My confidence in Dr. Birx has been eroding in recent weeks. But with this, it is lost.
This statement is not credible as public health analysis, and is clearly not intended to be.
This statement is not credible as public health analysis, and is clearly not intended to be.
Birx had a choice when she came on board: would she be a honest broker like Fauci, or a political enabler like Pence?
Regrettably she has chosen the Pence model over and over. This is not what I'd expected and it is deeply saddening.
Regrettably she has chosen the Pence model over and over. This is not what I'd expected and it is deeply saddening.
She has made numerous statements recently that are disingenuous as science but politically helpful to the President. Here she is saying that WHO misled the world about human-to-human transmissibility.
That suits Trump's narrative of blaming WHO for his own inaction, but it doesn't fit the facts, as I laid out here.
More to the point, the whole world saw conditions in Wuhan in late Jan. How would any sane person question how transmissible this was?
More to the point, the whole world saw conditions in Wuhan in late Jan. How would any sane person question how transmissible this was?
And as Birx well knows, the USG does not sit idly by waiting for marching orders from WHO before assessing outbreak risk. It marshals all data and makes its own analysis. And by the end of January we knew all we needed to.
But still she throws WHO under the bus.
But still she throws WHO under the bus.
Or here, where she effusively praised Trump's attentiveness to scientific literature and data...at the same time has he was pushing unproven hydroxychloroquine as a miracle drug.
"What do you have to lose" is not data-driven medical guidance.
"What do you have to lose" is not data-driven medical guidance.
I suspect I was not alone in being relieved, and even tentatively encouraged, when Birx was first brought on board. Hard to overstate how widely respected she was.
It is heartbreaking to watch her expend her reputation to cover for this President's leadership failures.
It is heartbreaking to watch her expend her reputation to cover for this President's leadership failures.
