Queensland residents draws to the attention of the House the following:

1. As of 20 July 2022, the Queensland Health website reports 1,414,382 COVID-19 cases, 56,618 active cases, and 1,034 hospitalisations.

2. Mask-wearing is currently mandated in settings including, but not limited to, healthcare settings, residential aged care, prisons, flights, and public transport.

3. Masks are currently recommended in situations where individuals are unable to socially distance.

With the current resurgence of COVID-19, the people of Queensland note through multiple news media that their government is threatening to reintroduce mask mandates.

Since COVID-19 emerged, experts from around the world have studied multiple aspects of the disease, including the efficacy of mask-wearing to limit its transmission. Among others, the Brownstone Institute provides more than 150 comparative studies and articles on mask ineffectiveness and harms. Some of the serious harms identified include “sudden cardiac death,” bacterial infections, psychological distress and weakened immunity.

Only two days ago, Nature magazine published a study titled “Bacterial and fungal isolation from face masks under the COVID 19 pandemic,” the authors advising that immunocompromised people should avoid repeated use of masks to prevent microbial infection.

The World Health Organization’s 2019 guidance document (“Non-pharmaceutical public health measures for mitigating the risk and impact of epidemic and pandemic influenza”) advises that with face masks “there is no evidence that this is effective in reducing transmission…”(page 14).

Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to seek the latest medical advice being relied upon about mask-wearing to limit the transmission of COVID-19.