In the video, Wittkowski misstated basic facts about the pandemic, saying “there are no more new cases in China and in South Korea,” contradicting publicly available statistics. So nice they say it twice. I think people in the United States and maybe other countries as well are more docile than they should be. In those settings, the virus—which in this instance travels through droplets of moisture from sneezing and bodily contact—will reach its next victim before it kills its host. New York, New York. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. South Korea has been dealing with the coronavirus since January 20. The irony here is that even though self-help measures like avoiding crowded spaces make abundant sense, the massive public controls do not. Consider the New York Times graphic below, which catalogs the daily totals of new coronavirus cases: The theoretical answer to the question of how deadly the virus will turn out lies in part in a strong analytical relationship between the rate of spread and the strength of the virus. from College of the Holy Cross in 1997, his Ph.D. from George Mason University in 2002 , and first published with the American Institute for Economic Research in 2003. Nor does the model recognize that if the most vulnerable people are hit first, subsequent iterations will be slower because the remaining pool of individuals is more resistant to infection. Much of the current analysis does not explain how and why rates of infection and death will spike, so I think that it is important to offer a dissenting voice. We should have a discussion with our politicians. April 13, 2020 The opinions that have been expressed by Knut Wittkowski, discouraging social distancing in order to hasten the development of herd immunity to the novel coronavirus, do not represent the views of The Rockefeller University, its leadership, or its faculty. And the final question and answer:  “So, is there anything else you want to say about this that—what’s been aggravating you the most? First, they underestimate the rate of adaptive responses, which should slow down the replication rate. In dealing with this point, it is critical to note that the rapid decline in the incidence of new cases and death in China suggests that cases in Italy will not continue to rise exponentially over the next several weeks. Given that the coronavirus can spread through droplets and contact, the consequences of selection should manifest themselves more quickly than they did for AIDS. At the last moments of this interview below (full transcript) he says the following: With all respiratory diseases, the only thing that stops the disease is herd immunity. Become engaged in a community that shares an interest in the mission of the Hoover Institution to advance policy ideas that promote economic opportunity and prosperity, while securing and safeguarding peace for America and all mankind. By way of comparison, the virulent AIDS virus that killed wantonly in the 1980s crested and declined in the 1990s when it gave way to a milder form of virus years later once the condition was recognized and the bath houses were closed down. The amount of voluntary and forced separation in the United States has gotten very extensive very quickly, which should influence rates of infection sooner rather than later. Pages may be printed for personal use, but may not be reproduced in any publication - electronic or printed - without the express written permission of The Tentacle; and the individual authors. The deaths in Washington have risen only slowly, even as the number of infections mount. But the current organized panic in the United States does not seem justified on the best reading of the data. That was probably one of the most destructive actions the government has done. We should focus on the elderly and separating them from the population where the virus is circulating. There are three reasons for this. Let the children spread the virus among themselves, which is a necessity to get herd immunity. [Extreme reactions] cost the US taxpayer $2 trillion, in addition to everything else that it costs, but it also has severe consequences for our social life, and depression is definitely something that we will be researching.