The chief medical correspondent for CNN, who questioned the value of wearing masks in March, is being blasted for claiming that a “source” told him Donald Trump could have “saved 80 to 90 percent” of Covid-19 victims in the US.
Discussing a recent report that a plan for the US Postal Service to send five masks to every American earlier in the year was scrapped, Sanjay Gupta threw out comments on CNN on Friday blasting the White House’s coronavirus response, crediting them all to a mysterious “source.”
Gupta, a neurosurgeon, claims his source told him that the White House knew Covid-19 could be spread “asymptomatically,” but chose not to promote this information and continues to “ignore basic health measures.”
“This is what my source said: Every step along the way, this guidance that could have saved, you know, 80-90 percent of the people who have died could have been saved if this guidance had been abided by. Every step of the way, that guidance has been buried, and then minimized, then ignored, and now ridiculed,” Gupta said.
CNN’s @drsanjaygupta: “A source told me” Trump could have saved “80 to 90 percent” of Americans who died of Covid pic.twitter.com/Bu7q1ziojE
Considering there is no way to mathematically quantify how many lives would have been saved or lost based on going back in time and putting into place the various policies Gupta is talking about, his “80 to 90 percent” comment is getting plenty of pushback – with some critics even bringing up Gupta’s own controversial past regarding Covid-19 information.
“Is this the same ‘source’ that inspired Gupta to tweet on Feb. 29 that surgical masks and N95 respirators are NOT ‘necessary for healthy people unless you are a healthcare worker?’” Washington Examiner writer Becket Adams tweeted in reaction to his latest claims.
Gupta’s description of masks as “unnecessary” was brought up by several critics, including Pradheep Shanker, a radiologist and public health policy pundit, who blasted the latest declarations as “gaslighting.”
Lots of questions about masks. Here is the difference between a surgical mask and a N95 respirator. Neither are necessary for healthy people unless you are a healthcare worker. #coronavirus@cnnpic.twitter.com/VLf38nU83x
In situations like these, we all look for ways to try and take control. But, a face mask may not be the solution. Why? That’s the topic in today’s Coronavirus: Fact or Fiction podcast. Listen on @ApplePodcasts ??https://t.co/sDsgeDrbNw
“[Dr. Sanjay Gupta] should be embarrassed to say this. Let’s say it this way: Germany is a success story, right? Even they had 25 percent [of] the death rate we did…which is still more than what Gupta is arguing here. So, what the hell policy would have saved that many? This is gaslighting,” he tweeted.
If you go back to January, what was the most effective policy?Well, China (if you believe them) was the most effective: A TOTAL TRAVEL BAN FROM HUBEI. They literally locked down 60m people.Sanjay Gupta…opposed such travel bans in February. https://t.co/91Zuwco96F
Others were just as critical of Gupta’s claim that a “source” had somehow given him this new hypothetical measurement of Covid deaths.
Was that source named Joe Biden? https://t.co/1SusF7Xexq
Democrats entire election game plan is to convince voters Trump literally caused COVID deaths (and ignore China’s role, etc.), despite Dr. Fauci and the experts noting that the President has followed their guidance from the beginning.But this is honestly egregious. pic.twitter.com/CM1Fm3zDwS
One of the reasons trust in “science” is corroding is that so many of the people who represent it are partisan actors. https://t.co/hclcEXMc4o
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