Don't trust in Atlas; Fauci has the knowledge
Randy Rossi's June 20 letter urged school reopenings. To justify this he cited Dr. Scott Atlas, whose ideas mirror President Trump's and who has supplanted Dr. Anthony Fauci at Trump's COVID-19 news conferences.
Believing Atlas over Fauci in disputes about COVID-19 is like believing an undergrad biology major instead of Enrico Fermi in disputes about atomic bombs.
Atlas' medical expertise is radiology; he has 11 articles in refereed journals, all involving CT and MRI.
His 2020 Hoover Institute profile does not include expertise in infectious diseases.
Fauci has published 36 articles on infectious diseases in refereed journals in the last two years alone, most involving COVID-19. Because he oversees most cutting-edge COVID-19 research, Fauci is informed by the most recent findings in a rapidly advancing discipline.
Locally, Jeanne Ives has been campaigning tirelessly for immediate school reopenings, and in mid-June Jim Oberweis signed a Republican letter to the governor urging faster reopening of businesses.
Neither Ives nor Oberweis justifies their demands based on applicable scientific research.
Sean Casten and Lauren Underwood both have advanced degrees in scientific fields and understand that advice from Fauci (not Trump or Atlas) should be used in federal policy decisions.
The COVID-19 crisis won't be successfully mitigated and future outbreaks prevented until Trump and other Republicans are replaced.
Please vote for Sean Casten in the 6th Congressional District or Lauren Underwood in the 14th.
Darold Barnum
Oak Park