Fox News anchor Chris Wallace slammed Dr. Scott Atlas, one of President Trump’s coronavirus advisers, for his Friday morning response to news that Trump had tested positive for COVID-19.
Trump announced early Friday morning that he and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive shortly after it was revealed that senior counselor Hope Hicks also tested positive for COVID-19. Atlas told Fox News that there was “zero reason to panic” shortly after the news broke.
“It is no surprise that people get the infection, even with precautions,” Atlas said. “I anticipate a complete and full and rapid recovery back to normal after his necessary confinement period. I anticipate he will be back on the road and in full swing.”
Wallace, who moderated the first presidential debate on Tuesday, reacted during a conversation on Fox News with Sandra Smith: “I’m gonna say something, and folks, I’m just trying to give you the truth. Folks, Dr. Scott Atlas is not an epidemiologist, is not an infectious disease specialist. He has no training in this area at all.”
Atlas’s role as an adviser was announced in August and was met with backlash from the medical community, and public health experts feared that Atlas would replace Dr. Anthony Fauci on the coronavirus task force.
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“There are a number of top people on the president’s coronavirus task force who have had grave concerns about Scott Atlas and his scientific bona fides,” Wallace continued. “He can’t know because the president is just in the earliest stages of this. … Follow the scientists. Listen to people like Anthony Fauci. Listen to people like Deborah Birx, who have been largely cut off. Listen to the independent people who do not have a political ax to grind, and I frankly don’t think Scott Atlas is one of those people.”
