We recently published an op-ed in the Florida Sun Sentinel (PDF is above) in response to a pervasive myth that is regularly being pushed on a vulnerable public. When there is a surge of COVID, it's always because of resistance to masks. When COVID cases rise in areas with oppressive quarantines and strong mask mandates, well, the myth has another response: it would have been worse without those masks.
No state has been victimized more than Florida by this myth. Florida's governor has tried to have a measured response to COVID, well realizing that an over-zealous and non-scientific response may kill and harm more people than it could possibly help. For being reasonable and sticking to science, he has been demonized. California governor Newsome has done just the opposite, masking everyone, locking people up, and turning the state Government into a concentration camp For his efforts, he is widely praised. A recent article tried to tie the surge of cases in Florida to its governor's policies, while lauding the California example. We don't know how many hundreds of thousands of people died and were harmed in California due to the oppressive policies of its governor, but the author of this article didn't much care about that. He only cared about COVID, and only cared about it now, not when California was hard hit despite its draconian policies. And everything he said is endemic of the misinformation and statistical trickery that have plagued COVID communication from the start.
We distill the facts, and explain how miscommunication during this pandemic has been more political than scientific. There is no evidence that masks work in California or anywhere; only flawed data promote that lie. In fact, in areas with the strongest mask mandates from day one of the crisis--long term care, where I work--there have more more deaths from COVID-19 than anywhere else in the country.
Read our op-ed! Then you can decide! And buy our book, Understanding COVID-19 Risks!