Yesterday I reported on the fact that Dr. Scott Atlas had been added to the Covid Task Force. It is certainly hoped that he can bring a more focused approach to the battle against the coronavirus. America needs a sensible policy approach to the virus.
Previously approaches led by Dr. Anthony Fauci have created panic and depression among many Americans. Dr. Fauci ignored the effects that his policies would have on people. Dr. Fauci seems oblivious to the skyrocketing suicide rates and drug abuse rates that his policies have spawned. He has not addressed the long-term effects of shutting schools down and to delaying important medical screening procedures. Fauci’s pooh-poohing of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as a potential treatment protocol may have cost the country tens of thousands of lives.
It is time to reject the lockdowns, social distancing and mask mandates for everyone. These approaches are not based on medical facts but rather on the political needs of Democrats who want to win the White House in November. A shuttered economy gives them the best chance at that. It is time to thoughtfully restore the entire country to full function.
Let’s look at each fact that Dr. Atlas laid out in his op-ed from April. They are just as relevant now as they were in April when the op-ed was published.
Fact 1: The overwhelming majority of people do not have any significant risk of dying from COVID-19.
Dr. Atlas noted in April,
The recent Stanford University antibody study now estimates that the fatality rate if infected is likely 0.1 to 0.2 percent, a risk far lower than previous World Health Organization estimates that were 20 to 30 times higher and that motivated isolation policies.
The projections by the “experts” have not been in the same ballpark as what has actually occurred. Why didn’t Dr. Fauci, a so-called medical expert, change his approach when this became apparent? Where was his “scientific” approach to facts that demolished his theories? True scientists modify their approach when the facts contradict the theory.
This rate is consistent with the death rate from influenza. The vulnerable portion of the population is those 75 or older where the death rate is 50 to 100 times that. Regardless of age more than 90% of all fatal cases had an underlying illness.
Dr. Atlas noted,
If you do not already have an underlying chronic condition, your chances of dying are small, regardless of age. And young adults and children in normal health have almost no risk of any serious illness from COVID-19.
Fact 2: Protecting older, at-risk people eliminates hospital overcrowding.
Age is by far the biggest risk factor for hospitalization. The vast majority of young, healthy people do not need significant medical attention if they catch this infection.
Dr. Atlas notes,
For those under 18 years of age, hospitalization from the virus is 0.01 percent, or 11 per 100,000 people; for those 18 to 44 years old, hospitalization is 0.1 percent. Even for people ages 65 to 74, only 1.7 percent were hospitalized.
This was back in April. The numbers have declined from this as more people have been tested. Do we need to protect older, more vulnerable populations? Yes! And there are targeted measures that can accomplish this. There is no need to shut down the entire country.
Fact 3: Vital population immunity is prevented by total isolation policies, prolonging the problem.
It is a well-known medical fact that getting the infection causes one’s immune system to generate a response. That response is the creation of antibodies. The more people who have antibodies, the fewer pathways that exist for the virus to spread. This leads to what is known as “herd immunity.” Significant numbers of people have been asymptomatic.
Dr. Atlas reports,
That [many people being asymptomatic] has been falsely portrayed as a problem requiring mass isolation. In fact, infected people without severe illness are the immediately available vehicle for establishing widespread immunity. By transmitting the virus to others in the low-risk group who then generate antibodies, they block the network of pathways toward the most vulnerable people, ultimately ending the threat. Extending whole-population isolation would directly prevent that widespread immunity from developing.
In other words, lockdowns, etc. are prolonging the problem not ending it. Of course, this plays into the Democratic strategy for winning the White House. Another question this raises is this. Did this policy of lockdowns prevent the virus from dying out when the weather got warmer? Did it prevent “herd immunity” from developing?
Fact 4: People are dying because other medical care is not getting done due to hypothetical projections.
The hysterical projections of the WHO, Dr. Fauci and others became used as policy mandates to stop “nonessential” procedures and surgery. We were told this was necessary so that hospitals would not be overrun. The projections were so far off that doctors and other healthcare personnel wound up being laid off in many places due to a lack of patients.
Dr. Atlas said,
That [stopping “non-essential” procedures and surgery] prevented diagnoses of life-threatening diseases, like cancer screening, biopsies of tumors now undiscovered and potentially deadly brain aneurysms. Treatments, including emergency care, for the most serious illnesses were also missed. Cancer patients deferred chemotherapy. An estimated 80 percent of brain surgery cases were skipped.
How many people died due to this flawed approach? Did more people die as a result of this approach than died from COVID-19? Did Dr. Fauci take this into consideration when he backed this strategy?
Fact 5: We have a clearly defined population at risk who can be protected with targeted measures.
This population at risk includes older individuals as well as people with underlying medical conditions. Knowing this, isolation procedures should be targeted to these people.
As Dr. Atlas noted,
Strictly protect the known vulnerable, self-isolate the mildly sick and open most workplaces and small businesses with some prudent large-group precautions. This would allow the essential socializing to generate immunity among those with minimal risk of serious consequence, while saving lives, preventing overcrowding of hospitals and limiting the enormous harms compounded by continued total isolation. Let’s stop underemphasizing empirical evidence while instead doubling down on hypothetical models. Facts matter.
I echo Dr. Atlas. Let’s follow the science not the hysteria. Let medical facts dictate policy not the political objectives of those who want to win an election by any means necessary.