On the first day of December, the American people who have been suffering from the novel coronavirus finally saw good news: Scott Atlas, the “most controversial” member of the White House’s coronavirus response task force, resigned.
In a short 130-day term, almost all of Atlas’s remarks on the response to the epidemic have been fiercely criticized by mainstream scientific communities and public health experts in the United States. And with this pseudo-expert’s fancy renovation of the anti-epidemic “thunderword”, the epidemic in the United States is also constantly moving from out of control to further out of control…
How do pseudo-experts “kill people with their mouths”
“I’ve worked hard for only one purpose,” Atlas wrote in his resignation letter, “is to save lives and help Americans through the COVID-19 pandemic…I always rely on the latest science and evidence without any political considerations.”
But looking back on what he has done since he took office, is it really as “positive energy” as he boasts? According to the evaluation of the American media, “A series of widely questioned anti-epidemic methods promoted by Atlas during his tenure have had a considerable negative impact on American society.”
Atlas is a neuroradiologist and has never had a professional background or experience in infectious diseases. However, a coincidence in August this year made him a special adviser to the White House on the coronavirus by President Trump. During his tenure, Atlas made a series of anti-scientific epidemic prevention and control recommendations in line with the political needs of the White House, causing misinformation to spread widely in American society:
“Every year, 650,000 people die from influenza alone worldwide, so we don’t blockade and quarantine! That’s an irrational act.
“We know that children are at extremely low risk for COVID-19, even lower than seasonal flu.”
“Don’t worry about children getting COVID-19, they won’t get sick because of it.” – “We should be careful about testing for the virus. People without symptoms are not our focus of testing.”
“They are suffering from isolation, which is self-evident that this isolation is a tragedy for the elderly.
Atlas has been criticized by many professionals for his continuous talk about the fight against the epidemic, and several other members of the White House Coronavirus Response Working Group have repeatedly questioned his views.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Anthony Fauci, the chief infectious disease expert in the United States, said that he was “very worried” about Atlas, saying that he was a smart man who was good at bragging about things he didn’t know at all, and always catered to the White House to make some wrong advice.
CDC Director Robert Redfield, heard on a flight, blaming Atlas on a phone call to his colleagues: “Everything he said is wrong!”
Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House COVID-19 Response Task Force, has questioned Vice President Pence about Atlas’s growing negative impact and asked for Atlas’s dismissal.
In October, social media Twitter blocked a tweet from Atlas because it falsely claimed that masks were ineffective in preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Even Atlas’s former colleagues distanced him early. 78 researchers and doctors from Stanford University School of Medicine have jointly urged Atlas to stop spreading false statements. After his resignation, Stanford University said, “This is a belated victory of science and truth over lies and fallacies”.
Unfortunately, there are more Atlas.
In fact, even without Atlas, the anti-science words and deeds he represents still have a large market in the United States. Jacquelina, a reporter of The Washington Post, recently publicly talked about her recovery from COVID-19. “Many Americans still don’t believe in the existence of COVID-19 to this day,” she said.” A congressional staff member of the Republican camp encouraged me to write about my experience of illness, because his boss did not think it was true.”
As the reporter said, in addition to pseudo-experts such as Atlas, there are many American politicians who mislead the American people. For instance, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem ignored the CDC’s call and insisted “no way residents of the state would gather to celebrate the festival.”
In an interview with the station reporter, Dennis Carroll, an American epidemiologist, pointed out that the current high number of new cases in the United States is due to the fact that the weather turns cold, which is also related to people’s tired of protective measures in the long-term epidemic. What’s more, unfortunately, issues such as whether to wear masks are seriously “goverative” in the United States. “Ruling”.
Dennis Carroll: “We’ve seen that from White House leaders to state-level leaders have politicized public health measures such as wearing masks, which is completely beyond my understanding. I don’t understand why they regard it as a political issue. We all know that wearing a mask can really save lives.”
Faced with this situation, Birx, coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Working Group, can only helplessly advise the American people that if the government does not do anything, they must “take care of themselves”.
Deborah Birx: “For every American, this is a time to protect themselves and their families. So if your governor or mayor isn’t implementing what we know of as a key measure, including requiring a mask, social distancing, not going to bars and crowded indoor spaces. If these restrictions do not exist in your state, you need to take responsibility for limiting yourself.
