Former Stanford Neurology Chief: Pelosi’s ‘Ludicrous’ Claim of School Reopening Risks ‘Hysteria’

The former chief of neurology at Stanford University Medical Center told Fox News’s The Story Monday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) claim school reopenings will expose children to the “biggest risk for the spread of the coronavirus” is an example of the “ludicrous” level of “hysteria” pushed by Democrats.

“That’s just completely wrong, and contrary to all the science,” Dr. Scott Atlas, now a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, told host Martha MacCallum.

“I’m not sure how many times it has to be said, but the risk to children from this disease and the fatality is nearly zero,” he explained. “The risk of children for a significant illness is far less from the seasonal flu … This is totally antithetical to the data.”

Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday after U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Pelosi referred to DeVos’s comments urging school reopenings as “appalling.” The Democrat leader accused Trump and his administration of “messing with the health of children,” and “ignor[ing] science.”

Atlas said, nevertheless, “Obviously, we know this by now, it’s been confirmed all over the world, children rarely transmit the disease to adults.”

“But those are people that obviously either don’t know that data or are refractory to learning it themselves because the facts say otherwise,” he said, regarding Pelosi and other Democrats pressing to keep schools from opening for the new academic year.

Atlas said he was astounded by the “ludicrous” level of “hysteria” expressed by Democrats.

“The problem here and the biggest point of all [is] I never hear anyone talk about the harms of closing schools,” he continued. “The harms are against the children. Anyone who prioritizes children would open the schools and that’s just counterfactual to say … we’re at risk here.'”

Atlas added people, including “professors, teachers” worldwide “are stunned that we are willing to just simply destroy our children on some bizarre notion that’s completely contrary to the science.”