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And Finally Artist News
Gene Simmons spars with fans over COVID-19 facemasks
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 4 May 2020
There’s a lot of conflicting advice and research on the effectiveness of facemasks in reducing the spread of COVID-19. It seems that all you can do is digest the various conflicting statements that are out there, decide who you trust more, and then attach or discard your facemask accordingly. With that in mind, it may assist you – one way or another – to learn that Gene Simmons is firmly in the ‘facemasks work’ camp.
A fierce debate raged on the musician’s Twitter feed over the weekend after he innocently retweeted a picture of a teenage fan using a Kiss bandanna to cover her face. As with all things on Twitter, this throwaway post quickly turned into lots of people calling each other idiots.
Simmons, who at least claims to have thoroughly researched the matter, then battled various mask objections. The first such objection, which seemed reasonable, was that whatever you think about proper facemasks, a piece of Kiss-branded cotton cloth wasn’t really going to be that effective in stopping you from getting the disease.
“You are incorrect and misinformed”, shot back Simmons. “The idea of cloth masks or any other kind of mask, is not to protect you. It’s to protect everybody else around you in case you cough or talk. It’s not about you, David. It’s about protecting everybody else. From you”.
The same fan then argued back that using facemasks is “more of a psychological thing” and those urging others to use them are creating unnecessary divisions between people at a time when we should be coming together. Simmons responded by telling him to wear a mask.
Though the musician himself did then later argue that all divisions should be put aside and everyone should “get together, once and for all”. However, based on a string of tweets prior to that statement, that coming together would seemingly have to involve everyone agreeing with him and wearing masks (Kiss-branded or otherwise).
Among Simmons’ arguments was that wearing a mask is more effective at stopping the spread of germs than covering your mouth with your hand or arm, and that everyone who disagrees with him on this point is basically just denying the existence of the pandemic entirely. I’m not sure if that includes the first person he responded to, who – after all – actually began by arguing that surgical masks are better than bandanas.
Anyway, I hope that’s cleared up any medical questions you may have today.
