Scott W. Atlas - A Plague Upon Our House

A LIBERATIO PROTOCOL BOOK

An Imprint of Post Hill Press

ISBN: 978-1-63758-220-6

ISBN (eBook): 978-1-63758-221-3

A Plague Upon Our House:

My Fight at the Trump White House to Stop COVID from Destroying America

2021 by Scott W. Atlas, M.D.

All Rights Reserved

This book contains research and commentary about COVID-19, which is classified as an infectious disease by the World Health Organization. Although every effort has been made to ensure that any medical or scientific information present within this book is accurate, the research about COVID-19 is still ongoing.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author and publisher.

Post Hill Press

New York Nashville

posthillpress.com

Published in the United States of America

Dedication

To Ali,

the toughest person I have ever known.

You were there when I needed you most. You still are, and I still do.

***

In special remembrance of all those who lost loved ones,

and to all those still suffering from the failures of those in power.

May you find some peace in knowing that the truth will prevail.

And may we all never let this happen again.

***

In loving memory of my dad.

You would have said the truth, directly to their faces, just like I did.

I hope you watched.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

To our children and young people, who are the reason I became involved. I know many of you are still confused and suffering from misguided, incompetent, and unethical leadership. Stay strong!

To the thousands of wonderful people who contacted me, many of you more than once, from all over the county and the worldthe mothers, fathers, grandparents, nine-to-five and midnight shift workers, students, professors, clergy, teachers, business owners, taxi drivers, NIH scientists, restaurant workers, doctors, and morefar too many to list. Because of your heartfelt support and encouragement, I was never going to give up speaking the truth, no matter what.

To Jay, Martin, and Sunetra. We are bonded for life. I am honored to call you friends and colleagues. We were right about everything, and they know it. We will never, never, never stop speaking the truth. That, too, we know.

To John Ioannidis. I am so grateful for your counsel and friendship. I cannot thank you enough for your unending encouragement and wisdom. Critical thinking matters, yes it does.

To my incredible White House buddies for everything, especially for being there when I needed you (every day)John Rader, Derek Lyons, and Liz Horning. That was insane!! We fought the fight, together.

To my phenomenal data partners who worked under pressure 24/7 to provide me real-time stats on demand and far more than that: Jennifer Cabrera, Len Cabrera, Mills Carter, Clayton, Karl Dierenbach, Aaron Ginn, Jessica Gordon, Justin Hart, Nathan Hyatt, A. J. Kay, Phil Kerpen, Kyle Lamb, Todd Lowdon, Megan Mansell, Ian Miller, Alex Rodriguez, Joshua Stevenson, Jon R. Taylor, Sara T., Andy Bostom, and many others too numerous to list. Thank you so much. The nation heard your words, saw your charts, and benefitted from your labors.

Speaking of charts in this book: Ian Miller! Fantastic! Thank you again.

To my colleagues at Hoover, especially Victor Davis Hanson and John Cochrane, who rose up for me for the right reasons. Leadership is shown by action. Proud to have you as my colleagues.

To the thousands of doctors and scientists from all over the world who also stood up for scientific truth and against incompetence and tyranny. Its a battle, and you are an inspiration. Never give up, this is not over.

To Abir Ballan and Nick Hudson. Thank you for your unending commitment in the face of adversity and censorship. I am grateful for your friendship.

To the hundreds of people who took the time to approach me personally in Washington with support. Your kindness and encouragement were more important than you realize. I wont forget it.

To the many scientists and researchers who sent me their excellent work during this pandemic. I am so sorry that I didnt have the bandwidth to reply in more detail, or to coauthor or edit pieces with you, or even, at times, to reply at all to your kind emails. But I read every single one and learned from you.

To Kayleigh McEnany, Douglas Sellers, Madison Porter, and Johnny McEntee. You proved there were rational people thereI needed that!

To several very special governors, senators, and congressmen. I learned much from all our discussions and even more from your leadership in the face of adversity. Our country needs your courage and honesty. Without that, the whole thing is finished.

To my neuroradiology colleagues and former trainees from all over the world who contacted me to express trust and supportthank you; it mattered!

To the journalists with integrity whom I came to know. It was a great pleasure to talk thoughtfully with you about the pandemic. Your challenging questions helped me think through what was important.

To the White House Secret Service and security staff who always kept it safe and secure with the utmost professionalism, from the East Wing to the West Wing and on the Lawns. Thank you for everything you do.

To the fair journalist at the most dishonest network on cable TV. Your supportive email when I was publicly named as advisor to the presidentIm pleased to see you in the mix on the nations response to the virus. Data !!!was appreciated. As promised, I wont reveal your name, because you need your paycheck.

To Mickael. You made it feel like a home. Thank you for taking care of me and for your warnings about DC.

To Grace. You may not realize it, but your support when I came home was really important.

To John Yoo, my friend and much more, and Dee Pugh. Thank you both for your wisdom.

To my great editor, Adam Bellow, and agent, Jonathan Bronitsky. Thank you for tolerating my rants and emotions while reliving the total insanity of it all.

Truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it. Ignorance may deride it. Malice may distort it. But there it is.

Winston Churchill

N o book about the SARS2 coronavirus pandemic can be written without first stating that it has been a great tragedy. Around the world, at the time of this writing, four million deaths have been tallied. More than 600,000 American deaths have been attributed directly to the virus. We realize the blessing that this virus generally spared the young and healthy. We also recognize that the death toll is inaccurate. None of that matters to those who lost loved ones. Countless lives will also have been lost due to the missteps of those we entrusted with working for the public good. Directly from the lockdowns, missed medical care; school closures; massive economic strains; incalculable psychological damage, especially to young people; and a worldwide humanitarian crisis will burden us for decades. While inflicting enormous harm, the lockdowns also failed to protect the vulnerable.

* * * * *

As I finish this book, I am hopeful that we are seeing the light at the end of a long tunnel. Deaths are not likely to rise dramatically when cases sharply increase, a different pattern than in the initial waves. That decoupling between cases and deaths would be to a great extent due to the successful vaccination of those at risk to die. Unfortunately, it is unlikely the recurring hysteria and mismanagement by those in power will end so quickly. After more than eighteen months of experience, there remains an almost bizarre lack of understanding that the virus will not simply disappear. Instead, on its way to becoming endemic, cases will continue to peak and ebb periodically, as they have done and continue to do in characteristic cycles all over the world and regionally in the United States. We must learn to live with the virus by offering vaccines to the vulnerable, aggressively exploring early treatments, while also accepting some risk, rather than employing failed, harmful restrictions on low-risk people every time the pattern recurs. Instead of recognizing the evidence, the flow of misleading information lacking perspective, policies counter to scientific data, and the absence of transparency continue: