The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention consider that one of Trump ’s top pandemic advisers has no idea what he ’s talking about .
Reports have indicated for month that the CDC tribal chief , Dr. Robert Redfield , is on thin icewith the Trump governance for contradicting the White House ’s brainwashed spin on the pandemic . Redfield is also not very happy about Dr. Scott Atlas , a Hoover Institute fellow with no public health expertise that the White House bring on in August to recommend a“herd immunity ” approach — which is just as bad an thought as it sounds .
AnNBC News reporteroverheard Redfield babble on the phone with a workfellow on Friday , patently making the assertion that whenever Atlas opens his mouth , bullshit falls out :
Dr. Scott Atlas.Photo: Tasos Katopodis (Getty Images)
“ Everything he says is false , ” Redfield articulate during a phone call made in public on a commercial-grade air hose and overheard by NBC News .
Redfield acknowledged after the escape from Atlanta to Washington that he was speaking about Atlas , a neuroradiologist with no background knowledge in infectious diseases or public wellness … There is a concern among Redfield and others that Atlas continually briefs the president and misrepresents what other health experts have said in pledged testimony , grant to a member of the [ White House coronavirus ] task force out .
Atlas was formerly the chief of neuroradiology at Stanford University Medical Center , but this calendar month wads of the school ’s facultysigned an open letterdenouncing him for spread “ falsehoods and misrepresentations of scientific discipline . ” That includes calls for the U.S. to achieve herd granting immunity : a state in which so many people have already been infected by a pathogen that it ca n’t readily find new hosts .
Atlas haspublicly deniedthat he supports “ a strategy of ruck resistance , of start the doors and let people get infected , ” but he ’s made similar arguments to that burden onnumerous occasionsand has “ privately embraced ” the strategy off from the press , a task force member told NBC . TheWashington Postreported that Atlas has also mirror the Chief Executive ’s skepticism on whether mask , societal distancing , and restriction on businesses are efficacious , instead advocating for a fleet comeback to normality . He has hint he believe in theconspiracy theoryfederal scientist are recoup data that would show the pandemic is exaggerated .
“ When you insulate everyone , including all the salubrious mass , you ’re prolonging the job because you ’re preventing population immunity , ” Atlastold Fox Newsin July . “ Low - risk groups getting the infection is not a trouble . ” In April , he toldconservative talking show host Steve Deace , “ We should be okay with letting [ those at low-pitched risk or not experiencing severe sickness ] get infected , engender immunity on their own , and the more immunity in the community , the well we can wipe out the menace of the computer virus . ”
The World Health Organization ’s Dr. Soumya Swaminathanestimated in late Augustthat achieve ruck granting immunity against the SARS - CoV-2 virus would need 60 to 70 percent of the universe capture it .
According to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicinetracker , at least 7.1 million Americans have been diagnose with the coronavirus , or about 2.16 per centum of the current universe asestimated by the U.S. Census . The tracker lists about 205,000 confirmed expiry . Thetrue tallymay bemuch higher , though a late study inthe Lancetestimated that less than 10 percent of the U.S. universe “ have evidence of photograph or immune response . ”
NBC News reported that Atlas at once contradicted a late statement by Redfield that 90 percentage of the universe remain at risk from the coronavirus . Even in the rosiest scenario where ruck immunity is achieved ataround 20 per centum , Atlas ’s describe plans would require several times the number of mass who have already set out pale — already the large crisis for the U.S. in decades — to get sick , and quicker .
In a command to NBC News on Redfield ’s overheard remark , Atlas wrote , “ Everything I have say is directly from the datum and the science . It echoes what is said by many of the top aesculapian scientists in the world , including those at Stanford , Harvard , and Oxford . ” A White House official recount the connection that Atlas recommend insurance policy to “ economise life and safely reopen the country , ” but did so anonymously .
The CDC tell CNN in a statement that “ context of use ” was missing from the one side of Redfield ’s conversation overheard , adding : “ the value of bust a mask , youth COVID-19 infections , and where we are currently with herd immunity , are the positions that Dr. Redfield has different posture on than Dr. Atlas . ”
Atlas was specifically bring on at Trump ’s request to provide alternative guidance to Fauci and White House Coronavirus Task Force chief Dr. Deborah Birx , grant to the Post . Fauci sound out on Monday that the U.S. involve to“double down”on social distancing and lockdown measures , whileCNN reportedlast week Birx has been so wary of the White House and Atlas ’s efforts to drop pandemic control measures that she has considered tendering her surrender . Birx is now on the road amass earth - stratum reports on the virus , providing an opportunity for Atlas towin more influence . Faucitold CNNthe undertaking personnel is run across less often .
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