Trump adviser reportedly wants to let COVID-19 spread, repeat Sweden’s mistakes

Enlarge / Member of the coronavirus task force Scott Atlas listens to US President Donald Trump during a briefing at the White House August 10, 2020, in Washington, DC. (credit: Getty | BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI )

A new adviser to President Donald Trump is reportedly advocating that the pandemic coronavirus spread largely unrestrained so that the United States can reach herd immunity"-an idea that infectious disease experts call absolutely absurd," simply wrong," and a strategy that actually amounts to the absence of a strategy, which could leave hundreds of thousands of more Americans dead.

Still, according to reporting by The Washington Post, the idea is being pushed by Scott Atlas, a neuroradiologist from Stanford's conservative Hoover Institution who began advising Trump in August. In his short tenure so far, Professor Atlas has repeatedly made statements contrary to scientific evidence, such as saying that children do not spread the virus.

Officials say Atlas was recruited to the advisory role counter to the advice of Anthony Fauci, the country's top infectious disease expert, and Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator. One senior administration official said Atlas, who has no background in infectious diseases, sees himself as the anti-Dr. Fauci."

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