Birx recalls ‘very difficult’ call with Trump, says hundreds of thousands of Covid deaths were preventable

In the segment, which CNN released Sunday, Birx was asked whether she was threatened in the call.

“I would say it was a very uncomfortable conversation,” she said.

In a clip released earlier by CNN, Birx said the Trump administration could have prevented hundreds of thousands of Covid-19 deaths had it acted more forcefully to mitigate the pandemic.

“I look at it this way: The first time, we have an excuse. There were about 100,000 deaths that came from that original surge,” Birx said. “All of the rest of them, in my mind, could have been mitigated or decreased substantially.”

Within weeks of Covid-19 shutdown measures’ being put in place, Trump, who would later contract the virus and be hospitalized, began pushing for cities and states to reopen. He also pitched unproven treatments for the virus and questioned the need to wear face coverings.

Birx, who has spoken out about her experience on Trump’s coronavirus task force repeatedly in recent months, has taken heat for not having been more critical. Last March, she praised Trump for being “so attentive to the scientific literature and the details and the data” about the outbreak.

Such past commentary led to backlash over her latest remarks.

Category: Science

Source: NBC