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Behind the face-mask flip-flops and other commentary

By Post Editorial Board April 2, 2020 | 7:31pm

Libertarian: Behind the Face-Mask Flip-Flops

Public-health officials have given “conflicting, confusing and sometimes disingenuous advice” on whether face masks protect against the novel coronavirus, notes Reason’s Jacob Sullum. On Feb. 29, Surgeon General Jerome Adams tweeted that masks are “NOT effective” against the virus, citing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claim that “well people ‘do not need’ face masks given the ‘short supply.’? ” Yet research “does not support Adams’ claim,” showing rather that even “homemade masks offer some protection.” The real issue was the desire to reserve the limited supply of masks for “high-risk, high-priority users.” Now, the CDC is reversing its advice — an admission, as economist Russell Roberts jeers, that “we misled you. Wear a mask.”

From the right: Why Dems Fear Trump Briefings

“MSNBC’s Chris Hayes says President Trump’s daily coronavirus briefings are ‘dangerous,’? ” and they are — “to Democrats,” quips Liz Peek at The Hill. While far from “flawless,” the briefings show the public “a man unquestionably engaged and energized, relentless in his push for solutions,” and they’re “pumping up Trump’s approval ratings,” especially among “independents and even some Democrats.” Also, they “have relegated Democrats’ favorite agenda items to the back page,” help prove that “Trump’s confrontational approach to China” was warranted and highlight the fact that presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden “occupies no stage at all.” All in all, the briefings let “Americans see Trump fighting for them, every day, as hard as humanly possible.” Peek concludes: “Democrats know that will help him win four more years.”

From the left: Trump’s Right on Infrastructure

Slate’s Jordan Weissmann doesn’t often agree with President Trump, but “when the man’s got a point, the man’s got a point.” Trump has called for a renewed focus on rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure, and now is “a really good time to borrow money for infrastructure spending”: Yields on 10-year Treasury notes are at historic lows. No, it doesn’t make sense to “actually build infrastructure” while the coronavirus is raging, but as soon as the pandemic is “under control, and we need the country to get back to work,” it will be “a great moment to build” — so the government should “pass a big infrastructure bill soon and plan a whole bunch of projects” for when the crisis is over. In this case, Weissmann has to concede, the president’s agenda “is actually good on the merits.”

Media watch: Chuck Todd’s ‘Ugly’ Question

“When even the guy who said Sen. Mitt Romney would put black people ‘back in chains’ thinks you have gone too far,” snarks Becket Adams at The Washington Examiner, “you have gone too far.” Adams is referring to Joe Biden and his answer when NBC’s Chuck Todd asked on “Meet the Press” if he thought there’s “blood on the president’s hands considering his slow response” to the pandemic. “I think that’s a little too harsh,” replied Biden. Clearly Todd’s question was “cheap and ugly” and served no one’s interest except that of Biden — who “wanted no part of it.” What does it say about the “corporate media” when the host of “one of the biggest” news programs “comes across as more partisan” than even a presidential candidate?

Ex-prosecutor: The Courts Are Working

At National Review, former prosecutor Andrew McCarthy outlines how the legal system remains “open, at least for essential business, at both the federal and state level, even in New York, where COVID-19 is taking its worst toll nationally.” Things are “scaled back significantly,” as nearly “everything that is unrelated to specific cases is on hold,” and much of the remainder postponed or done via teleconference. Yet “the courts are processing arrests and entertaining emergency applications in both civil and criminal cases.” And: “People whose rights are arguably being violated by [emergency restrictions] . . . have the ability to challenge them in court.” Yes, the coronavirus crisis allows “more abuse of state power than usual” — but judicial relief is still available.

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board

https://nypost.com/2020/04/02/behind-the-face-mask-flip-flops-and-other-commentary/