Dr. Oz apologized a day after making a controversial coronavirus suggestion on Sean Hannity's Fox News show. Discussing the possibility of reopening certain parts of society during Wednesday's show, Oz cited a study that he said showed "the opening of schools may only cost us 2% to 3%, in terms of total mortality." He then noted that while "any life is a life lost," the idea of getting "every child back into a school where they are safely being educated, being fed and making the most out of their lives—with the theoretical risks on the backside—that might be a trade-off some folks would consider." By Thursday, he was tweeting an apology, USA Today reports. "I misspoke," he said.
"I've realized my comments on risks around opening schools have confused and upset people, which was never my intention," Oz tweeted alongside a video in which he explained that while he has spent his career "trying to save lives in the operating room by minimizing risks," he also has a lot of people asking him, "How do we get our children safely back to school?" As the Hill explains, a truncated version of Oz's Wednesday quote went viral and sparked an uproar, with many misunderstanding and thinking Oz was talking about student deaths as a "trade-off." In actuality, he was referring to a possible 2% to 3% uptick in the general death rate. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, discussing Oz's comments on CNN, noted, "Every life is a life and what is the tradeoff in terms of starting to reopen things, that's a big one. But these are the questions that are going to have to be discussed." (More Mehmet Oz stories.)