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.
Latin Kings Gang Member Stole FBI Weapons During Left-Wing Anti-ICE Riot in Minneapolis
Philadelphia’s threat to prosecute ICE could trigger landmark court fight over authority, experts warn
White House torches Newsom as ‘inauthentic slimeball’ after California governor walks back ICE rhetoric
Family Member of Alleged Charlie Kirk Assassin’s Trans Lover Speaks Out
MAHA emerges as GOP 2026 election bright spot — with one major caveat
Shapiro’s White House trip to talk electricity prices could help him in 2026 and 2028
Virginia Democrats move to seize redistricting power, opening door to 4 new left-leaning seats
Crypto industry spent tens of millions influencing now-delayed cryptocurrency regulations
Federal judge restricts ICE agents amid ongoing Minneapolis area protests
IRS confirms Trump-ordered $1,776 ‘Warrior Dividend’ for 1.45M troops is tax-free
Michael Cohen says NY prosecutors ‘pressured and coerced’ him into anti-Trump testimony
911 transcripts, documents detail chaotic scene after ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good
Florida GOP candidate wants 50% ‘sin tax’ on OnlyFans creators to fight ‘cultural degeneracy’
California man arrested for allegedly making online death threats against JD Vance during Disneyland visit
Illegal alien with 24 convictions among ‘worst of the worst’ arrested in Minnesota ICE operation: DHS
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.
