Free speech would have cured our COVID policy woes

We have just lived through a respiratory virus epidemic and many are wondering, Why did our government and the social media platforms block any intelligent discussion of the virus that was making its way around the globe?

In an ideal world, doctors would communicate freely about treatments for a new disease that they have tried, and how, and under what circumstances, those treatments have succeeded or failed. This is called the scientific method.

But the scientific method has not prevailed over the last few years. Instead, the public square has been dominated by government-dictated dogma that often turned out to be wrong. The result was that many people died needlessly, while a far larger number–young people, for the most part–had their lives blighted by irrational government action.

So what do the data actually show about the covid epidemic, and about the means that have been taken to combat it?

[The best cure for bad speech is more speech. We keep failing to learn that lesson, and at our own peril. — Ed]