The Politicization of Science: A Tale of Failed Lockdowns and Flawed Policies

Published June 11, 2024

Hoover Senior Fellow, Scott Atlas, presents data demonstrating how lockdowns and school closures imposed enormous social, economic, and even physical destruction and failed to reduce COVID-19 mortality or case growth. These policies, implemented by two presidential administrations, and supported by many public health experts, caused avoidable deaths, disproportionately harmed low-income families and children, and damaged public trust in science and health institutions. Atlas asserts that a targeted protection approach focusing on protecting high-risk groups while allowing low-risk groups to resume normal activities would have been a safer and more effective strategy.

Check Out More from Scott Atlas:

  • Watch "The Cost of Identity Politics in American Politics" with Dr. Scott Atlas and Dr. Stanley Goldfarb here. 
  • Listen to "Now 4 Years Later, What Have We Learned from the Covid Pandemic?" with Dr. Scott Atlas on the Lars Larson Show. Part 1 here. Part 2 here.
  • Watch Dr. Scott Atlas' previous Policy Boot Camp discussion, "Reviewing Pandemic Policies" here.

The opinions expressed on this website are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Hoover Institution or Stanford University. © 2024 by the Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University.

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Scott W. Atlas

Scott W. Atlas

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