Dr. Deborah Birx on Tuesday said that medical experts failed to understand the seriousness of the coronavirus because of incomplete data coming out of China.
“I think the medical community interpreted the Chinese data as that this was serious but smaller than anyone expected,” she said. “Because I think probably we were missing a significant amount of the data.”
Birx spoke about the experts’ relationship with the data during a White House press briefing on Tuesday evening.
She acknowledged frankly that when she saw early data from China reporting only 50,000 cases of the virus among the 20 million people in Wuhan, China, and the 80 million in Hubei province, she felt that the threat was similar to that of SARS, which had 8,098 cases globally and 774 deaths.
WATCH: Hearing turmoil as Jasmine Crockett unloads on MLK’s niece in wild racially-charged rant
Nancy Mace Announces Next Career Move After Losing South Carolina Gov. Primary
Karmelo Anthony isolated in jail as track meet killer appeals conviction, preps for prison stint
Video: Infuriated by Immigrant’s Attempted Beheading, Irish Citizens Set Fires Across Belfast
Obama-appointed judge with ties to anti-Trump conspiracy theory hit with misconduct complaint
Pregnant mother found murdered in Mexico as frantic search for missing children ends with surprise discovery
First on Fox: Trump admin opens new front in fraud crackdown targeting health insurers, drug middlemen
God Help Us: Donations Continued to Roll in for Karmelo Anthony After He Was Convicted of Murder
GRAPHIC LANGUAGE: ‘This Is a War,’ ‘Both … Brothers Should Be Dead!’ – Chilling Videos from Karmelo Anthony Supporters Outside Courthouse
Trump concession breathes new life into stalled FISA spy powers deal
Jimmy Kimmel trolls Spencer Pratt with U-Haul after primary loss, and Pratt responds
UK’s terrorism watchdog admits Trump administration may be right about migration being a national security issue
Former Louisiana mayor gets jail time for sex with son’s teen friend at house party
Cardi B’s reaction to Karmelo Anthony verdict draws millions of views and fierce criticism
Black Actor Shoots Down Having a ‘Woke’ James Bond: ‘That’s Not What They Like’
The devastation hitting countries like Italy and Spain and South Korea gave the experts much more complete data, helping them draw models that were far more alarming.
“Let’s see if we can do much better than that,” President Donald Trump said during the briefing, pointing to the models predicting 100,000 to 240,000 deaths in the United States.
Trump noted that the virus was also more contagious than expected.
“I think the one thing that nobody really knew about this virus was how contagious it was,” he said. “It’s so incredibly contagious, and nobody knew that.”
Story cited here.
