David Zweig

What does it say about our country that we behaved so differently from many, many of our peer nations? The duration of school closures in America was extraordinary and unnecessary.

What does it say about our country that we behaved so differently from many, many of our peer nations? The duration of school closures in America was extraordinary and unnecessary.

And what I show repeatedly throughout the book is that the evidence from the very beginning, Drew, we knew that this, like I said, the academic literature had already pointed out that this wasn't going to be successful over a long term.

And what I show repeatedly throughout the book is that the evidence from the very beginning, Drew, we knew that this, like I said, the academic literature had already pointed out that this wasn't going to be successful over a long term.

It's possible that an immediate closure in certain locations where there was a massive outbreak, it's possible that a school closure combined with everything else being shut down may have some limited benefit for a very brief window. But what we know is that over a long period of time and there's some interesting studies on this that I point out. Do you remember the St.

It's possible that an immediate closure in certain locations where there was a massive outbreak, it's possible that a school closure combined with everything else being shut down may have some limited benefit for a very brief window. But what we know is that over a long period of time and there's some interesting studies on this that I point out. Do you remember the St.

Louis versus Philadelphia example? This was something that governors talked about. It was all over the media. They said basically St. Louis did the wrong thing. They had a big spike in cases, but Philly did their, I forget, or maybe it was the reverse, but one of those cities did the wrong thing. They didn't stay home. There was a spike in cases. The other one did the right thing.

Louis versus Philadelphia example? This was something that governors talked about. It was all over the media. They said basically St. Louis did the wrong thing. They had a big spike in cases, but Philly did their, I forget, or maybe it was the reverse, but one of those cities did the wrong thing. They didn't stay home. There was a spike in cases. The other one did the right thing.

And it was a gentle, it was sort of a, it was like the example of the flat and the curve. So that led to a lot of the closures, in particular school closures. This was used as a justification. Here's the problem with that. An analysis was done of the 1918 pandemic, including St. Louis and Philly and many, many other cities. What they found was over time,

And it was a gentle, it was sort of a, it was like the example of the flat and the curve. So that led to a lot of the closures, in particular school closures. This was used as a justification. Here's the problem with that. An analysis was done of the 1918 pandemic, including St. Louis and Philly and many, many other cities. What they found was over time,

All the school closures did nothing at all. There was no benefit from the school closures. There was no correlation. So you have this very arresting graphic of one city with a spike in cases, the other one where it's gentle. You're told, look what happened when you didn't follow directions. And everyone believed it. But they left out the ending. They only did the first chapter.

All the school closures did nothing at all. There was no benefit from the school closures. There was no correlation. So you have this very arresting graphic of one city with a spike in cases, the other one where it's gentle. You're told, look what happened when you didn't follow directions. And everyone believed it. But they left out the ending. They only did the first chapter.

They left out the next five chapters where it wasn't effective. So we had this... circumstance in our country where the schools remained closed for month after month after month. And as you know, in California, there were kids who didn't step foot in the classroom for over a year. Healthy kids were barred from a classroom.

They left out the next five chapters where it wasn't effective. So we had this... circumstance in our country where the schools remained closed for month after month after month. And as you know, in California, there were kids who didn't step foot in the classroom for over a year. Healthy kids were barred from a classroom.

Just tore it up. That's exactly right. So there are a couple pandemic plans from the government. Two of them that I focus on that are most important, I think, were from the CDC. One of them was in 2007, and then they did a revision in 2017. And this was referred to specifically by CDC officials during the COVID pandemic.

Just tore it up. That's exactly right. So there are a couple pandemic plans from the government. Two of them that I focus on that are most important, I think, were from the CDC. One of them was in 2007, and then they did a revision in 2017. And this was referred to specifically by CDC officials during the COVID pandemic.

So we know that this was part of their guide that they ostensibly were following. And those guidebooks were deeply flawed. They were based on all sorts of

So we know that this was part of their guide that they ostensibly were following. And those guidebooks were deeply flawed. They were based on all sorts of

dubious assumptions the idea about how they built their models was based on just a model on top of a model on top of a model i i bring readers through i tried to find out well where did they get the information that went into this model and you know you see like a citation in a study so i click on oh well let me read that citation that's where they must have gone

dubious assumptions the idea about how they built their models was based on just a model on top of a model on top of a model i i bring readers through i tried to find out well where did they get the information that went into this model and you know you see like a citation in a study so i click on oh well let me read that citation that's where they must have gone