Debate over whether face masks help prevent the spread of Covid-19 dominated a court hearing Monday in the case against the former Newport UPS store owner who flouted the state’s mask mandate.
Attorney Deborah Bucknam — who last year represented a Rutland gym owner who similarly bucked state quarantine orders — is defending Andre “Mike” Desautels, owner of the store in Newport.
The hearing Monday centered on state lawyers’ request that the court order Desautels to stop violating the mandate because allowing the violations to continue would cause irreparable harm.
Judge Mary Miles Teachout had previously granted that request on Feb. 23, but Bucknam argued that the state hadn’t established the likelihood of such harm.
So Bucknam brought in Aimee Stephenson, a microbiology instructor at Community College of Vermont who received a doctorate in the subject 20 years ago, to dispute the idea that masks effectively limit the spread of the virus.
During stricter quarantine periods over the past year, Stephenson called for a full reopening of businesses and sending kids back to school under normal conditions to develop herd immunity.
She told the court Monday that she doesn’t think there is enough scientific basis for the efficacy of masks in communities.
“My opinion is that we don’t have evidence that they’re effective at preventing viral transmission, and there’s many reasons to believe why they would be ineffective,” said Stephenson, who said she based her conclusion on about 45 studies she had reviewed on the subject.
However, she admitted later, she hadn’t actually read all the studies — just their summaries — and repeatedly said she was unfamiliar with studies she claimed to have read.
Stephenson also said she believes Covid death tolls released by the federal government are inaccurate because of the advanced age of many victims and their existing health conditions.
Rachel Smith, a lawyer with the Vermont Attorney General’s Office, tried but failed to have Stephenson disqualified as an expert witness. She pointed out that Stephenson was being asked questions about epidemiology, despite not being an epidemiologist.
But Teachout decided to allow Stephenson to give expert testimony.
Stephenson concluded that, in an establishment like Desautels’, with only two unmasked employees, “the chances of transmission are very, very low.”
She made several references to the difference between the size of virus particles and the size of gaps in mask fabric, adding that in a store like Desautels’, transmission would be unlikely unless a sick employee sneezed on a customer.
Smith, the state lawyer, spent significant time trying to discredit Stephenson’s testimony on Covid-19 and masks. The attorney’s questions included a reference to a line in a May 2020 opinion piece, in which Stephenson wrote that she feels “the proverbial heads should roll” in response to “an endless stream of dictatorial executive orders and addendums.”
“Are you referring to officials in the Vermont state government?” Smith asked, spurring a strong objection from Bucknam that Teachout sustained.
Several of Stephenson’s claims were rebutted by State Epidemiologist Patsy Kelso, a witness for the state. Kelso had testified at a hearing Friday that, without mask mandates, public risk of contracting Covid would increase, according to the Caledonian Record.
Answering questions from Ryan Kane, another state lawyer, Kelso said Stephenson was wrong when describing the difference in size between virus particles and gaps in mask fabric.
“We don’t exhale individual virus particles,” the state official said. “What we exhale are droplets. … Facial coverings can prevent those droplets from escaping.”
Kelso also disputed Stephenson’s conclusion that virus transmission was unlikely in a store like Desautels’.
“It is quite possible for people — even just standing and breathing, potentially not even talking or sneezing or coughing — to exhale (the) virus in droplets that can be spread to people who are nearby,” Kelso said.
Court proceedings were set to continue Tuesday morning, when each side will have time for further arguments.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Court hearing about Newport UPS store centers on whether masks work.