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.
Missing woman’s sister says Nancy Guthrie case now a ‘hope roller coaster’ for family as search continues
Illegal immigrant accused of groping girls at Virginia high school facing new charges
New Jersey Gov Sherrill signs law barring ICE agents from wearing face coverings to shield identities
Trump admin makes new criminal referrals to DOJ targeting New York AG Letitia James
Gorman family calls out Johnson and Pritzker following college student’s killing in Chicago
DOJ settles with Michael Flynn over Russia probe after wrongful prosecution claim: ‘Historic injustice’
Cop on trial denies gunning for fellow officer in clash at home; prosecutors argue lethal risk was real
US moves airborne troops, Marines as Iran rejects ceasefire, raising ground war potential
House Budget chairman reveals how Republicans will pay for the Iran campaign
Court Rules Illegal Aliens Can Be Locked Up Without Bond
‘Project Hail Mary’ Writer Says Hit Film Worked Because He Avoided Woke Political Agendas
Days Before Iran Strikes, DOJ Charged Silicon Valley Engineers in Case Involving Tech Secrets Sent to Tehran
California Dems unleashed pressure campaign against USC prior to debate cancellation
Fact Check: Are ICE Agents Helping to Fix Airport Chaos Democrats Created?
Chicago Mayor Johnson unveils ‘Abolish ICE’ snowplow days after student allegedly murdered by illegal migrant
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.
