FALSE: DO NOT SHARE
Claim:
The US COVID-19 lockdown aims to damage the economy and undermine President Trump.
Answer:
False. The US like many countries is following the social distancing measures to slow the spread of the COVID-19.
FURTHER INFORMATION
This video is an interview of Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai where he talks about his concerns about the advice that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the President’s chief adviser on the coronavirus outbreak, is giving the President, saying that he is deliberately undermining the President with bad advice. Dr. Ayyadurai says that Dr Fauci (Director of the Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984) should be fired as he is too close to big pharmaceutical companies, that he claims are looking to develop a vaccine for Covid-19 so that they can make money, going on to claim that ‘big pharma’ looks to find ‘bugs’ that they can develop “harsh chemical solutions” to treat it.
Dr Ayyadurai says that Dr Fauci is a part of the ‘deep state’ and represents, “the worst of the modern scientific establishment”. He is also concerned about supposed links with Fauci and Barack Obama (who he has spoken positively about in the past) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and that Dr Fauci is a member of an, “academic elite that never wanted Donald Trump to be elected”. Dr Ayyadurai claims that the ‘deep state’ wants to undermine President Trump by ‘wrecking the economy’ to damage his chances of getting re-elected in this year’s Presidential Election. These kind of sentiments are common in the pro-Trump right-wing conservative media in the US. Many are angry with the lockdown and social distancing measures and the damage that this is doing to the economy. Dr Ayyadurai describes the lockdown measures as “a medieval form of medicine” and “nonsensical science”. He goes on to claim that social isolation actually damages the immune system, so could make people more vulnerable to contracting the virus.
We have written about the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation conspiracy theory before, as well as anti-MSM (mainstream media) content. According to the CDC, ‘COVID-19 spreads mainly among people who are in close contact (within about 6 feet) for a prolonged period’. Therefore the more that this close contact is limited, the less chance of the virus spreading. As we have written, the social distancing measures brought in to slow the spread of Covid-19 have had severe economic effects all over the globe, there is no evidence that the US administration is using different containment measures to other countries.
Dr. Ayyadurai has made a number of dubious scientific claims in the past, is a member of the anti-vaccination movement in the US, who claims that vaccines cause side effects to children, and is a strong Trump supporter.
SOURCE
WHO: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) disease advice for the public
CDC: Social distancing, quarantine and isolation
Politico: How a pair of anti-vaccine activists started a #FireFauci furor
CNN: Dr Anthony Fauci describes his ‘very different’ relationships with 5 different Presidents
Origins of Claim
FULL TEXT OF CLAIM
He [President Trump] has handled it [the coronavirus outbreak] as best he could, considering he’s surrounded by sharks who are not really advising him well, on the science side of it. What I’m talking about is Fauci… he is essentially embedded into the scientific establishment which has created an unfortunate lie about the immune system and the solution to the coronavirus infectious disease, without any scientific emphasis…the solution has nothing to do with mandating vaccines and shutting down the country… Most doctors have a big pharma education, that means that ‘if this, then this’ which involves harsh chemical treatments… Most of that has to do with profiting the very big pharma companies… You’re talking about a guy [Fauci] that is embedded into the deep state, he’s your typical example of the worst example of the modern scientific establishment… Because of Obama, we decidedly destroyed our economic base by outsourcing to China… I think the deep state was to hit him [Trump] with this coronavirus… You have a political motive in that the establishment elite did not want a guy like Donald Trump ever getting elected.
