Asked about Trump’s repeated claims of the virus simply disappearing in 2020, Birx hinted that the president had mistakenly believed that if a sufficient number of Americans were infected, the pandemic would disappear.
“I think there was an individual communicating with the White House … I believed that if you infected enough people, you would get herd immunity. There was no evidence. [of that] —In fact, there was evidence of opposition, ”Birx testified.
Burkes also criticized Scott Atlas, a senior researcher in health policy at Stanford University, who joined the administration in July 2020, saying that many infectious diseases are inevitable and encourages a weakened government response. That’s why I got the support of Trump. Atlas’ personal advice and public comments have fallen out of the recommendations of Birx and pandemic experts such as the government’s premier infectious disease expert Anthony S. Fauci.
“It certainly broke the cohesion of the response,” Burkes said, adding that Atlas and other officials presented the president with data that she believed she had drawn a more rosy view of the pandemic. Guaranteed.
“If we don’t agree on what’s really happening or what we need to do in that country, we lose the ability to do it in the most efficient and effective way,” Burks said. I am saying.
Burkes also talked about the Oval Office meeting between Atlas and Trump in August 2020. Meanwhile, authorities discussed the summer surge in cases of coronavirus.
“Dr. Atlas took the opportunity to point out that it doesn’t matter what you did. Each of these surges is the same. It didn’t matter if you tested it or not. In fact, youth Asking to test and quarantine while infected was a violation of their rights and was equivalent to a blockade, “Birx testified. “This kind of thinking is dangerous, especially for infectious diseases.”
Burkes was distracted from a pandemic by Trump officials in the upcoming 2020 elections last year, with more than 130,000 people due to faster action and a better-tuned public health message after the first wave of the virus. He told panel investigators that the lives of Americans may have been saved.
“We will learn and remember how politics was prioritized over science,” said Parliamentarian James E. Cliburn (DS.C.), who chairs the panel.
Atlas did not respond to requests for comment. Atlas, who had no expertise in fighting pandemics, said he blamed Burks for a “harmful blockade” in early 2020, causing widespread damage to children and the elderly.
“Dr. Burks is not allowed to rewrite history and avoid liability for her failure,” Atlas told The Washington Post in a statement last year.
A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Burks’ testimony and new claims. “She was very negative and didn’t have the right answer,” Trump said in a statement last year, criticizing Burkes’ previous reaction.
Republicans at the hearing put pressure on Burks on unresolved questions about where the virus broke, and Burks diverted it significantly, complaining that Democrats did not scrutinize the Biden administration’s pandemic strategy. ..
Rep. Steve Scalise (Republican), the panel’s top Republican, asked why Fauci didn’t testify before, saying, “Today, we are today, another about what happened more than two years ago. We are conducting hearings. ” A panel for over a year, and why former Biden White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zyentz and current coordinator Ashishger were not summoned to answer questions about the current administration’s response.
Birx separately criticized the ongoing response, saying that better communication and more vaccination are needed to save lives, especially in the American countryside.
“We are still losing Americans today … at a very unacceptable rate when we have the tools to prevent it,” Birx said. Nearly 300 Americans die from covid-19 every day, according to The Post’s seven-day average.
Democrats on Thursday released a hundred-page interview with Birx last October. Meanwhile, she made additional claims about the Trump White House’s pandemic strategy. According to Mr. Burks, Trump officials frequently asked her to change the report on the pandemic situation she sent to the governor’s office, and she reluctantly proceeded.
“If the change hadn’t been made, the governor’s report wouldn’t have come out,” Burkes told investigators, refusing to identify the official who requested the change.
This week, the Democratic Party released a staff report accusing Atlas of being the author of a “dangerous and distrusted herd immunity strategy,” using interviews with Burks and other officials and newly released documents. ..
The document contains an email sent by Atlas to Trump Health Authority in March 2020, where the outbreak of the coronavirus could “cause about 10,000 deaths” and the federal government overreacted. Claimed to have done. Atlas did not answer The Post’s question about email.
Burkes was the first former Trump official to publicly testify in front of the house panel about the previous administration’s response, and the Democratic Party initially had two years as an opportunity to spotlight Trump’s pandemic mistakes towards this year’s elections. I assumed the above coronavirus investigation.
However, that strategy is complicated by the continued pandemic under President Biden and the diminished interest of voters in the coronavirus as a priority, and the panel’s findings depend on other democratic priorities. The shadow is getting lighter.Thursday morning The hearing was relatively modest as lawmakers focused on the afternoon house panel and investigated pressure on the Justice Department to overturn the 2020 elections.
Burkes sat alone at the hearing table, accompanied by a memoir detailing her time as Trump’s coronavirus coordinator. The book has sold 5,938 copies as of June 11, and NPD BookScan analysts told The Post last week.
