Scott Atlas—the neuroradiologist brought onto Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force in August despite having no background in infectious diseases or epidemiology—is proving to be quite the headache for public health experts trying to combat the pandemic and the slew of misinformation surrounding it. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield was overheard airing such grievances over the phone on Friday, NBC reported, during a call he made in public while traveling on a commercial airline. “Everything he says is false,” Redfield said to a colleague on the other end of the line, acknowledging after the flight that he was referring to Atlas.
Before joining the task force, Atlas apparently caught Trump’s attention as a regular on Fox News, which gave him a platform early in the pandemic to spout unproven claims and inaccurate predictions (many of them appealing to Trump’s desired return to normalcy). The network has since scaled back booking him as infectious disease experts sound the alarm over his problematic views. According to NBC, Redfield suggested during the call that “Atlas is arming Trump with misleading data about a range of issues,” including the controversial herd immunity theory that Atlas has reportedly been pushing inside the White House while also entertaining doubts about the efficacy of masks and downplaying the risk that the virus poses to young people—medical advice at odds with most public health experts, including Redfield. In response to Redfield’s comments, Atlas said in a statement: “Everything I have said is directly from the data and the science. It echoes what is said by many of the top medical scientists in the world, including those at Stanford, Harvard, and Oxford.”
Testifying before Congress earlier this month, Redfield said wearing a mask may be more effective against the coronavirus than initial vaccines. “If every one of us did it, this pandemic would be over in eight to 12 weeks,” he said. Contradicting Trump’s declaration that the U.S. has “turned the corner” on the coronavirus, Redfield warned the Senate: “We’re nowhere near the end.” Both Trump and Atlas have used White House press briefings to publicly contest Redfield’s testimonies. Exactly one week after the president took to the podium to dispute Redfield’s comments on vaccine distribution and the importance of masks, Atlas undermined the CDC director’s subsequent testimony to a Senate panel that 90 percent of Americans remain susceptible to the coronavirus, a fact that Atlas claimed Redfield had “misstated” under oath.
Such mixed messages aren’t the first of their kind; they’re part of an ongoing clash between the administration and Redfield over the CDC taking COVID seriously. Agency staffers told CNN that trying to respond to the coronavirus while the administration continues to downplay its threat and contradict public health messaging—all while leveling baseless “deep state” attacks on government scientists—has left officials demoralized, their unease coupled by what some referred to as Redfield’s “ineffective” leadership in the face of White House pressure. “The morale is as low as I’ve ever seen it and we have no confidence in our leadership,” a CDC official said. “People are miserable and it’s a shame because this pandemic is still flying away and we still need a robust public health response.” Olivia Troye, who spent months working the coronavirus task force until resigning from her position as Vice President Mike Pence’s homeland security adviser in August, said that many health experts and career officials share the frustration and dejection weighing on CDC staffers. “It is incredibly difficult to spend your entire life’s work for a greater mission on behalf of the American people and have the White House and the people at the top completely disregard it,” Troye said. “And it’s not just one time, it’s nonstop.”
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