Dr. Scott Atlas, President Donald Trump’s favorite COVID-19 adviser who opposes lockdowns and often espouses Trump-friendly beliefs on the pandemic, made an eyebrow-raising suggestion on Monday night regarding family gatherings on Thanksgiving.
During an interview on Fox News, Atlas bashed the notion of staying away from elderly relatives during the holiday to protect them from the virus.
“This kind of isolation is one of the unspoken tragedies of the elderly who are now being told don’t see your family at Thanksgiving,” the doctor told Fox News host Martha MacCallum. “For many people this is their final Thanksgiving, believe it or not. What are we doing here?”
He argued that “we want to protect the elderly, but we cannot lock down.”
Atlas’ comments clash with fellow White House COVID-19 adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci’s warning against large family gatherings involving relatives at higher risk of infection, which includes the elderly.
“I think people should be very careful and prudent about social gatherings, particularly when members of the family might be at a risk because of their age or their underlying condition,” Fauci told CBS News last month. “Namely, you may have to bite the bullet and sacrifice that social gathering unless you’re pretty certain that the people that you’re dealing with are not infected.”
Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) guidelines advise people to have a “small dinner with only people who live in your household” on Thanksgiving.
Watch Atlas below:
Trump COVID-19 adviser Scott Atlas says people ought to visit their elderly relatives for Thanksgiving despite the pandemic because "for many people this is their final Thanksgiving, believe it or not." pic.twitter.com/ta1rEIBawO
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) November 17, 2020
