>> Trump's newest medical advisor, Scott Atlas
has promoting herd immunity to combat coronavirus.
Because that would allow the Trump administration
to do nothing in response to the pandemic
and just allow hundreds of thousands. If not,
millions to die from the virus. So herd immunity
strategy would entail allowing the coronavirus
to spread through most of the population to
quickly build resistance to the virus while
taking steps to protect those in nursing homes
and other vulnerable populations, but let's
all be clear.
Even without implementing herd immunity, the
Trump administration has absolutely dropped
the ball in protecting vulnerable populations.
We all know about the number of elderly people
who have died from coronavirus in these homes.
The lack of leadership or preparation or action
on a state or local government level has been
absolutely abysmal.
And so to say that no, we'll implement herd
immunity and we'll just be very protective
of vulnerable people in this country is ridiculous
and we all know that they would not actually
carry that out. Experts also say that it's
impossible. It is impossible to isolate vulnerable
communities from younger people, especially
when our current economic situation has led
to an influx of multi-generational, multi-family
homes in this country.
Elderly people, vulnerable people, they don't
live on an island. They're not isolated and
it's impossible to isolate them. Now, herd
immunity would result in a lot of deaths and
let's be absolutely clear about that. For
instance, as John Hopkins University notes.
To reach herd immunity for COVID-19, likely
70% or more of the population would need to
be immune.
Without a vaccine, over 200 million Americans
would have to get infected before we reach
this threshold. Put another way even if the
current pace of the COVID-19 pandemic continues
in the United States, we won't reach herd
immunity in 2021. If current death rates continue,
over half a million Americans would be dead
from COVID-19 by that time.
And just a few more numbers, Malaika and I
wanna hear your thoughts. With a population
of 320 million in the United States, it may
require 2.1 3 million deaths to reach a 65%
threshold of herd immunity, assuming the virus
has a 1% fatality rate and that's according
to analysis done by the Washington Post.
The fact that we can have a party that advocates
for pro-life yet, it's gambling with people's
lives so much at the federal and state level
right now. And in Georgia, I have to be very
careful out here. Because Governor Brian Kemp
has promoted the spine of anti-science that
has permeated throughout the Republican Party,
the GOP, whatever reasons this entire summer
and they're gambling with.
These are not colleges where they felt as
far as the fact that he can just come up with
this new science and think that everyone should
leave it. Gambling with his own veins and
it's very troubling that we have this from
the highest.
>> Yeah, it's they just don't care.
They don't care. I mean, I think anyone who's
paying even a little attention can tell that
the right wing in this country has always
been disingenuous when they talk about how
they're pro-life. For me, my read on all of
that has always been no, they're pro-punishing
women. They're pro-attempting to win Brownie
points with their evangelical base.
But when push comes to shove and we're seeing
this right now, these politicians are not
pro-life. They could not care less about the
lives of even their own constituents, because
this is a virus that has impacted people across
the political spectrum. And it still blows
my mind that the race between Biden and Trump
is tightening, even considering how awful
Trump's response to this pandemic has been
and everything has been politicized.
So Scott Atlas is a relatively new member
of Trump's team and he has no expertise to
be weighing in on this issue. He's been an
anti-mask person and he's just not qualified
for this role. But in addition to that, in
addition to every other part of this virus
that's been politicized by Trump, there's
no question that they're trying to rush a
vaccine even if it hasn't underwent the necessary
tests to ensure that the vaccine is safe.
So the Food and Drug Administration Commissioner
Stephen Hahn said in a new interview that
he is willing to fast-track a coronavirus
vaccine before clinical trials are complete.
If it is determined to be appropriate hon
stressed politics would play no part in such
a move. That's also similar wording we heard
from the CDC when they randomly out of nowhere,
changed their guidelines to say that you don't
have to take a coronavirus test if you've
been in close contact with someone who did
test positive for coronavirus.
And they spread this nonsense point about
how if you're asymptomatic, you're less of
a risk. Now, we know that that's not true.
We know that the Trump administration was
pressuring the CDC to change its guidelines
and then they later tried to switch back to
what they previously were promoting, but not
really.
The wording was super confusing and people
were wait, so do I get tested? Do I not get
tested? Just this lack of leadership and a
president who's only thinking about himself,
and how we can politicize this situation for
his own political gain.
>> Yeah, it's really sad right now that what
we're seeing as several months is a breakdown
in all of American institutions and really
highlight as to what is fundamentally wrong
with this history or our culture.
Because all these things are exciting and
becoming clarified by the coronavirus. You
have American individualism that says, well,
I'm gonna wear my mask when I want to whether
I want it or not. Not care about other communities.
You have a president and a right wing and
to some extent, some democratic governors.
Well, we're trying to rush out of work and
they're risking the lives of workers. They're
risking the lives of children just so they
can say that they have an economy and we know
how much Jeff Bezos if $1 billion net worth
right now, because Amazon is racking in so
much money.
But you have all of these bills of mysteries
of capitalism and individualism that are fighting
right now Coronavirus. I think it's going
to be important. I'm also an activist. I think
it's important for people to see what they
can do on both local and state level, as well.
Because whether the GOP is in office or not
what they have power or not, they're still
going to be doing a lot of the same voting
the same time policies on state and local
levels. I really encourage people to kind
of find their tribe and find their political
organizing group, work with them and pass
some laws and still stay out.
And this is a part of American culture that
goes beyond president
