FILE PHOTO: White House coronavirus task force members, including Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health, White House coronavirus coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director Robert Redfield and U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams listen to President Donald Trump during the daily coronavirus disease (COVID-19) briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 22, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

 

By Jeff Mason

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Dr. Deborah Birx, who coordinated the White House coronavirus task force under President Donald Trump, believes the COVID-19 death toll in the United States would have been substantially lower if the government had responded more effectively.

 

In an interview with CNN, parts of which were released before broadcast later on Sunday, Birx said there was an "excuse" for the initial surge of deaths last year as the government grappled with the start of the pandemic.

 

"There were about 100,000 deaths that came from that original surge," Birx said. "All of the rest of them, in my mind, could have been mitigated or decreased substantially."

 

More than 542,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the United States, according to a Reuters tally, and almost 30 million have been infected.

 

Trump downplayed the outbreak in its early stages, resisted mitigation efforts and criticized harsh lockdown measures imposed to stop the spread of the virus. He repeatedly eschewed guidance on mask-wearing that health experts say prevents the spread of the disease.

 

Birx, who has since left the government, said in the interview that she received a "very uncomfortable" call from Trump after describing how widespread the virus was in an interview with CNN in August, during which she told people living in rural areas that they were not immune.

 

Trump, who tested positive for and then recovered from the virus in October, was running for re-election at the time.

 

"Everybody in the White House was upset with that interview and the clarity that I brought about the epidemic," Birx said.

 

"I got called by the president," she said. "It was very uncomfortable, very direct, and very difficult to hear."

 

Birx at times faced criticism for not standing up more forcefully in public to Trump's misinformation about the pandemic, including his dangerous suggestion that Americans could consume bleach to kill the virus.

 

Trump went on to hold large rallies in the final months of the presidential election campaign despite public health guidance warning against large gatherings. He lost to Democrat Joe Biden, who campaigned largely on a promise to take the pandemic more seriously than his opponent.

 

Birx became sidelined in the final months of Trump's administration, and White House briefings about the pandemic largely ceased.

 

She was not offered a position in Biden's White House, and now works in the private sector.

 

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-03-29

 

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As I remember Birx was sucking up to Trump egregiously.  She should have resigned and gone public blaming Trump for the deaths, but very few American office-holders ever resign in protest of bad policy. 

 

Fauci, too by the way at the time.  On Feb. 11 he said that the pandemic would have a "just miniscule" effect on the US.  

44 minutes ago, cmarshall said:

As I remember Birx was sucking up to Trump egregiously.  She should have resigned and gone public blaming Trump for the deaths, but very few American office-holders ever resign in protest of bad policy. 

 

Fauci, too by the way at the time.  On Feb. 11 he said that the pandemic would have a "just miniscule" effect on the US.  

OK, all of which is true.

 

It is also true that by the end of that February the picture and scientific advice had changed dramatically. From late a February onwards there was absolutely no doubt this virus was a serious threat. 

 

The cause of the inaction and misrepresentation of the threat COVID-19 was is all on then President Trump.

 

Almost certainly concerned for the impact of public health controls on his own personal business interests, he disregarded the first duty of his office - to defend the people of the United States.

 

An utter disgrace of a ‘man’ and a failed President.

 

 

59 minutes ago, cmarshall said:

As I remember Birx was sucking up to Trump egregiously.  She should have resigned and gone public blaming Trump for the deaths, but very few American office-holders ever resign in protest of bad policy. 

 

Fauci, too by the way at the time.  On Feb. 11 he said that the pandemic would have a "just miniscule" effect on the US.  

exactly.

If hundreds of thousand deaths could had be prevented, the blame Is on her also.

Her reputation is for ever tarnished IMO

It's not just that Birx sucked up to Trump. She was the one who took the reporting on stats away from the CDC and gave it to a private company. It was a fiasco and the CDC ultimately got those reporting duties back.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/10/inside-story-how-trumps-covid-19-coordinator-undermined-cdc

Trump's China travel ban was itself inadequate. And we know he did it for only political reasons because he waited 40 days to ban travel from Europe. And another four days to ban  travel from the UK and Ireland. Possibly because he had Golf Resorts in both  the UK and Ireland and none in  continental Europe?

    Trump is ultimately responsible but she should have either done much more or loudly resigned in protest early on.  Touting an interview that you gave in August where you supposedly said something that upset Trump was far, far, too late.  

8 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

An utter disgrace of a ‘man’ and a failed President.

Very true and Birx failed to take him to task throughout. Remember when she sat looking all coy at the side of him whilst he banged on about injecting bleach and cleansing the insides with UV light? He even looked to her for confirmation as he was speaking.

 

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

 

An utter disgrace of a woman serving an utter disgrace of a president.

1 minute ago, polpott said:

Very true and Birx failed to take him to task throughout. Remember when she sat looking all coy at the side of him whilst he banged on about injecting bleach and cleansing the insides with UV light? He even looked to her for confirmation as he was speaking.

 

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

 

An utter disgrace of a woman serving an utter disgrace of a president.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m no fan of Birx.

 

Trump chose her for a reason. 

On 3/29/2021 at 3:52 PM, polpott said:

Very true and Birx failed to take him to task throughout. Remember when she sat looking all coy at the side of him whilst he banged on about injecting bleach and cleansing the insides with UV light? He even looked to her for confirmation as he was speaking.

