During a hearing of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Tuesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) — who also happens to be a licensed ophthalmologist — suggested that health and medical experts don’t know everything and therefore cannot be trusted to make the right decisions regarding the novel coronavirus which has so far claimed the lives of 130,000 Americans.
According to Paul, people such as Dr. Anthony Fauci don’t have all the answers, and they should admit that:
“We need to not be so presumptuous that we know everything.
“Perhaps our planners might think twice before they weigh in on every subject. Perhaps our government experts might hold their tongue before expressing their opinion.”
Translation: All you doctors and medical professionals need to shut the hell up because you’re making the politicians look bad and there’s an election in a few months!
According to The Daily Beast, Paul was especially critical of Dr. Fauci, who has warned that the U.S. could soon be facing the prospect of 100,000 new cases a day of COVID-19 in the weeks ahead:
“Paul specifically berated Dr. Anthony Fauci—the public face of the White House’s coronavirus response and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases—for his recent statements on spectator sports, herd immunity, and other subjects. Though Fauci had couched his words in caveats, he said that ‘it would be very hard to see how football is able to be played this fall’ and that, even with a working vaccine, herd immunity might be difficult to accomplish if Americans aren’t willing to take it.
“But Paul said such statements have caused ‘undue fear’ in pockets of the country and cautioned the public not to trust the words of top infectious disease professionals in the country, saying, ‘We shouldn’t presume that a group of experts somehow knows what’s best for everyone.'”
The solution to the disease, Paul concluded, is so simple:
“We just need more optimism.”
Weren’t we operating under “optimism” when we were told it was safe to reopen the country? And yet we’re right back where we started, with the states that were last to close and first to open — Arizona, Florida, Texas — seeing coronavirus cases skyrocket to new highs.
While Rand Paul may technically be a doctor, he’s behaving more like one who merely plays one on TV, and that’s only going to lead to more infections and death.
Featured Image Via Screenshot
