Dr. Deborah Birx, Coronavirus Response Coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force since February 2020, was asked by CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday if she thought it was possible that projections U.S. deaths might reach 300,000 by the end of the year were correct.
“Anything is possible,” replied Birx.
Asked why, as the coordinator for the federal response, America is not even close to controlling this like other places, Birx blamed it on Americans and not the Trump administration’s criminally negligent handling of the crisis:
Said Birx: “As I traveled around the country, I saw all of America moving and I think it’s our job as public health officials to be able to get a message to each American that says if you’ve chosen to go on vacation into a hot spot, you really need to come back and protect those with co-morbidities and assume you’re infected. We have been trying to get out the clarion call about the asymptomatic spread, which I think still Americans and public health officials — it’s hard to get their hands around that, because the number of people who are spreading virus without symptoms, by the time you wait for someone to come forward to the emergency room, you have widespread community spread.”
Birx also spoke about school reopening, and failed to answer directly whether they should open or not.
In related news, Nancy Pelosi told ABC News’ Martha Raddatz that she has no confidence in Birx: “I think the president has been spreading disinformation about the virus and she is his appointee so, I don’t have confidence there, no.”
Birx was asked about Pelosi’s comments in real time (ignoring the Twitter blathering of the pro-Trump tweeter below):
