Atlas joined the administration in August as a special government employee, meaning he was eligible to serve a 130-day detail. His tenure was slated to expire this week, but he filed his resignation, effective Tuesday, a White House official confirmed on Monday evening.
“I worked hard with a singular focus—to save lives and help Americans through this pandemic,” he wrote, according to Fox.
Atlas attracted controversy for his influence over the president’s thinking on the pandemic. He is not an infectious diseases expert, and he pushed the widely disputed herd immunity theory in which some argue that older, at-risk populations should be protected while younger, healthier people would be free of restrictions.
