YouTube has yanked a video posted to the platform in April by veteran scholar of epidemiology Dr. Knut Wittkowski, wherein he warns about the consequences of lockdown orders.
Wittkowski, formerly the head of the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design at Rockefeller University in New York City, argued that shelter-in-place policies could actually result in more deaths in the long term throughout the now-removed video.
The general argument made by Wittkowski is that lockdown orders prolong any efforts in developing so-called herd immunity, which is our only weapon in “exterminating” the novel coronavirus outside of a vaccine and that could optimistically take longer than 18 months. Focusing on shielding the most vulnerable to the virus (our elderly and folks with comorbidities) while allowing the young and healthy to build up immunity would, in the end, save more lives, he explained.
Though Wittkowski feels his video was prophetic and he has already been vindicated, YouTube has seemingly cited supposed misinformation as their rationale for pulling the video.
“We quickly remove flagged content that violates our Community Guidelines, including content that explicitly disputes the efficacy of global or local healthy authority recommended guidance on social distancing that may lead others to act against that guidance,” YouTube spokesperson Ivy Choi told The New York Post in a statement regarding the censored video. “We are committed to continue providing timely and helpful information at this critical time.”
A nearly identical statement was sent to The Daily Wire by Choi last month when we inquired about the platform pulling a video of two California E.R. doctors questioning national media lockdown dogma for their area during a press briefing.
“I was just explaining what we had,” Wittkowski explained to the Post, unclear about why his video, produced by the British film company Journeyman Pictures, was pulled. “They don’t tell you,” he added. “They just say it violates our community standards. There’s no explanation for what those standards are or what standards it violated.”
As noted by the Post, “Roughly one-third of all US COVID-19 deaths have been among nursing home patients and staff, a problem that Wittkowski says was deeply exacerbated in New York by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s March 25 executive order requiring nursing homes to accept individuals with the virus.”
“Cuomo can’t undo his mistake of forcing nursing homes to take in infected people when the horse is out of the barn,” the epidemiologist said, unimpressed by Cuomo’s recent reversal of the deadly policy.
Wittkowski will not wear a mask and eats at underground restaurants, the Post noted. “We don’t have to fear anything but fear. Wasn’t that an American who said that?” he quipped.
The American Institute for Economic Research is currently hosting Wittkowski’s YouTube-banned video.
Related: Epidemiologist Warns Of Unintended Consequences From Lockdowns
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.