Details of Donald Trump's pandemic advisor Scott Atlas resigns
Scott Atlas, US President Donald Trump's coronavirus advisor, has resigned.
Atlas thanked Trump for giving him "the honor to serve the American people," adding, "(I) have always relied on the latest developments in science and evidence without any considerations or political influences."
During his four months in office, Atlas questioned the importance of using face masks and other measures taken to combat the spread of the epidemic.
He also entered into altercations with a number of members of the virus control team.
Atlas, a radiologist and fellow of the "Hoover" Institute at Stanford University, joined the Corona virus team in August.
In addition to his doubts about the importance of using masks, Atlas was against the closure measures and supported the "herd immunity" policy in dealing with the epidemic.
Atlas sparked controversy last month when he posted a tweet on Twitter, in which he said, "Get up, people," in response to the imposition of new restrictions in Michigan.
His tweet came just weeks after news spread that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was the target of an attempted kidnapping by militiamen opposing measures to combat the Coronavirus.
Public health officials, including epidemiologist Anthony Fauci, accused Atlas of providing President Trump with misleading information about the spread of the virus.
Following Atlas' resignation, Fauci told the BBC that the current situation in the United States was worse than at any time since the outbreak began. He added that the curve of cases is so steep that it seems that every day is witnessing a new record breaking.
The number of cases registered in the month of November to Sunday exceeded 4 million, double the number of cases recorded in October.
Academics at Stanford University welcomed Atlas' resignation, saying it should have happened long ago, and "represents a victory for truth and science over misinformation and misinformation."
Fox News reported that Atlas joined the management on a 130-day contract, which was due to expire this week.
In his resignation speech, broadcast by Fox News, Atlas said that his policy "was based on keeping the damage caused by the epidemic and the closure policy to a minimum, especially its impact on the poor and the working class."
He also spoke about "the free exchange of ideas that leads to access to scientific facts," and added, "This is a time when we need to protect science and scientific debate more than ever."
President-elect Joe Biden took a completely different stance than his predecessor, urging everyone to wear masks, and promising that his anti-epidemic policy would be based on a "scientific basis."
The United States has recorded 13 million cases and more than 266,000 deaths.
Millions of people did not abide by the pleas of scientists to stay at home during the Thanksgiving holiday, which led Fawcci to warn that the United States may witness successive waves of escalating cases of infection as travelers return at the end of the holiday to their places of residence.
It is expected that the "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention" will discuss the start of the vaccination campaign against the virus with the Advisory Committee for Prevention this week, a step Fauci says may be considered "a light at the end of the tunnel."
BBC
