Thread by @jhaskinscabrera

.@GovRonDeSantis roundtable with Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Dr. Scott Atlas, and @MartinKulldorff is starting now.

DeSantis says big media conglomerates are now cheerleaders of censorship.

Bhattacharya: "For science to work, you have to have an actual exchange of ideas... Let's have a debate... Censorship is not consistent with American norms... "

Kulldorff: "I'm very worried about the future of science... "

Atlas: "When you have this sort of censorship among universities... or ad hominem rebukes... stops people from being willing to say what they believe."

DeSantis points out that lockdowns and face masks in the general public were not previously recommended by public health, but now we can't even discuss taking masks off children.

Bhattacharya: "The academic community, in many ways, has not performed well during this epidemic... pre-pandemic plans that I have known about did not recommend lockdown... Biden's advisors on COVID opposed lockdown back then..."

Bhattacharya says the change was not based on evidence... says our policies have touched every person on earth and have harmed every poor person on earth.

DeSantis says it's "right in front of our eyes" that lockdown states are not doing better.

Kulldorff: "To think that masks give good protection is a... dangerous fallacy." Older people who are at high risk felt safe in masks and were not protected.

Kulldorff: "There's no reason why small children should have to wear masks, and the negative consequences..." Also, the vaccines "are very good," so people don't need to wear masks after being vaccinated. Says Fauci is destroying trust in vaccines.

Atlas: "The reason we're highlighting Florida is we have the experiment... the only statistic... to compare... is excess mortality... the excess mortality for Florida during the pandemic beats about 2/3 of the states."

Atlas: "The burden is on the states that introduced the recommendations of the faces of public health... Florida did not do worse, which would be necessary to prove that lockdowns [help]... "

Atlas: "You have to say there is no evidence [for the measures recommended by public health]... This is really fact, I don't know why this can't be stated... It's inexplicable... what's going on with censoring actual fact."

Atlas: The role of public health is to consider the total impact of policies on public health. That's why you can't have a virologist or immunologist determining public health policy. "This is off the rails."

Kulldorff: "The key feature of COVID is anybody can get infected but the risk of mortality is 1000-fold between the oldest and the youngest... the naive belief that lockdown would protect everybody... standard... measures to protect the old were never implemented."

Kulldorff: "Those who propagated the lockdowns are responsible for some of the 600k who have died... there's absolutely no reason to keep schools closed, they should open tomorrow across the country."

DeSantis mentions monoclonal antibody treatments "which get no media attention."

Bhattacharya: "We should continue to vaccinate the vulnerable population... [Fauci said he still wouldn't visit a restaurant, etc.]... [that message] is an enormous public health mistake... We should lift the lockdown"

Bhattacharya: Need to address the fear of COVID. "There's going to be a decoupling of cases and deaths... If we protect the vulnerable with the vaccines, we're not going to see hospitalizations rise..." Should stop tracking cases.

Bhattacharya: Address long-term harm from these lockdowns. Double down on addressing obesity rates, cancer screenings, mental health issues. Multi-year effort.

Atlas: "Public health officials have created a damaged generation... in teenagers, tripling of reported doctor visits for self-harm... unwanted significant weight gain in ages 18-24... a horrendous public health disaster."

Atlas: 50% of younger generation "are afraid of any social interaction" - more than those over 65. "We've done a massive, catastrophic disservice to younger generations... Who do we trust? ... Experts have not just failed, they've failed to admit that they failed."

Atlas recommends looking to people who have been consistent on what they said, who cited the data.

Kulldorff: Educational and religious institutions will need to step up to help with mental health issues.

Kulldorff says he doesn't know any scientists who think 5-year-olds should wear masks, but if there are any, he'd be happy to debate them.

Kulldorff: "This type of fear of speaking out and censoring is something new... I'm stunned at what happened..." Says he was unable to get published in the U.S. in March 2020.

Reporter asks how roundtable benefits the taxpayers of Florida. DeSantis says there are Floridians who are concerned about censorship. "If we can't have an open debate about some of the most consequential decisions... that is really problematic."

Bhattacharya said earlier that he hoped to say more about the harms of masking children, but DeSantis never turned to that topic.