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.
Swalwell slammed by Border Patrol commander over imagery showing ICE raiding Jesus Christ’s manger
Netanyahu says Trump to become first non-Israeli to receive Israel Prize
Illegal immigrants allegedly ran multi-million-dollar gift card fraud scheme hitting stores daily across Texas
Trump rebukes Ukraine after Putin says his home was attacked
Gen. Flynn Sends Blistering Request to Trump: ‘We The People Demand Accountability!’
Jan. 6 pipe bomb suspect fights DOJ delay in turning over evidence
Trump Admin Stands Firm After Jesus-Centric Christmas Messages Spark Media Freak-Out
Trump tears up Obama-era Latin American policy with renewal of Monroe Doctrine
Tennessee officers rescue woman considering jumping from bridge on day after Christmas
Ilhan Omar disclosures show husband’s companies surged in value as Minnesota reels from $9B fraud
Top Female Tennis Player Takes on No. 671 Man in ‘Battle of the Sexes’ – It Wasn’t Even Close
‘America first’: Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray launches House bid
Trump Signals Military Hit First Target Inside Venezuela After Finding Drug Facility: ‘We Knocked That Out’
China surrounds Taiwan with warships, fighter jets in largest military drills on record
Missing 19-year-old Camila Mendoza Olmos believed to be ‘in imminent danger,’ Texas sheriff says
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.
