disabled young child who has been vaccinated, yet forced to wear a mask during speech pathology. we ve had this assumption that there is no downsides to masks, but the data are pretty clear right now. we ve got a mental health crisis among children declared by the surgeon general and the brown university study tells us that there is developmental delays, cognitive and motor. you cannot ignore that data. laura: now, so the former cdc director tom friedman, i know you know him, made it a fairly interesting and mission about masking students. watch this. mask mandates are a proven way to increase mask use. schools need to stay open. we need to protect our children, our children s education, and i m really disappointed to see this kind of political posturing that could have life-and-death consequences. laura: now dr. makary, he never said that the masks were effective. he just said that the mandates forced compliance.
majority. eva mckend, thank you. let me get some more analysis right now from the former director of the centers for disease control, and prevention, dr. tom frieden is joining us. let me quickly get your perspective on these changes in virginia. is dropping the mask mandates in schools in virginia a smart strategy during this omicron surge? it s really unfortunate, wolf, to see children being used as a little football. that s what we re seeing. masks are not an infringement on someone s liberty so much as an infringement on the ability of the virus to infect other people. mask mandates are a proven way to increase mask use, schools need to stay open. we need to protect our children and our children s education. and i am really disapointed to see this kind of political posturing that could have life and death consequences and could result in kids not being able to
impressionable ages whether they are 4 or 14 who have been told you are going to die. don t wear a mask and you don t leave it over your nose, you will be punished. you are not allowed to go to school and hand out with your friends and play sports. she hearkens back in the time 1950s there was a sense that weekend be nuked by the russians any melt. saw a move of explosion and people being burned and had to run back home and talk to her mom. totally traumatized she thinks about that and channels that and thinking about these kids today. she is grandparent now. covid trauma is hurting a generation of kids. we failed them as a nation. steve: right. that s the headline. and in the op-ed she says today we are in the midst of a national trauma that could very well surpass 9/11 and approach the heightened terror of the cold war years. the covid era has changed our children s lives in far more real tangible ways. social distancing, school closures, daily mask use.
president s presidency and something he ran on is going to be the pandemic and covid. and he spoke about personal responsibility when asked about individuals mask use wearing at the super bowl. take a listen here to his answer. if you re exercising personal freedom puts someone else in jeopardy, their health in jeopardy, i don t consider that being very dealing with freedom. it s about moving in the direction you know is likely to diminish the prospects that this virus continues to spread. we know we have so many more tools at our disposal to prevent death and prevent serious illness, and i just think they should be careful. and if they re not careful for themselves, at least think of their children. think of their families. reporter: and so that statement from the president, think of your families, be careful. it s been really a through line this year plus that he has been in office. so, a little bit of news here on
an update on a story out of florida we have been covering for months. it involves this man, dr. joseph. he is governor ron desantis s handpicked choice for florida surgeon general. he is not necessarily who you might think you would expect to be named as the top health official, in a state that has seen one of the highest body counts from covid. he has called covid eight mania. he has blasted mask use, and has ominously questioned the safety of vaccines. there is also little matter that during the height of the pandemic, doctor lot of posted on the steps of the supreme court, with a group of people, doctors, called america s frontline doctors. among the speakers of that event was a doctor known for her passionate claims that if you have ovarian cysts, it is because you have been having sex with demons in your sleep. also, you should