Dr. Oz apologizes for pushing 'trade-off' of reopening schools
When Fox News host Sean Hannity wondered what it would take to reopen the country, he turned to his trusted source on all things medicine and science: Mehmet Oz, the surgeon and TV personality better known as Dr. Oz.
"First, we need our mojo back," Oz said Tuesday night, in a soundbite that has since gone viral. He suggested that some things could be opened "without getting into a lot of trouble," such as schools. "I tell you, schools are a very appetizing opportunity," he said, adding that resuming classes, according to his reading of a new medical journal analysis, "may only cost us 2 to 3% in terms of total mortality."
That death rate, he concluded, "might be a trade-off some folks would consider."
His suggestion sparked an enormous response on social media - prompting his somewhat apologetic statement late Thursday: "I misspoke," he said in a video released on Twitter, acknowledging that his words had "confused and upset people." The goal, he said, was to discuss "how do we get our children safely back to school" because he is "being asked constantly how we'll be able to get people back to their normal lives."
It was one of dozens of pronouncements that Oz has offered on Fox since the advent of the coronavirus pandemic, during which the network has turned to him on a range of topics outside his background as a cardiothoracic surgeon.
When should schools reopen? What drugs are effective against covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus? When will there be enough ventilators? Oz isn't a virologist or a pharmacologist or a logistics expert, but he doesn't hesitate in answering with the confidence of an expert, name-dropping corporations, elected officials and medical journals along the way.
Oz, 59, who also hosts a syndicated daytime show, has long been a popular and controversial figure, and has faced criticism for comments he's made about topics such as vaccines and the Ebola virus. He fielded questions from a congressional panel in 2014 for pushing questionable weight-loss schemes. Physicians in 2015 called for his firing from Columbia University's medical school because, they said, Oz has "repeatedly shown disdain for science and for evidence-based medicine."
In the midst of an unprecedented pandemic, he's become a fixture on Fox News, where he has offered some guidance within the scientific mainstream - such as advocating for uniform testing and warning people with underlying medical conditions to remain careful after social distancing ends - and has hyped the potential of hydroxychloroquine, a drug whose benefits for covid-19 are unproved and little tested.
In addition to being a charismatic speaker and a familiar face to TV audiences, Oz's appeal to Fox may lie in the fact that many of his positions tend to be in sync with those of the networks' popular primetime hosts and with President Donald Trump.
Oz has echoed Hannity's - and Trump's - promotion of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug. He praised South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican whose state is doing widespread testing of hydroxychloroquine and is home to a significant coronavirus cluster after she held off on a stay-home order. He's mentioned research on the drug by doctors in China, directly quoting them on air.
During an appearance on "Fox and Friends" last week, Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious-disease expert, urged caution in response to Oz's claims.
"Although there is some suggestion [of effectiveness] in a study that was just mentioned by Dr. Oz . . . I think we've got to be careful that we don't make that majestic leap to assume that this is a knockout drug," Fauci said. "We still need to do the kinds of studies to definitively prove whether any intervention, not just this one . . . is truly safe and effective."
Oz pushed back during a later "Fox and Friends" spot, suggesting that Fauci should "respect" the studies conducted to date, even if they were small.
For weeks, Oz has been trying to find reasons for Fox viewers to be hopeful; in late March, he went on air and listed a litany of potential covid-19 treatments, including several drugs. "If you're a patient and you get covid-19, it is worth asking your doctor about any of the products on this list." On Thursday, Oz told "Fox and Friends" that he was "really bothered" by Boston University's announcement that it was canceling its fall semester.
Efforts to reach Oz through his TV production company and through Columbia University, where he is affiliated, were unsuccessful Thursday. A Fox News spokeswoman said that Oz was a guest, not a paid contributor for the network, and that Fox had recently added several doctors to serve as contributors. She declined to comment further.
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