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Welcome to Uncommon Knowledge, I'm Peter Robinson.

Dr. Jayanta Bhattacharya arrived at Stanford University as a freshman at 18 years old and never left.

In addition to his undergraduate degree, Dr. Bhattacharya earned a doctorate from the Stanford Economics Department

and an MD from Stanford Medical School. Dr. Bhattacharya is now a professor of health policy at Stanford Medical School

and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Jay, welcome.

Nice to meet you, Peter.

What happened and what should have happened?

December 31st, 2019, the World Health Organization announces that it's tracking a cluster of pneumonia cases from an unknown source in Wuhan, China.

January 11, 2020, the first novel coronavirus death is reported in China.

January 21st, the first American case of COVID is confirmed in Washington State, March.

On the advice of the White House coronavirus task force, which includes Dr. Anthony Fauci,

states in this country begin to issue stay-at-home orders.

Late March and early April, the entire nation has locked down.

Schools are closed, economic activity collapses.

March 24, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya publishes a piece in the Wall Street Journal, quote,

if it's true that the coronavirus would kill millions of people without shelter-in-place orders and quarantines,

then the extraordinary measures being carried out in cities and states around the country are surely justified.

But there's little evidence to confirm that premise, close quote.

The whole nation has shut down.

And Jay Bhattacharya pipes up and says, hey, fellas, explain yourself, Jay.

Sure. So I actually have to go back a few years from that.

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