Since joining Donald Trump’s White House Coronavirus Task Force, Dr. Deborah Birx, the United States Global AIDS Coordinator under the last two presidential administrations, has effectively flushed her reputation down the toilet in what seems to be an effort to protect the president.
Several weeks ago, as the coronavirus pandemic began to rapidly gain steam in the United States, Birx and Trump publicly claimed that the potentially fatal virus would ultimately cause fewer than 60 thousand deaths in the States.
However, here we are, with nearly 100 thousand US deaths due to the virus and a new projection of upwards of 150 thousand deaths before it’s all said and done.
Yet, during a segment with Fox News this morning, the Trump-sympathizing doctor clung tight to the defense of her original projection of 60 thousand. And frankly, host Chris Wallace wasn’t letting her get away with it.
“A month ago, both you and President Trump were talking about 60,000 COVID-19 deaths,” Wallace fiercely noted in his interview with Birx this morning. “Early this week, we’re going to reach 100,000 deaths from the coronavirus and those models you’re citing now talk about close to 150,000 deaths by August.”
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“What happened, doctor?” the Fox host questioned.
Birx, in true Trump administration fashion (where she’s fitting in swimmingly) quickly deflected from the question by harping on a separate projection that predicted over 2 million deaths in the United States if no actions were taken —despite the fact that that’s not even close to the point.
“Those are the figures that we continue to stand by in this first wave,” Birx defended. “And understanding how to prevent future hospitalizations and future deaths is really what we’re focused on every single day.”
But Wallace wasn’t letting up on the doctor.
“A month ago, you were saying we were going to come down on the low end of the model, from a hundred to two hundred thousand to 60,000,” the host pressed on.
“In this last month, did you underestimate the strength of the virus?” Wallace questioned. “Did we reopen too soon? Did we reopen without sufficient restrictions?”
“What I was saying in that briefing is what that model was showing,” the doctor tried once again to defend, before attempting to excuse the blunder by noting that the US has a lower rate of mortality from COVID-19 than some European countries — once again completely evading the point.
Birx went on to then urge the American people to celebrate the Memorial Day weekend in a safe manner.
“I’m very concerned when people go out and don’t maintain social distancing,” she stated. “We now have scientific evidence of how far droplets go when we speak… We also know that it’s important that we have masks on if we’re less than six feet and that we have to maintain that six feet distance.”
She added, “There are super spreader events when people come together.”
“This crowd of people at beaches this weekend, is that a super spreader event?” the Fox host questioned.
“We want you to be outside,” Birx answered. “We know that there are ways you can play tennis with marked balls so you’re not touching each others’ balls. We know there’s a way to play golf and social distance.”
I’ll tell you this much — if there’s one thing this woman has learned from her new boss, it’s how to dig herself into an endless, deep, dark hole.
You can watch the clip here:
Featured image via screen capture
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