Nurses on the front line of Victoria’s COVID-19 crisis have shared hard-hitting images of their faces heavily bruised from their protective equipment – as they plead with the state’s residents to stop complaining about wearing masks.
All Victorians are required to wear a face covering in public after Premier Daniel Andrews extended compulsory mask-wearing to the rest of the state on Sunday night in an attempt to curb an explosion in coronavirus infections.
Enforcement of the government order with $200 penalties has led to anti-maskers going viral by defying policemen and shop policies telling all customers to wear a mask.
Health workers have called on people to do their civic duty and wear a mask – revealing they have to wear them for entire shifts to prevent coronavirus transmissions.
Pictured: Melbourne nurse Grace Currie with masks and a plaster on her face after wearing a heavy duty protective mask to protect herself from COVID-19. Nurses across the city have called on Victorians to do their civic duty and wear a face covering
‘I don’t care how uncomfortable you think your face mask is,’ western Melbourne ICU research unit manager Sam Bates told ABC’s 7.30.
‘I’m wearing one all day. I don’t want to wear one all day. So please, if you have to wear one when you go out in public, just for half an hour or an hour, please do so.
‘Every little bit helps.’
Royal Melbourne emergency nurse Abbey Fistrovic said the public were as much on the front line of the battle against coronavirus as health workers.
‘I just saw our numbers which are up again and it’s disheartening because I have the mask pushing all over my face and just being highly uncomfortable and [I’m] just thinking, when is this ever going to end?’ she said.
Another Royal Melbourne emergency department nurse Mel Pearson said health workers were dehydrated because the industrial-grade N95 masks and face shields cannot be removed at all while working.
Last month, a Melbourne nurse slammed fellow ‘dumb and selfish’ Victorians who continue to flout the state’s strict lockdown rules in an angry Facebook post which has gone viral online.
Jemma Hilliard, who wears a mask for 10 hours a day at work, had a blunt message for those who refuse to comply.
Last month, Melbourne nurse Jemma Hilliard (pictured) had a blunt message for those who refuse to comply with mask-wearing directives
Ms Hilliard has to wear a face mask up up to 10 hours day and had a blunt message for anyone who refuses to wear one to ‘Man the f**k up’
‘COVID isn’t polite enough to step back and not infect you because you want to speak to someone in person or on the phone and you ‘simply can’t deal with simultaneously wearing a mask’. Man The F*** Up,’ she wrote.
‘This is not about COVID-19 the virus, this is about COVID-19 the pandemic. It’s you, the dumb, selfish Victorians who are actually killing us.’
Nurses around the world have shared photos of their bruised, pressure-marked faces to drive home the reality of the pandemic and to encourage people to stay at home.
During the onset of the pandemic in March, Italian nurse Alessia Bonari shared a photo of her face bruised red because of her face mask.
US nurse Syndi Lane shared a photo of her in March with heavy bruising from wearing a hospital mask all day
Italian nurse Alessia Bonari also in March shared a photo of her pressure-marked face, while calling on the public to do their bit and stay at home
A woman wearing a mask at a tram stop on the first day of stage four restrictions in Melbourne on Monday
‘What I ask anyone who is reading this post is not to frustrate the effort we are making, to be selfless, to stay at home and protect those who are more fragile,’ she wrote in an Instagram post beside the image.
The same month, US nurse Syndi Lane shared a selfie of her with heavily bruised cheeks from her personal protective equipment.
‘My face hurts after wearing an N95 for 13 f***ing hours, which happens to be the same N95 I wore yesterday for 12.5 hours, and the same one from all last week,’ she said.
Inside the wave of COVID-19 deniers who push absurd conspiracy theories, post bizarre rants and put YOU at risk by holding illegal mass meetings and refusing to wear masks – and ‘Bunnings Karen’ is just the tip of the iceberg
By Nic White for Daily Mail Australia
A dangerous wave of coronavirus deniers is organising to make life hell for police and shop workers trying to enforce mask wearing.
The loosely coordinated group provoked outrage with a series of stunts making a mockery of police checkpoints and mandatory mask laws.
Kerry Nash, the ‘Bunnings Karen’ who was briefly arrested outside the Melbourne store, is now one of Australia’s most reviled women – but just the tip of the iceberg.
Others have called masks the ‘mark of the beast’, bragged about talking their way past police blockades, and threatened officers checking they were self-isolating.
In earlier videos, a mother chucked a hissy fit because a playground was closed, and a hungry man compared a ban on dining-in at McDonald’s to Nazi Germany.
All the infuriating videos show the obnoxious troublemakers spouting suspiciously similar nonsense to back up their refusal to cooperate.
That is because they are all reading from the same script they believe will protect them from fines or prosecution, and even allow them to sue police for unlawful detention.
Some of the group members are also affiliated with the Church of United Kingdom of Australia, which is planning an illegal rally in Melbourne on Friday.
Bernardette Cassar
One of the chief proponents of the script and the legal fictions that go along with it is a civil engineering graduate turned kitchen designer.
Ms Cassar has not had a run-in with police during the coronavirus pandemic, but posts relentlessly about what others should do if they are.
She posts a widely-shared ‘checklist’ of materials including the step-by-step list of responses to police questions, the legal arguments behind it, and a schedule of ‘fees’ to charge police for ‘unlawful detention’.
