New Trump pandemic adviser pushes controversial ‘herd immunity’ strategy, worrying public health officials

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New Trump pandemic adviser pushes controversial ‘herd immunity’ strategy, worrying public health officials

Tue, 2020-09-01 23:27 — mike kraft

New Trump pandemic adviser pushes controversial ‘herd immunity’ strategy, worrying public health officials Scott Atlas has expanded his influence inside the White House by advocating policies that appeal to the president’s desire to move past the pandemic and get the economy going. Yasmeen Abutaleb, Josh Dawsey Washington Post

One of President Trump’s top medical advisers is urging the White House to embrace a controversial “herd immunity” strategy to combat the pandemic, which would entail allowing the coronavirus to spread through most of the population to quickly build resistance to the virus, while taking steps to protect those in nursing homes and other vulnerable populations, according to five people familiar with the discussions.

The administration has already begun to implement some policies along these lines, according to current and former officials as well as experts, particularly with regard to testing.

The approach’s chief proponent is Scott Atlas, a neuroradiologist and fellow at Stanford’s conservative Hoover Institution, who joined the White House in August as a pandemic adviser. He has advocated that the United States adopt the model Sweden has used to respond to the virus outbreak, according to these officials, which relies on lifting restrictions so healthy people can build immunity to the disease rather than limiting social and business interactions to prevent the virus from spreading.

Sweden’s handling of the pandemic has been heavily criticized by public health officials and infectious-disease experts as reckless — the country’s infection and death rates are among the world’s highest. It also hasn’t escaped the deep economic problems resulting from the pandemic.

But Sweden’s approach has gained support among some conservatives who argue that social distancing restrictions are crushing the economy and infringing on people’s liberties.

That this approach is even being discussed in the White House is drawing concern from experts inside and outside the government who note that a herd immunity strategy could lead to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lost American lives. ...

Atlas, who does not have a background in infectious diseases or epidemiology, has expanded his influence inside the White House by advocating policies that appeal to Trump’s desire to move past the pandemic and get the economy going, distressing health officials on the White House coronavirus task force and throughout the administration who worry that their advice is being followed less and less.

Atlas declined requests for an interview. After the publication of this report, he released a statement through the White House: “There is no policy of the President or this administration of achieving herd immunity. There never has been any such policy recommended to the President or to anyone else from me.”...

Atlas has argued both internally and in public that an increased case count will move the nation more quickly to herd immunity and won’t lead to more deaths if the vulnerable are protected. But infectious-disease experts strongly dispute that, noting that more than 25,000 people younger than 65 have died of the virus in the United States. In addition, the United States has a larger number of vulnerable people of all ages because of high rates of heart and lung disease and obesity, and millions of at-risk people live outside nursing homes — many in households with children, whom Atlas believes should return to school in person. ...

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