Gov. Ron DeSantis

YouTube
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YouTube deletes video of Ron DeSantis's public health roundtable: YouTube reportedly deleted a video of Republican Fla. Gov. Ron DeSantis's March 18 public health roundtable, which featured former White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Scott Atlas and the authors of an anti-lockdown statement known as The Great Barrington Declaration. In the video, DeSantis spoke about coronavirus lockdown restrictions and which ones he did, and did not, find necessary. The video, posted to YouTube by a Tampa Bay news station, received more than half a million views before it was taken down, according to Reclaim The Net. In a statement to the Wall Street Journal's editorial board YouTube 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.” YouTube pointed to a moment during the press conference when DeSantis asked panelist Martin Kulldorff, a Harvard biostatistician and co-writer of The Great Barrington Declaration, whether children needed to wear masks. Kulldorff said no, and explained that children rarely spread the coronavirus, so the preventive efforts were not necessary for children. Most public health experts agree with Kulldorff's response, which was based in scientific data, according to the Washington Examiner. Even the World Health Organization has said it is unnecessary to require children age 5 years and under to wear masks, and that it's still up for debate whether children age 6-11 should be required to wear them, according to The Examiner. Experts who still believe children should wear masks cannot deny that they are not superspreaders of the virus, and that they almost never experience severe symptoms if they do contract it. Both Dr. Scott Atlas and the authors of The Great Barrington Declaration have been censored numerous times in the past for discussing their thoughts on COVID-19 and the societal response to it.