Bernardette Cassar preaches anti-mask wearing, refusal to give details to police, and that 5G is the work of Satan
The documents are to be printed out and kept in your car at all times ready to be used if a follower is pulled over by police.
There is also a flowchart showing the process of ‘lawful dissent’ that makes demands for restitution if arrested or forced to do something by the state.
‘We will be living under a total dictatorship very soon! Exercise your rights before they are completely stripped always,’ she wrote in one post.
‘Will you EDUCATE yourself, learn that all is one big LIE, listen when someone wants to show you the TRUTH and following through with ACTIONS we provide?
‘Or stick your head in the SAND and continue to believe the FALSE evidence that those in POWER are using to take your RIGHTS away day by day?’
She posts a widely-shared ‘checklist’ of materials including the step-by-step list of responses to police questions, the legal arguments behind it, and a schedule of ‘fees’ to charge police for ‘unlawful detention’, which are kept in her car in case she is pulled over
There is also a flowchart showing the process of ‘lawful dissent’ that makes demands for restitution if arrested or forced to do something by the state
Ms Cassar also preaches that Australia is run by a corporation, and that women are being tracked by microchips in their Victoria’s Secret bras.
She partakes in many conspiracy theories, including running an anti-5G group that claims the technology is the work of Satan.
‘You guys need to turn off that stupid box and stop listening to the stupid media who has been bought by these people,’ she said.
‘We are allowing them to control us.’
Nick Patterson
Former MMA fighter Nick Patterson is one of the group’s ringleaders who hosts a weekly meeting of up to 50 followers in his Melbourne gym.
A photo from a meeting at 6pm on Sunday showed a tight circle of followers with Mr Patterson in the middle – even as gatherings of more than two were banned.
‘A great night together discussing the putrid conduct of the police, government and media lies. We are strong and won’t bow down to these oppressors,’ he wrote.
He also praised Eve Black, who was widely condemned for refusing to provide her details to officers as she left a coronavirus hotspot.
Former MMA fighter Nick Patterson) is one of the group’s ringleaders. He hosts a weekly meeting of up to 50 followers in his Melbourne gym
‘Thank you for sharing your experience with us and how media created a work of fiction with their slanderous narrative to demonise you, a true libertarian. God bless the righteous and give them power to prevail,’ he said.
Ms Black replied: ‘Thank you for having me there. It was so amazing to be in a room full of people who support and celebrate me during this tough time.’
Mr Patterson’s website John 8 acts as a resource for anti-mask conspiracy theorists, including the script they read out to police, and the dubious legal argument behind it.
‘I want to help people learn the Truth so they can become strong, not just with knowledge, but with the mindset of a warrior,’ it reads
He also posts numerous videos on Facebook airing his views, including one where he went to a supermarket without a mask.
‘I went shopping earlier and I got heckled a little bit. So we’re going to go see how it looks when we go in again,’ he said on Friday.
‘The problem with communism is it bring everyone down to the lowest, most ignorant denomination (sic), so let’s have a look at the crazieness (sic).
He also posts numerous videos on Facebook airing his views, including one where he went to a supermarket without a mask
‘Apparently there’s a law that means you have to wear a mask, but if you study law they need a declaration of override through the parliament, but parliament’s shut so they can’t get one.
‘But because the TV tell people that it’s a new law, people believe it.
Mr Patterson said Australia once had the Anzac spirit about fighting for your rights but ‘now people just roll over and let people put muzzles on them, restrict their breathing.’
Mr Patterson in other posts claims people who ‘are wearing their masks will easily accept a mark’.
‘If there is a moral reason for wearing a mask then I surely can’t see it. There is no legal powers to force healthy people to wear masks, so why are the police, government and media telling a big fat lie??’
Eve Black
The young Melbourne woman became a hero to her ’cause’ when she shared footage of herself driving past an officer at a COVID-19 police barricade in Melbourne.
When a police officer asked her where she was headed and why she was attempting to leave, Ms Black simply told him she didn’t need to share that information.
Instead of sharing her personal information, Ms Black asked the officer whether she’d ‘disturbed the peace’ by trying to leave her town.
‘No,’ the officer responded. ‘I just asked what your reason for leaving today is.’
Eve Black became a hero to her ’cause’ when she shared footage of herself driving past an officer at a COVID-19 police barricade
Ms Black responded: ‘I don’t need to tell you that. I don’t know you.’
Initially, the officer persisted. ‘Where have you come from,’ he asked again.
‘I don’t need to answer your questions. Have I committed a crime? Have I committed a crime?’ she asked twice.
Instead of answering her question, the officer waved Ms Black through the checkpoint.
‘Just keep going,’ he said as he let her and her passenger drive past.
Ms Black admitted she was ‘nervous as heck’ as she approached the checkpoint, but encouraged her friends and family to ‘know their rights’ during lockdown.
‘I just read from the sheet and he could obviously see it wasn’t worth the trouble,’ she explained.
Ms Black said she didn’t ‘regret’ sharing the video which has since been heavily criticised
Ms Black wiped most of her Facebook profile after the video went viral but still actively discusses refusing face masks and related issues on other profiles such as Mr Patterson’s.
‘I have privatised my acc (sic) because I have better things to do than be a punching bag for your fear,’ she wrote.
‘I regret nothing, I’m just tired of the abuse and threats. Wake up, sleeper.’