A doctor at Stanford University made the argument for reopening the country, calling for a “design of sound public policy” that involves “more than a single-minded focus on stopping COVID-19 at all costs.”
Dr. Scott Atlas, a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and the former chief of neuroradiology at the university’s medical center, claimed that the public has not received crucial information concerning the coronavirus, which has “led to a gross failure in policy at the state level.”
“During this COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Fauci has been a central figure, a key adviser to President Trump and a man to whom the entire country, indeed the world, looks for wisdom and expertise,” he said in an op-ed published by the Hill.
But, he continued, “our elected representatives, the public and the media misunderstand his focused role and even his expertise as a scientist. Basic science underlying a viral pandemic is absolutely critical.”
He outlined several areas where he claimed there has been a “failure” to educate or reassure the public.
“There has been a failure to educate the public that the overall fatality rate is not only far lower than previously thought but is extremely low in almost everyone other than the elderly,” Atlas wrote Monday.
“In Detroit’s Oakland County, 77 percent of deaths were of those over 70; 92 percent were of people over 60, similar to what was noted in New York and worldwide. While somehow escaping attention, updated infection fatality rates (IFR) are less than or equal to seasonal flu for those under 60 in France, Spain and the Netherlands. Less than 1 percent of deaths occur in the absence of underlying conditions. Of the exceptionally rare deaths in children in New York City, only one tragic case out of 15,756 COVID-19 deaths — 0.006 percent — was a child without a known underlying condition,” he wrote.
He added that “there has been a failure to reassure everyone that we fully anticipate more cases will occur, whether we test or not, with continuing relaxation of today’s isolation” in addition to “a failure to clarify to parents the truth about the extremely low risk to children, and that has accompanied a gross failure to offer a rational medical perspective regarding schools reopening.”
States across the country are slowly reopening, but in many places, stay-at-home orders are still in place, prompting business owners to reopen in defiance of local orders.
The White House is also working on how to reconfigure its coronavirus task force to emphasize guiding the country toward reopening.
“There was an initial phase that was more focused on border elements — and what are you doing with flights, what are you doing with cruise ships, and how do we do the best to delay its arrival here? The second phase was really more defined by healthcare experts and the strategy to mitigate it and slow the spread,” a senior White House official told the Washington Examiner. “And now, I think we are sort of entering a new phase, which is: ‘How do you now safely reopen?’”
