Damage Control for the new Stats = Destruction of CDC and FDA LIARS imminent.
Redfield voices alarm over influence of Trump's new coronavirus task force adviser
WASHINGTON — The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has grown increasingly concerned that President Donald Trump, pushed by a new member of his coronavirus task force, is sharing incorrect information about the pandemic with the public.
Dr. Robert Redfield, who leads the CDC, suggested in a conversation with a colleague Friday that Dr. Scott Atlas is arming Trump with misleading data about a range of issues, including questioning the efficacy of masks, whether young people are susceptible to the virus and the potential benefits of herd immunity.
"Everything he says is false," Redfield said during a phone call made in public on a commercial airline and overheard by NBC News.
Redfield acknowledged after the flight from Atlanta to Washington, D.C., that he was speaking about Atlas, a neuroradiologist with no background in infectious diseases or public health. Atlas was brought on to the White House task force in August.
Redfield testified before Congress this month that he suspects that a face covering could protect him from Covid-19 better than any future vaccine. Most public health officials share the view that masks are essential to stop the spread of the virus. Still, Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on how useful wearing them may be.
"If every one of us did it, this pandemic would be over in eight to 12 weeks," Redfield said before offering a stark warning that contradicted the president's assertion that the country is "rounding the corner" on the pandemic.
"We're nowhere near the end," Redfield said.
In an emailed statement, a CDC spokesman said: "NBC News is reporting one side of a private phone conversation by CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield that was overheard on a plane from Atlanta Hartsfield airport. Dr. Redfield was having a private discussion regarding a number of points he has made publicly about Covid-19."
Before he joined the task force, Atlas was a frequent guest on Fox News, where he pushed to reopen the country and espoused views that more closely align with Trump's opinions during the health crisis. Since his addition to the task force, Atlas has become the medical expert who spends the most time with the president, and his profile has been elevated in recent weeks by his appearing in the White House briefing room when Trump speaks with reporters.
Dr. Deborah Birx and Dr. Anthony Fauci, who attended near-daily briefings with the president alongside Redfield in the spring, have, at times, voiced their disagreements with Atlas as the number of coronavirus cases has surged, climbing by 22 percent in the last two weeks, according to data reviewed by NBC News. Two dozen states reported higher numbers than during the previous seven-day period. More than 204,000 people have died of the virus in the United States, with 7 million infected so far.
There is a concern among Redfield and others that Atlas continually briefs the president and misrepresents what other health experts have said in sworn testimony, according to a member of the task force.
Asked to respond to Redfield's comments, Atlas said in a statement: "Everything I have said is directly from the data and the science. It echoes what is said by many of the top medical scientists in the world, including those at Stanford, Harvard, and Oxford."
A White House official responded by saying the president "consults with many experts both inside and outside of the federal government, who sometimes disagree with one another."
"He then makes policy decisions based on all of the information to save lives and safely reopen the country," the official said, adding that "everyone, including the president, recommends wearing a mask when you cannot social distance."
Fauci and Birx declined to comment.
When the president said last week that the virus affects "virtually nobody" who is young, members of the task force, including Redfield, rejected the statement as false.
"It's not true," Redfield said in an interview. "We know that the infection is very common. We know the highest-risk group right now is 18 to 25." Redfield pointed out, however, that the president is correct in noting that mortality rates are quite low in that age group.
But "when certain other people suggest that this virus doesn't affect children," Redfield added, "they're not correct."
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