Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says the American public should not presume experts know best when it comes to handling the coronavirus pandemic. Paul made the remarks during a hearing attended by the directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases as cases around the United States continue to spike.
“It is a fatal conceit to believe any one person or small group of people has the knowledge necessary to direct an economy or dictate public health behavior,” Paul said. “I think government health experts during this pandemic need to show caution in their prognostications. It’s important to realize that if society meekly submits to an expert, and that expert is wrong, a great deal of harm may occur.”
Paul suggested experts “might consider the undue fear they are instilling in teachers who are now afraid to go back to work. We shouldn’t presume that a group of experts somehow knows what’s best for everyone.”
Paul’s remarks come after Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading expert at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and on the White House coronavirus task force, warned the United States is “going in the wrong direction†when it comes to the pandemic.
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“I’m not satisfied with what’s going on because we’re going in the wrong direction,” he said. “We’ve really got to do something about that, and we need to do it quickly. Clearly, we are not in total control right now.â€
More than 130,000 Americans have died from the novel coronavirus since the first death on American soil was reported in February.
Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.