 

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

 

An utter disgrace of a woman serving an utter disgrace of a president.

 

"he banged on about injecting bleach and cleansing the insides with UV light?"

 

35 minutes ago, mikeymike100 said:

"he banged on about injecting bleach and cleansing the insides with UV light?"

 

 

Correct. Want me to send you the YouTube video of the press conference?

trump is 100% responsible! Of course he and his croonies will deny it, as they deny any responsibility.
There are so many deaths, thanks to trump. Greatest mass-murderer in his time ????

14 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

OK, all of which is true.

 

It is also true that by the end of that February the picture and scientific advice had changed dramatically. From late a February onwards there was absolutely no doubt this virus was a serious threat. 

 

I disagree.  It wasn't all Trump.   The South Korean Disease Control and Prevention Agency had their all-hands-on-deck meeting with twenty companies capable of manufacturing Covid tests on Dec. 31, 2019.  They were so determined to kick their pandemic plan into action, that they had the meeting in a room in the Seoul train station so as not to waste time travelling across town to their offices.  Taiwan took action early, too.  These public health officials understood that to take a wait-and-see attitude was to assure a high death toll.  

 

Only the Western countries dithered, because they stupidly thought that it couldn't happen to them.

6 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Don’t get me wrong, I’m no fan of Birx.

 

Trump chose her for a reason. 

 

By contrast when Trump wanted to fire the Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen a few days before the attack on Congress, the entire senior leadership of the DoJ threatened to resign so that Trump had to back down.  So, it turns out principled resistance to Trump was not doomed in all cases.

 

Birx, Redfield, Fauci, and the other careerists in the public health departments of the government could have pushed back even if it cost them their jobs.

 

Trump NEVER stopped flights from China, and they are still continuing. He just instituted a racist policy that excluds certain people from boarding flights, If it was so dangerous all travelers should have been blocked, including US citizens, until a program of testing and quarantine could have been implemented. Similarly chaos erupted when a half-baked travel ban from Europe was announced resulting in thousands suddenly rushing home then forced to wait in long lines for hours, with no health measures whatsoever expect breathing on eachother and bringing covid-19 back from the EU and spreading it all over the US.

 

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/15/air-passengers-crush-coronavirus-trump-130251

What would this earlier action have been Dr. Birx??? Can you tell us? No you can't because everything was done ASAP amidst huge opposition to get to work on a highly contagious novel virus.

A partial travel ban after Covid 19 was established in the US was the only thing of note Trump did to stop the initial spread of the virus.  It was too little, too late.

 

Still, it's all the Trump supporters have got, so...

4 hours ago, cmarshall said:

 

By contrast when Trump wanted to fire the Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen a few days before the attack on Congress, the entire senior leadership of the DoJ threatened to resign so that Trump had to back down.  So, it turns out principled resistance to Trump was not doomed in all cases.

 

Birx, Redfield, Fauci, and the other careerists in the public health departments of the government could have pushed back even if it cost them their jobs.

In fact, Fauci is the only one involved in the White House response that is still employed by the Federal government. None of the others where asked to join the Biden administration. They are currently job hunting or taking early retirement. 

20 hours ago, cmarshall said:

As I remember Birx was sucking up to Trump egregiously.  She should have resigned and gone public blaming Trump for the deaths, but very few American office-holders ever resign in protest of bad policy.

 

Yes, what you say makes sense, but a valid question in such position would be "what will replace me?"  And as we saw from the get-go it would be a do-as-I-say sycophant who has no knowledge for the sort of position they would be taking (and probably no intention of learning).  I am still amazed that Fauci didn't get the boot.  Imagine if she was succeeded by someone who said "the real problem we must deal with is disposal of the bodies": sound familiar?

 

Birx says COVID death toll in U.S. would have been mitigated with earlier action

I don't think this is news to anybody with a brain.

 

When you look at those who have biggest body count, T***p and that guy in Brazil, the truly heinous thing is how it appears that they actually want the high death rate.  Something on the level of the Nuremberg trials should be called for when all this is over.  Fox News is still pushing the hoax, anti-vax stuff while at the same time keeping the mask and distance rules for their employees.  Covid isn't the only sickness running rampant in conservativemedialand.

 

 

New covid jab each year...So just like the flu jab then. 

Good one lol !!!dr Brix was in the classic catch 22 dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t imo personally I’m surprised trump isent in prison for criminal malfeasance or incompetence that man is largely responsible for killing more Americans than a century of warfare in one year unbelievable utterly unbelievable and that’s just one of the boneheaded things he did!

On 3/29/2021 at 12:58 AM, webfact said:

believes the COVID-19 death toll in the United States would have been substantially lower if the government had responded more effectively.

..but the boss himself wasn't believing in the covid-19 existence! among other things he was saying "...nobody will take about the kinese virus after the (presidential) elections!"

Several posts with patently false claims have been removed, along with numerous ensuing replies.

 

On 3/29/2021 at 6:45 PM, newnative said:

    Trump is ultimately responsible but she should have either done much more or loudly resigned in protest early on.  Touting an interview that you gave in August where you supposedly said something that upset Trump was far, far, too late.  

 

It's a difficult decision as once you resign you have no ability to influence within government decision making processes. It would be useful if Birx points to any positives she achieved whilst in government to mitigate Covid; If not I agree with you.