As U.S. President Donald Trump pushes to reopen the country despite warnings from doctors about the consequences of moving too quickly during the coronavirus crisis, he has been lashing out at scientists whose conclusions he doesn't like.
Twice this week, Trump has not only dismissed the findings of studies, but suggested -- without evidence -- that their authors were motivated by politics and out to undermine his efforts to roll back coronavirus restrictions.
He offered similar pushback Thursday to a new study from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. It found that more than 61 per cent of COVID-19 infections and 55% of reported deaths -- nearly 36,000 people -- could have been been prevented had social distancing measures been put in place one week sooner. Trump has repeatedly defended his administration's handling of the virus in the face of persistent criticism that he acted too slowly.
But undermining Americans' trust in the integrity and objectivity of scientists is especially dangerous during a pandemic when the public is relying on its leaders to develop policies based on the best available information, said Larry Gostin, a Georgetown University law professor who is an expert in public health.
"Any suggestion that the president does not value scientific data or the important work of scientists is patently false as evidenced by the many data-driven decision he has made to address the COVID-19 pandemic, including cutting off travel early from highly-infected populations, expediting vaccine development, issuing the 15-day and later 30-day guidance to `slow the spread,' and providing governors with a clear, safe road map to opening up America again," said White House...
That veterans study, funded by grants from the NIH and the University of Virginia, was not a rigorous experiment, but a retrospective analysis by researchers at several universities looking at the impact of hydroxychloroquine in patients at veterans' hospitals across the nation. It found no benefit and more deaths among those given hydroxychloroquine versus standard care alone. The work was posted online for researchers and has not been reviewed by other scientists.
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