‘Going outdoors is what stops every respiratory disease’
A veteran scholar of epidemiology has warned that the ongoing lockdowns throughout the United States and the rest of the world are almost certainly just prolonging the coronavirus outbreak rather than doing anything to truly mitigate it.
Knut Wittkowski, previously the longtime head of the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design at the Rockefeller University in New York City, said in an interview with the Press and the Public Project that the coronavirus could be “exterminated” if we permitted most people to lead normal lives and sheltered the most vulnerable parts of society until the danger had passed.
“[W]hat people are trying to do is flatten the curve. I don’t really know why. But, what happens is if you flatten the curve, you also prolong, to widen it, and it takes more time. And I don’t see a good reason for a respiratory disease to stay in the population longer than necessary,” he said.
Google engineer stole AI secrets for China, Senate hears in explosive testimony
Pat Fallon launches bid for House Oversight Committee chairman as James Comer’s term limit nears
Suspect accused of hurling chainsaw at deputies during chaotic stolen car chase caught on video
Trump Gives Navy a Shoot-on-Sight Order a Day After Firing its Leader
Watch: Dem Congressional Candidate Accidentally Exposes the Horrors of IVF with Her Pro-Abortion Argument
Memphis dog-walker makes haunting discovery: Bones of 3 children
GOP congressman wants to add Arlington and Alexandria back to DC
Trump admin loosens regulations on state-licensed medical marijuana
Key House committee schedules hearing with embattled ActBlue CEO: ‘Needs to come clean’
Gallego investigated for ‘sexual slur’ in 2013, officials ‘unable to corroborate’
Senate GOP rams through blueprint to bankroll ICE, Border Patrol through end of Trump era
Karen Bass meets with Trump at White House to push for LA wildfire relief after months of clashes
Man who pleaded guilty to raping 12-year-old relative is illegal immigrant from Honduras, DHS says
Manhattan DA’s office employee charged with sexual abuse after alleged incident on Queens subway
Florida prisoner laughs as judge sentences him to life for killing cellmate with pen: ‘You are amusing’
“With all respiratory diseases, the only thing that stops the disease is herd immunity. About 80% of the people need to have had contact with the virus, and the majority of them won’t even have recognized that they were infected, or they had very, very mild symptoms, especially if they are children. So, it’s very important to keep the schools open and kids mingling to spread the virus to get herd immunity as fast as possible, and then the elderly people, who should be separated, and the nursing homes should be closed during that time, can come back and meet their children and grandchildren after about 4 weeks when the virus has been exterminated,” he added.
Wittkowski argued that the standard cycle of respiratory diseases is a two-week outbreak, including a peak, after which “it’s gone.” He pointed out that even in a regime of “social distancing,” the virus will still find ways to spread, just more slowly:
Google engineer stole AI secrets for China, Senate hears in explosive testimony
Pat Fallon launches bid for House Oversight Committee chairman as James Comer’s term limit nears
Suspect accused of hurling chainsaw at deputies during chaotic stolen car chase caught on video
Trump Gives Navy a Shoot-on-Sight Order a Day After Firing its Leader
Watch: Dem Congressional Candidate Accidentally Exposes the Horrors of IVF with Her Pro-Abortion Argument
Memphis dog-walker makes haunting discovery: Bones of 3 children
GOP congressman wants to add Arlington and Alexandria back to DC
Trump admin loosens regulations on state-licensed medical marijuana
Key House committee schedules hearing with embattled ActBlue CEO: ‘Needs to come clean’
Gallego investigated for ‘sexual slur’ in 2013, officials ‘unable to corroborate’
Senate GOP rams through blueprint to bankroll ICE, Border Patrol through end of Trump era
Karen Bass meets with Trump at White House to push for LA wildfire relief after months of clashes
Man who pleaded guilty to raping 12-year-old relative is illegal immigrant from Honduras, DHS says
Manhattan DA’s office employee charged with sexual abuse after alleged incident on Queens subway
Florida prisoner laughs as judge sentences him to life for killing cellmate with pen: ‘You are amusing’
You cannot stop the spread of a respiratory disease within a family, and you cannot stop it from spreading with neighbors, with people who are delivering, who are physicians—anybody. People are social, and even in times of social distancing, they have contacts, and any of those contacts could spread the disease. It will go slowly, and so it will not build up herd immunity, but it will happen. And it will go on forever unless we let it go.
Asked about Anthony Fauci, the White House medical expert who for weeks has been predicting significant numbers of COVID-19 deaths in America as well as major ongoing disruptions to daily life possibly for years, Wittkowski replied: “Well, I’m not paid by the government, so I’m entitled to actually do science.”
Story cited here.
