Dr. Scott Atlas discusses the science behind coronavirus and business closures
SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – As Los Angeles County lengthens its stay-at-home order, some are asking if panic and fear is continuing to fuel the coronavirus pandemic, rather than scientific data that would allow cities and states to reopen their economies.
Dr. Scott Atlas has written an op-ed about this very topic where he cited data that paints a very different picture than what we’re hearing from government officials.
In fact 3 of his op-ed, Dr. Atlas wrote, “Vital population immunity is prevented by total isolation policies, prolonging the problem.
We know from decades of medical science that infection itself allows people to generate an immune response — antibodies — so that the infection is controlled throughout the population by “herd immunity.” Indeed, that is the main purpose of widespread immunization in other viral diseases — to assist with population immunity. In this virus, we know that medical care is not even necessary for the vast majority of people who are infected. It is so mild that half of infected people are asymptomatic, shown in early data from the Diamond Princess ship, and then in Iceland and Italy. That 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.”
Dr. Scott Atlas of the Hoover Institute joined KUSI News via Skype to discuss why panic and fear may be fueling coronavirus related regulations.
His complete op-ed can be read here.
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