Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Dr. Scott W. Atlas has a new op-ed out in The Hill titled, “The data is in — stop the panic and end the total isolation”:
"Let’s stop underemphasizing empirical evidence while instead doubling down on hypothetical models. Facts matter," writes @HooverInst Senior Fellow @SWAtlasHoover. #COVID19 https://t.co/PCrmMxCrvd
— Hoover Institution (@HooverInst) April 22, 2020
Please do click on the link and read the entire thing, but, in sum, here are the five facts he’s arguing allows the U.S. to start easing social distancing:
Fact 1: The overwhelming majority of people do not have any significant risk of dying from COVID-19.
Fact 2: Protecting older, at-risk people eliminates hospital overcrowding.
Fact 3: Vital population immunity is prevented by total isolation policies, prolonging the problem.
Fact 4: People are dying because other medical care is not getting done due to hypothetical projections.
Fact 5: We have a clearly defined population at risk who can be protected with targeted measures.
We will point out a few caveats to what Dr. Atlas wrote, via Reason’s Cathy Young:
Also claims only the old & already sick are in danger – no mention that nearly half of ICU admissions in the US are under 65, or of now-known issues of damage to lungs and other vital organs
— Cathy Young (@CathyYoung63) April 22, 2020
And there’s still so much we do not yet know about immunity:
Still beating the herd immunity drum — NO mention of the fact that there are now questions about whether seropositivity even confers immunity
— Cathy Young (@CathyYoung63) April 22, 2020
In related news, a new study based on finding in New York City showed that 94% of those hospitalized with coronavirus also had an underlying condition:
94 percent of those in this study had one or more underlying health condition. The positive news is we should target/test the most vulnerable based on existing health conditions and the elderly. Protect them first. It seems like the logical thing to do. https://t.co/0sjv9YC6NS
— HUGE (@Hugeshow) April 23, 2020
From Fox News:
A new study by a medical journal revealed that most of the people in New York City who were hospitalized due to coronavirus had one or more underlying health issues.
Health records from 5,700 patients hospitalized within the Northwell Health system — which housed the most patients in the country throughout the pandemic — showed that 94 percent of patients had more than one disease other than COVID-19, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Once we do start opening up, protecting the most vulnerable is key:
Half of Europe's coronavirus deaths were in nursing homes, WHO finds https://t.co/EDOPLhGx7g pic.twitter.com/ihxFTJJF49
— New York Post (@nypost) April 23, 2020
Tragically, this study out of NYC also found 88% of patients who ended up on a ventilator eventually died:
In New York’s largest hospital system, 88 percent of coronavirus patients on ventilators didn’t make it https://t.co/W1z0iTSmWD
— Jim Clancy (@ClancyReports) April 23, 2020
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