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Friday, April 17, 2020

The Heat Is On Dr. Oz For Comments On Mortality Rate

Television doctor and regular Fox News guest Dr. Mehmet Oz drew major outcry for describing what some might consider an acceptable tradeoff for restarting the country despite the coronavirus pandemic.

Mediaite reports that during the Sean Hannity Show on Tuesday night, Oz spoke of how Americans “need our mojo back — let’s start with things that are really critical to the nation.” So he floated the possibility that schools could soon be one of the first institutions to re-open in the country without too much risk of a new outbreak.

“I tell ya, schools are a very appetizing opportunity,” Oz said. “I just saw a nice piece in The Lancet arguing that the opening of schools may only cost us 2 to 3% in terms of total mortality.”

“Any life is a life lost,” Oz continued, “but to get every child back into a school where they’re safely being educated, being fed and making the most out of their lives — with a theoretical risk on the backside, that might be a tradeoff some folks would consider.”


The Lancet article Oz was referring to states that “Recent modeling studies of COVID-19 predict that school closures alone would prevent only 2-4% of deaths, much less than other social distancing interventions.”

Those stats are not restricted to children however — as many on social media have suggested — they extend to the entire American population, which boils down to millions of people who might contract the virus.

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