A Stanford University scholar in health care policy is urging the nation’s leaders to “ignore the panic” and end widespread coronavirus lockdowns in favor of a “targeted” approach to protect the vulnerable and build immunity.
In a commentary for The Hill, Dr. Scott Atlas, the former chief of neuroradiology at Stanford, wrote without a vaccine or proven treatment, infected people who aren’t severely ill can help develop what's known as herd immunity.
"Tens of thousands of Americans have died, and Americans are now desperate for sensible policymakers who have the courage to ignore the panic and rely on facts," Atlas wrote.
"Leaders must examine accumulated data to see what has actually happened, rather than keep emphasizing hypothetical projections; combine that empirical evidence with fundamental principles of biology established for decades; and then thoughtfully restore the country to function."
Atlas argued the overall COVID-19 mortality rate appears to be 0.1%-0.5% based on antibody studies, and is lower among healthy adults under the age of 50.
"In fact, infected people without severe illness are the immediately available vehicle for establishing widespread immunity," Atlas wrote. "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."
Atlas lamented that hospitals have been forced to stop procedures considered non-essential and delay treatment for other conditions.
"The appropriate policy, based on fundamental biology and the evidence already in hand, is to institute a more focused strategy like some outlined in the first place: Strictly protect the known vulnerable, self-isolate the mildly sick and open most workplaces and small businesses with some prudent large-group precautions," Atlas wrote.
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