the nature of COVID spread has been confused as spreading via droplets as opposed to spreading in an aerosol fashion.
“There’s been great disinformation about COVID being a droplet,” Petty stated.
“Particles can be classified into droplets and aerosols … over 99.9 percent of the [COVID] particles are aerosols,” he added.
He went on to say that while droplets fall to the ground quickly, aerosols can stay in the air for “up to 50 days” before they fall.
“You have no way of knowing whether that stuff’s still there or not … the solution is to dilute with ventilation. Filter it out, or destroy it has always been the solution.”
He criticized the changing narrative on masks throughout the declared pandemic.
“What science changes its position 180 degrees in two years? Mask, no mask, mask, no mask. No science does that.”