Dr. Birx suggests Trump White House has not taken 'aggressive' action against COVID-19
Dr. Deborah Birx, top White House coordinator for the Coronavirus Task Force, is pushing back against President Donald Trump suggesting that "aggressive action" is needed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Monday, Birx released a report about the virus as she expressed concern about the United States' growing number of coronavirus cases. On Friday, the United States surpassed 100,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in a single day. The grim milestone Dr. Anthony Fauci projected weeks signals serious problems ahead for the country — and now, Birx has opted to sound the alarm.
"We are entering the most concerning and most deadly phase of this pandemic … leading to increasing mortality," Birx's November 2 report said. "This is not about lockdowns — It hasn't been about lockdowns since March or April. It's about an aggressive balanced approach that is not being implemented."
Birx's remarks come as Trump continues to spread misinformation about the virus. Over the last several days, Trump has held countless rallies in cities across the Midwest and East coast. At each rally, Trump disregarded mitigation guidelines as he drew thousands of maskless rallygoers who followed his lead. Despite the obvious warning signs that the virus is spreading at an accelerated rate, Trump continues to spread misinformation that is the complete opposite of Birx's warning.
On Friday, Fauci also expressed concern about the White House's inconsistent message on the virus.
"They needed to have a medical message that was essentially consistent with what they were saying, and one of the ways to say, 'The outbreak is over. [Mitigation strategies are] really irrelevant because it doesn't make any difference. All you need to do is prevent people from dying and protect people in places like the nursing homes,'" Fauci said.
On Monday, November 2, the United States reported over 88,000 new cases, nationwide bringing the national number of cases to a staggering 9,567,543. The United States' coronavirus death toll also continues to rise. Nearly 237,000 Americans have died from coronavirus.
