- Joined
- Sep 3, 2014
- Messages
- 11,172
- Reaction score
- 9,788
- Location
- Pacific NW
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Liberal
Scott Atlas is Trump's new favorite Fox News talking head. Atlas, despite not being an epidemiologist, has been shooting his mouth off about how "herd immunity" (or, has Trump says, "herd mentality") is great and wearing masks is bad.
Now Trump's all in on "herd mentality."
But, unfortunately for the nation, Stanford experts say Atlas is a wackjob.
The punchline:
We don't even know if having been infected by the virus once, gives us immunity from the infection.
But if we assume that being infected grants immunity, which we don't really know, for herd immunity to work we'd need about 70 percent of the population to get infected. That would be about 215 million Americans to get infected. So at a mortality rate of about 3 percent, that would come to around 6.4 million American deaths.
That's the Trump plan right now.
Now Trump's all in on "herd mentality."
But, unfortunately for the nation, Stanford experts say Atlas is a wackjob.
Stanford doctors denounce former colleague Scott Atlas, Trump's new adviser on the COVID-19 pandemic
SAN JOSE, Calif. — In the tight-knit world of academic medicine, scientists pride themselves on presenting a united and unflappable face to those outside their ranks.
But this week, in a scathing letter, dozens of Stanford University Medical School's top faculty took aim at their former colleague Dr. Scott Atlas for promoting what they called "falsehoods and misrepresentations of science."
Atlas, a diagnostic radiologist and senior fellow at the conservative think tank Hoover Institution, was recently appointed by President Donald Trump to the White House coronavirus task force.
As an adviser counselor to the president about the virus, he has made controversial statements about control of the pandemic, which has killed more than 178,000 Americans.
"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," according to the letter, signed by Dr. Philip A. Pizzo, former dean of Stanford School of Medicine; Dr. Upi Singh, chief of Stanford's Division of Infectious Diseases; and Dr. Bonnie Maldonado, professor of epidemiology and population health, and 105 others.
The punchline:
The Stanford faculty challenge his assertions, saying the preponderance of data shows that that the safest path to herd immunity is through deployment of safe vaccines, not infection; crowded indoor spaces can significantly boost the risk of viral spread; and that illness in children, while uncommon, can lead to serious short-term and long-term consequences.
In contrast, encouraging herd immunity through unchecked community transmission is not a safe public health strategy. In fact, this approach would do the opposite, causing a significant increase in preventable cases, suffering and deaths, especially among vulnerable populations, such as older individuals and essential workers.
We don't even know if having been infected by the virus once, gives us immunity from the infection.
But if we assume that being infected grants immunity, which we don't really know, for herd immunity to work we'd need about 70 percent of the population to get infected. That would be about 215 million Americans to get infected. So at a mortality rate of about 3 percent, that would come to around 6.4 million American deaths.
That's the Trump plan right now.
Last edited: