‘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.
Watch: MLB Team Makes ‘Middle School Mistake’ As Season Continues to Spiral
Biden seeks to block DOJ release of 2017 audio, court filing says
Should ‘The View’ Be Considered News? ABC and FCC Go to Battle Over Embattled Show
‘Free beer’ for Trump death Dem activist running for Wisconsin gov: ‘I will win’ if they silence me
The Harsh Reality Everyone’s Missing About Massive Lithium Find in Appalachia
Rand Paul vows to keep pressure on Fauci as statute of limitations on criminal referral expires Monday
Fact Check: Is Hantavirus Poised to Become a COVID-Style Pandemic?
Virginia Democrats roasted over spelling mistakes in redistricting documents
This Is How Terror Spreads: 3 Australian Women Back from Syria Face Slavery, Terrorism Charges
Supreme Court’s junior justice goes on solo tear as Trump fights put her at odds with the bench
Mayor Overruled After He Dissolved Entire Police Force Following Dispute with His Wife
AOC, asked about running for president, says her ambition is ‘way bigger than that’
Nancy Guthrie was alive when abducted, blood evidence shows ‘last stand’ on front porch: retired FBI agent
Where Trump, GOP vs Democrats redistricting battle heads next in wake of key court rulings
Harris accuses Trump allies of trying to ‘rig’ 2026 midterms after Virginia court tosses redistricting measure
“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:
Watch: MLB Team Makes ‘Middle School Mistake’ As Season Continues to Spiral
Biden seeks to block DOJ release of 2017 audio, court filing says
Should ‘The View’ Be Considered News? ABC and FCC Go to Battle Over Embattled Show
‘Free beer’ for Trump death Dem activist running for Wisconsin gov: ‘I will win’ if they silence me
The Harsh Reality Everyone’s Missing About Massive Lithium Find in Appalachia
Rand Paul vows to keep pressure on Fauci as statute of limitations on criminal referral expires Monday
Fact Check: Is Hantavirus Poised to Become a COVID-Style Pandemic?
Virginia Democrats roasted over spelling mistakes in redistricting documents
This Is How Terror Spreads: 3 Australian Women Back from Syria Face Slavery, Terrorism Charges
Supreme Court’s junior justice goes on solo tear as Trump fights put her at odds with the bench
Mayor Overruled After He Dissolved Entire Police Force Following Dispute with His Wife
AOC, asked about running for president, says her ambition is ‘way bigger than that’
Nancy Guthrie was alive when abducted, blood evidence shows ‘last stand’ on front porch: retired FBI agent
Where Trump, GOP vs Democrats redistricting battle heads next in wake of key court rulings
Harris accuses Trump allies of trying to ‘rig’ 2026 midterms after Virginia court tosses redistricting measure
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.
