Stanford University’s Hoover Institution obviously isn’t so conservative in its medical division attacking their colleague Dr. Scott Atlas, saying he’s embarrassed the institution. Atlas became a favorite on Fox News “The Angle” with Laura Ingraham, taking refreshing position on managing the novel coronavirus AKA SARS CoV-2 or Covid-19 global pandemic. While the Center of Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] and World Health Organization [WHO] urged shutdowns and social distancing, Atlas urged the younger population to go about their lives because of the extremely low incidence of serious illness. President Donald Trump got wind of Atlas’s unique approach, very much aligned with his own views, replacing 80-year-old National Institutes of Health [NIH] Director of Allergy and Infectious Disease Dr. Anthony Fauci. Fauci as the White House Covid-19 spokesman.
Fauci went on the warpath against Trump joining Democrats and the anti-Trump press in attack Trump’s management of the Covid-19 crisis. Fauci, after saying Trump everything asked of him, went 180, giving interviews saying Trump didn’t do enough to slow the spread of the virus. Trump listened to Fauci and 65-year-old State Department immunologist Dr. Deborah Birx when he said he should shut down the economy. Like so much other medical advice, doctors should stay in their lanes, giving medical, not economic advice. Listening to Fauci cost Trump the election, plunging the U.S. economy into the worst recession is the 2008 Financila meltdown and Great Recession, maybe worse. But Fauci got really irked with Trump when he brought Atlas onboard to deliver the White House Covid-19 message. Fauci kept pushing for more shutdowns when the economy clearly couldn’t take it.
Once Fauci was replaced, he went rogue, giving interviews to almost everyone in the anti-Trump media, joining Democrats in the 2020 campaign narrative to make the coronavirus global pandemic their No. 1 campaign issue. Now Fauci, Democrats and their friends in the press went after Atlas. Atlas was called on anti-Trump cable stations not qualified to give advice on the Covid-19 crisis. Calling Atlas fine neuro-radiologist, the press eviscerated Atlas’ credentials, saying he wasn’t specialized in infectious disease. Fauci, with all his experience and credentials, was hailed by the press as “the nation’s leading expert on infectious disease,” a self-congratulatory label for a career government bureaucrat with delusions of grandeur. Fauci urges the public to socially distance, wear masks and wash hands, and that’s about it. Fauci has become a one-trick pony when it comes to giving Covid-19 advice.
Fauci’s been urging people to rise up against forced government lockdowns in Michigan and elsewhere. Atlas sees no benefit to lockdowns other than, for the elderly populations with severe co-morbidities, the medical term for serious preexisting conditions. Stanford’s faculty Senate said Atlas brought disgrace onto the university by espousing views opposing government lockdowns and universal mask wearing. Atlas believes that only the most vulnerable populations should take draconic steps to control the spread of the virus. Atlas sees no harm in younger people getting the virus and recovering from it. “What Atlas has done is an embarrassment to the university,” said Dr. David Spiegel with Stanford’s School of Medicine. “He’s using his real affiliation with Hoover to prove credibility in issues he has no professional expertise to discuss in a professional way,” condemning Atlas’ public remarks.
Creating a resolution backed by 85% of the faculty, the Hoover Institution lashed out at Atlas, especially now that Biden has become President-elect. “We strongly condemn his behavior,” said the Hoover Institution resolution. “It violates the core values of our faculty and the expectations under the Stanford Code of Conduct, which states that we all are responsible for sustaining the high ethical standards of this institution.” Judging by the faculty rebuke, Atlas had done something egregious, not born out by the facts. Atlas simply expressed what many parents think that there’s no reason to keep school-aged children locked up in quarantine because the might catch Covid-19 among their peers. Childhood or young adult deaths from Covid-19 is practically non-existent. Yet, if you listen to Hoover Institution scholars, Atlas committed unforgivable crimes.
Atlas isn’t the one at the Hoover Institution that violated their Hippocratic Oath. Isolating children by sheltering in place or shutting down their schools cause more collateral damage to children than anything Covid-18 could do. Democrats, the media and now Hoover Institution has accused Atlas of violating CDC and WHO protocols by urging citizens to go about their lives without intimidation. Today’s restrictions and government messaging has frightened vast majorities of people to avoid working and living their lives. Atlas tried to tell folks that it’s OK to go about your business without fear of serious illness or death. Atlas tried to inject some common sense into a Covid-19 mass hysteria that beats ordinary people down with fear. “I have real problems with that guy,” Fauci said, angered that Trump opted for Atlas’ positive message rather than Fauci’s fear mongering.
