Dozens of Stanford University health experts accused Dr. Scott Atlas, the conservative Stanford radiologist-turned-White House adviser, of misleading the public about the seriousness of COVID-19 in a joint letter of rebuke.
“To prevent harm to the public’s health, we also have both a moral and ethical responsibility to call attention to the falsehoods and misrepresentations of science recently fostered by Dr. Scott Atlas,” the team of infectious disease doctors, microbiologists, and epidemiologists wrote in a letter that circulated among Stanford faculty Wednesday.
Before joining the White House coronavirus task force in August, Atlas was a senior fellow at Stanford’s conservative Hoover Institution. He had become a fixture on cable news shows, on which he said the severity of the pandemic had been overblown and should not impede schools from reopening, saying that children are at very low risk of getting sick. He has also said that there is no reason to test children and young adults.
Children are at risk of getting sick, in fact, and can still spread the virus to vulnerable staff and teachers in schools, the team at Stanford said.
“Many of his opinions and statements run counter to established science and, by doing so, undermine public-health authorities and the credible science that guides effective public health policy,” they continued.
Atlas’s hiring prompted an outcry from public health experts who feared that Atlas, who is not an epidemiologist, would replace Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert. Atlas assured the Washington Examiner at that time that he was working in tandem with members of the task force and was not “here to replace anyone.”
The experts at Stanford also criticized the Trump administration’s testing policy, which is to focus testing efforts on people who show symptoms and have been exposed to the infection through another person rather than testing asymptomatic people as well.
“Transmission of [COVID-19] frequently occurs from asymptomatic people, including children and young adults, to family members and others,” they wrote. “Therefore, testing asymptomatic individuals … is important to break the chain of ongoing transmission.”
Dr. Roxana Daneshjou, a Stanford dermatologist, celebrated her colleagues for taking “a stand for science and truth in the battle against COVID-19.” More than 75 medical professionals at Stanford have signed the letter.
