Masks for Children, Muzzles for Covid-19 News – WSJ

I attended a public-policy roundtable hosted by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last month. The point was to discuss the state s Covid policies in the months ahead. That 600,000 Americans have died with Covid-19 is evidence that the lockdowns over the past year, including significant restrictions on the lives of children, haven t worked. Florida reopened in May and declined to shut down again. Yet age-adjusted mortality is lower in Florida than in locked-down California, and Florida s public schools are almost all open, while California s aren t.

My fellow panelists Sunetra Gupta of Oxford, Martin Kulldorff of Harvard and Scott Atlas of Stanford and I discussed a variety of topics. One was the wisdom of requiring children to wear masks. The press asked questions, and a video of the event was posted on YouTube by local media, including Tampa s WTSP.

But last week YouTube removed a recording of this routine policy discussion from its website. The company claimed my fellow panel members and I were trafficking in misinformation. The company said it removed the video because it included content that contradicts the consensus of local and global health authorities regarding the efficacy of masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Yet the panelists are all experts, and all spoke against requiring children to wear masks. I can t speak for my counterparts, but my reasoning was a cost-benefit analysis. The benefits of masking children are small to none; the costs are much higher.

via www.wsj.com

Just as a first cut, I’d say it’s time to declare YouTube is a common carrier and regulate them accordingly. Rebuttable, but still. But of course, if Congress does it, they’ll put the PC Thought Police in charge and make it worse. No good options. Maybe best to just leave it alone for now?