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.
Trump’s massive Arlington triumphal arch approved for construction by federal planning commission
Indiana, Florida and Alabama carry out rare US triple execution day
Watch: DeSantis Nails Midterm Blowout with Blunt Talk on Thune’s GOP Senate – ‘They Didn’t Even Attempt’ Bold Conservatism
Military Identifies Remains of WWII Soldier Who Served in Legendary Merrill’s Marauders
Big Blue Wave Gives Democrats the Power to Effectively End the Electoral College Before 2028
Vance ‘privately’ blasts Netanyahu as Iran war divides Trump administration and 2028 ambitions loom
Child molester’s looming prison release reignites sanctuary showdown in wake of Dem election sweep
DOJ Launches Criminal Investigation Into Leak of Supreme Court Decision That Overturned Roe v. Wade
California’s Sky-High Minimum Wage Claims Another Victim as Major Outback Steakhouse Franchisee Is Forced to File for Bankruptcy
Trump signs proclamation to prevent changes to Oval Office, other White House rooms
Texas State Rep Calls for Emergency Session Put Guardrails on Executive Branch Before Dems Seize Power
Midterms and 2028: Join America’s conversation here!
Left-wing troublemakers are only ‘noise’ due to large majorities: Former Virginia governor
Pirro’s office leading criminal investigation into Supreme Court Dobbs leak
DeSantis nukes ‘tech guy’ Vivek after Ohio drubbing: ‘Not in tune’ with blue-collar voters
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.
