“Rep. Louie Gohmert, who often went without a mask, tests positive for the coronavirus.” That is the headline for a Wednesday NBC article regarding United States House of Representatives member Louie Gohmert (R-TX) having tested positive for coronavirus. Similar headlines seeking to make a connection between Gohmert’s test result and Gohmert not wearing a mask were used throughout much of the media. For example, headlines read “Louie Gohmert, who refused to wear a mask, tests positive for coronavirus” at Politico and “Texas Republican Rep. Gohmert Tests Positive For Coronavirus After Rebuffing Masks” at National Public Radio.

Suppose Gohmert often did not wear a belt when he went about his daily activities. Then, media could alternatively publish articles about his coronavirus test results with headlines like “Rep. Louie Gohmert, who often went without a belt, tests positive for the coronavirus.” Mentioning Gohmert’s belt-wearing tendency would be just as relevant to the matter as is mentioning his mask-wearing tendency. As with wearing masks, there is no clear evidence that wearing belts on net helps prevent people from being infected with coronavirus.

Even if you believe masks help protect against coronavirus, pointing to Gohmert to buttress that argument does not make sense given that he said in a new interview at KETK-TV that in the last week or two he had been wearing a mask more than before. Indeed, the US House member, who says he has had none of the symptoms associated with coronavirus infection, ponders in the interview if his recent mask wearing could have caused him to be infected. Gohmert states in the interview: “I can’t help but wonder if, by keeping a mask on and keeping it in place, if I might have put some germs, some of the virus onto the mask and breathed it in.” Given coronavirus tests often result in false positives, Gohmert should also wonder whether he in fact has coronavirus.

Further stated Gohmert in the interview:

There are an awful lot of people that think [wearing a mask is] the great thing to do all the time, but I can’t help but think that, if I hadn’t been wearing a mask so much in the last ten days or so, I really wonder if I would have gotten it. But, I know, moving the mask around, getting it just right, I’m bound to have put some virus on the mask that I sucked in. That’s most likely what happened.

Gohmert’s suggestion that wearing a mask may have caused him to be infected with coronavirus brings to mind a reason National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci offered in an early March 60 Minutes interview at CBS television when advising against people wearing masks while doing their daily activities away from home. Fauci mentioned the coronavirus transmission danger from people “fiddling” with their masks.

The next month Fauci, along with other US government officials, including Surgeon General Jerome Adams who had around the time of Fauci’s interview declared at Twitter “Seriously people- STOP BUYING MASKS!” and masks “are NOT effective in preventing the general public from catching #Coronavirus,” turned on a dime to encourage people to wear masks while doing daily activities away from home.

At least in some parts of America, state and local governments have not jumped on the tyrant bandwagon by imposing mask mandates justified by nonexistent “science” supposedly establishing that everyone covering their faces when they work, shop, or visit with friends reduces the spread of coronavirus. Yet, in places that have mask mandates, things can become worse. If politicians and their cohorts in the media can be so brazen in their mandating and propagandizing regarding masks, what is next? Might governments impose belt mandates too, or even goggles mandates?

Reprinted with permission from the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.