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.
Paul Pelosi, 86, faces a hit-and-run charge after striking a parked car in Napa County: sheriff’s office
Illegal immigrant truck driver charged in death of trooper who moved home to care for mom with cancer
Heat wave cancels some DC Independence Day celebrations
Two Americas: Mamdani and Trump give speeches ahead of Independence Day
Here Are 5 Insane Books Elementary Schools Are Offering Kids
The Answer To America’s Food Security Woes
Trump pardons 9 people convicted of tampering with emission controls on diesel engines
Pope Leo urges US to welcome immigrants in America 250 speech before visiting global migrant hotspot
New York Democrats’ Gerrymander: Too Little, Too Late And Too Expensive
OpenAI’s Sam Altman wants to negotiate a 5% stake in company for US if competitors agree to key provision
Court Looks to Decide Fate of ‘Decoy’ Candidate with Same Name as Senator
Iran begins Khamenei’s funeral 126 days after assassination
July 1776 Copy of Declaration of Independence Discovered Outside US in Foreign Navy Captain’s Papers
WATCH – Charlie Kirk’s Final July 4 Message: ‘Why America Is a Christian Nation’
NC governor faces criticism for skipping Trump-backed America 250 event
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.
