Published on
Monday, August 31, 2020
byCommon Dreams
Health Experts Horrified as New Trump Covid-19 Adviser Pushes 'Herd
Immunity' Strategy That Could Kill 2 Million Americans
"It's not edgy, contrarian," one public health expert said of the "herd
immunity" approach. "It's dangerous and terrifying."
byJake Johnson, staff writer
Dr. Scott Atlas, senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution,
arrives before President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in the
Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. on August 13,
2020. (Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
A top White House coronavirus adviser brought on earlier this month despite
his lack of expertise in infectious diseases or epidemiology is reportedly
pushing the Trump administration to adopt a so-called "herd immunity"
strategy to the pandemic that public health experts warn could kill millions
of Americans and infect hundreds of millions more.
"Something so jarring about reading the cadences of normal newspaper copy
about a WH adviser who has a plan to kill 2 million Americans."
-journalist Chris Hayes
The Washington Post reported Monday that Scott Atlas, a neuroradiologist
from the right-wing Hoover Institution, caught President Donald Trump's
attention "with a spate of Fox News appearances in recent months" in which
he downplayed the severity of Covid-19 and questioned the need for lockdowns
and social distancing measures.
Atlas-who one commentator described as the "anti-Fauci," referring to
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony
Fauci-has "advocated that the United States adopt the model Sweden has used
to respond to the virus outbreak... which relies on lifting restrictions so
the healthy can build up immunity to the disease rather than limiting social
and business interactions to prevent the virus from spreading," according to
the Post.
Sweden's decision to forego strict lockdowns in favor of more relaxed social
distancing guidelines has been criticized by public health experts as a
reckless approach to the pandemic that contributed to the country's high
death rate compared to other European nations. Pursuing a similar strategy
in the U.S., a country with a population of 328 million, would be
catastrophic, experts warned.
Jonathan Reiner, a cardiologist and professor at George Washington
University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, tweeted Monday that to
achieve "herd immunity" without a vaccine, "about 250 million Americans
would contract the virus and 1.5-2 million would die."
A Post analysis found that 2.13 million deaths may be required to "reach a
65 percent threshold of herd immunity, assuming the virus has a one percent
fatality rate."
Yale University epidemiologist Gregg Gonsalves said "no one in public
health" thinks highly of Atlas' approach to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has
infected more than six million people in the U.S. and killed at least
182,000-the highest death toll in the world.
"It's not edgy, contrarian," Gonsalves said of Atlas' thinking. "It's
dangerous and terrifying."
Senior Trump administration officials told the Post that despite warnings
from medical experts, the White House has already moved to implement "some
policies" in line with Atlas' proposed strategy, "particularly with regard
to testing."
"The Department of Health and Human Services, for instance, invoked the
Defense Production Act earlier this month to expedite the shipment of tests
to nursing homes-but the administration has not significantly ramped up
spending on testing elsewhere, despite persistent shortages," the Post
reported. "Trump and top White House aides, including Atlas, have also
repeatedly pushed to reopen schools and lift lockdown orders, despite
outbreaks in several schools that attempted to resume in-person classes."
Last week, as Common Dreams reported, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention abruptly issued new guidance that no longer recommends Covid-19
tests for everyone who has been potentially been exposed to the virus-a
change that was reportedly directed by the highest levels of the Trump
administration.
Fauci, who said he was in surgery and under general anesthesia when the new
CDC guidance was discussed, warned the latest recommendations "will give
people the incorrect assumption that asymptomatic spread is not of great
concern."
"In fact," said Fauci, "it is."
Eric Topol, a cardiologist and head of the Scripps Research Translational
Institute in San Diego, told the Post that he believes Atlas "was basically
recruited to crowd out Tony Fauci and the voice of reason."
"Not only do we not embrace the science, but we repudiate the science by our
president, and that has extended by bringing in another unreliable
misinformation vector," said Topol.
