White House Embraces Virus Herd Immunity Strategy: BLOG

ACROSS AMERICA — A proposal to hasten herd immunity for the coronavirus is finding support within the Trump administration, a strategy that's been denounced as “fringe” and “dangerous” by other infectious disease experts.

The concept of herd immunity essentially calls for allowing the coronavirus to spread freely at “natural” rates among healthy young people.

According to a report by The Washington Post, scientists touting the strategy met with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Scott Atlas, a neuroradiologist who is viewed as an influential adviser to President Donald Trump on the pandemic.

When asked for comment, HHS pointed a reporter to Azar’s Twitter statement about the meeting: “We heard strong reinforcement of the Trump Administration’s strategy of aggressively protecting the vulnerable while opening schools and the workplace.”

Earlier this week, the head of the World Health Organization called the herd immunity strategy "unethical."

“Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding to an outbreak, let alone a pandemic,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a Monday media briefing. “It is scientifically and ethically problematic.”

Meanwhile, Trump is past the point of infectiousness and does not pose a safety risk to others, according to Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert.

According to a New York Times report, Fauci has reviewed data from the president's coronavirus tests. He also said Trump is more than 10 days past the onset of symptoms.

“We feel confident that we can say with a high degree of confidence that he is not transmissible,” Fauci said in an interview Wednesday.

In other news, first lady Melania Trump confirmed in a personal statement that Barron Trump, the son she shares with President Trump, also tested positive for the coronavirus.

The White House previously said that Barron, 14, had tested negative for the virus. But in a statement, the first lady said that “my fear came true when he was tested again and it came up positive.”

Melania Trump said Barron has since tested negative.

Wednesday's newest developments came as public health experts warn the United States could be on track for yet another coronavirus surge as hospitalizations rise nationwide and 36 states report an increase in daily cases.

The seven-day average for new infections in the United States surpassed 50,000 this week for the first time since August, according to data analyzed by The Washington Post.

While high, that's still far less than in late July, when the country averaged more than 66,000 daily cases.

Meanwhile, hospital beds are filling with COVID-19 patients, especially in the Northern Plains states, according to data compiled by the Covid Tracking Project. Its data shows that 36,034 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, a higher number than at any time since Aug. 29.

Uncontrolled case spikes in the Midwest and Mountain West are driving the strain on hospitals and pushing the country’s case curve toward those record levels.

At least 16 states each added more new cases in a seven-day period ending this week than in any other weeklong stretch of the pandemic, according to New York Times data.

Small gatherings and people spending more time indoors due to dropping temperatures are increasingly to blame, CNN reported, citing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield.

In a call with U.S. governors on Tuesday, Redfield stressed continued vigilance as the country approaches the holiday season.

White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx echoed Redfield's warning last week, urging Americans not to let their guard down during the holidays by gathering with close friends and family whom they think may be virus-free.

As cases rise, newly released projections from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation say nearly 200,000 American lives could be saved with a universal mask policy.

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation data released Tuesday shows that more than half a million people could die from coronavirus-related illnesses by Feb. 1, 2021, if mask mandates are eased.

A universal mask policy would reduce that toll to about 315,000 deaths by that date, according to the projection.

At least 826 new coronavirus deaths and 54,512 new cases were reported in the United States on Tuesday, according to a New York Times database. Over the past week, there have been an average of 52,156 cases per day, an increase of 21 percent from the average two weeks earlier.

As of Wednesday, 33 states and Puerto Rico remained above the positive testing rate recommended by the World Health Organization to safely reopen. To safely reopen, the WHO recommends states remain at 5 percent or lower for at least 14 days.

Nearly 7.9 million people in the United States have tested positive for the coronavirus as of Wednesday evening, and more than 216,500 have died, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Stay up to date on the latest coronavirus news via The New York Times or Washington Post.

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