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.
Ex-government officials pen letter blasting Kash Patel’s FBI ‘purge’
Greene calls Mark Levin a ‘raging psychopath’ after he claims she ‘abandoned’ district
Man’s Reaction to Being Ding Dong Ditched by Neighborhood Boy Lands Him in Handcuffs
What Are the Odds? NC Woman Pulls Off Stunning Lottery Feat
Zelenskyy thanks NATO, European leaders for backing his push to join Trump‑Putin summit
Hochul, once Cuomo’s second in command, identifies ‘areas of alignment’ with socialist Mamdani
Brave 9‑Year‑Old Girl Risks It All to Pull Mom From Pool During Shocking Attempted Drowning, Police Say
NATO chief says upcoming Trump-Putin meeting will be about ‘testing’ Russian leader
Summertime and the living is uneasy on Capitol Hill
Hochul insists New York ‘followed the rules’ on redistricting despite court throwing out map
A Hungry Bird Catches a Fish – and Accidentally Starts a Wildfire for the Ages
Dem, GOP reps defend Netanyahu Gaza plan following Israel trip
Baltimore police conducting homicide investigation after mass shooting victim dies from injuries
AOC campaign denies link to woman charged with ‘terroristic threat’ against school over Jewish students
Police Mourn Beloved Detective from A&E’s The First 48: ‘Thank You for Your Service’
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.
