Dr. Atlas: Coronavirus lockdowns as eradicators are a 'complete misconception'

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Dr. Scott Atlas reacts to Dr. Fauci's COVID 'perfect storm' warning

There's no reason to panic, Hoover Institution senior fellow Dr. Scott Atlas tells Laura Ingraham on 'The Ingraham Angle.'

Locking down civilians will not eradicate the coronavirus -- despite several governors' claims and actions to the contrary, Hoover Institution fellow Dr. Scott Atlas said Thursday.

And the U.S. is also not handling the virus as badly as some have claimed, Atlas said on Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle."

"I'm cautiously optimistic because we actually know a lot now. We know the fatality rate is much lower and we know who to protect, we are doubling down on the protection of the high-risk group. We are doing better with patients in the hospital. I think we have to tell the American people: This is not out-of-control here," he said.

DR. ATLAS: CORONAVIRUS SURGES LINKED MOSTLY TO PROTESTS -- AND PROXIMITY TO US-MEXICO BORDER

In states like Pennsylvania, New York and California, governors have issued stringent lockdown orders -- which in some cases come with punishments for commercial violators through state mechanisms like Liquor Control.

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Atlas said the key to getting past the coronavirus pandemic is not to lock down commerce to try to stop the spread, it is to more directly protect those who are most affected.

"We know that more relaxation is going to get [us] more cases," he said. "By the way, you don't eradicate a virus by locking down. That is just a complete misconception."

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"We know with socializing we are going to get more cases. We need to protect the vulnerable and double down on that. We need to make sure hospitals not overextended."

"When you look at the data, which I do 100 times a day, in Texas, Florida, Arizona I'm cautiously optimistic because the trends are stable or even coming down. Yes, there are certain hospitals that are extended incapacity. That is going to be one of the rules of the federal government to make sure they can handle the capacity. But there is absolutely no reason to panic here. We know what is going on here. This is not March or April. This is not some sort of black box of what is going on," said Atlas.

"And I just want to go on to one thing which is that, there is a lot of great data coming out about immunity. And it's probably not known to the public, but there is a lot of data that shows people have immunity, even people that didn't get the infection," he added, pointing to T-Cell Immunity.